from Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic,

The Ottawa Senators are entering must-watch TV territory.

They’re going to be fun in 2022-23.

Head coach D.J. Smith might pull his hair out on some nights because his team will be on the wrong end of some of these entertaining affairs.

That’s going to be the real challenge for a team loaded up front — how much better they can actually defend.

But either way, the Sens should never be boring this season, and their program overall is very much on the rise.

Priority No. 1 is managing expectations in their market, which appears downright giddy right now. There’s a ton of enthusiasm in that Sens fan base after a summer that’s included signing Claude Giroux and trading for Alex DeBrincat, not to mention locking up more core pieces.

There appears to finally be some hope in Ottawa.

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