Maple Leafs vs Senators Preview: Chabot's First Game as Ottawa Captain

Maple Leafs vs Senators: Ottawa's opener, Toronto's third game

The Maple Leafs vs Senators game on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Scotiabank Arena is Ottawa's season opener and its first regular-season game since trading Brady Tkachuk to Florida. It is also Thomas Chabot's first game as captain. The Senators named the 29-year-old defenceman to the role on Tuesday, with Claude Giroux, Tim Stützle and Jake Sanderson as alternates.

For Toronto, it is game three and the third of four straight home games to open the season, a run that started with a 3-2 loss to Montreal and a 2-1 win over the Islanders. The Leafs are 1-1-0. Ottawa is 0-0-0, rested, and will have the adrenaline that comes with an opening night, even on the road.

This is the first of the Battle of Ontario games that count in 2026-27, and it comes with more subplots than usual.

Thomas Chabot takes over from Brady Tkachuk

Chabot is the longest-tenured Senator. Ottawa drafted him 18th overall in 2015, and he debuted with the club in 2016-17. He has been through the full arc of the franchise's last decade, from the long rebuild to last season's return to the playoffs.

He replaces a captain who defined the team. Tkachuk wore the C for five seasons and had 463 points, 213 goals and 250 assists, in 572 regular-season games with Ottawa. He requested a trade and was dealt to the Panthers on June 21 for the Nos. 9 and 25 picks in the 2026 draft, a conditional 2029 first-round pick and a 2027 second-round pick. We broke down what the Senators without Brady Tkachuk look like before camp, and our argument then still holds: they are a different team, not necessarily a worse one.

Senators coach Travis Green called Tkachuk's trade request disappointing earlier this month. Naming Chabot, a defenceman and a quieter leader, is a clear signal about the identity Ottawa wants: more structure, less agitation.

How Ottawa replaced the goals

Tkachuk's departure removed a 30-goal net-front presence. Ottawa's response was to lean into speed and skill. General manager Steve Staios flipped the No. 9 pick to San Jose for William Eklund, who had 15 goals and 53 points with the Sharks last season, and added André Burakovsky from Chicago.

The scoring core that remains is substantial. Stützle led the team with 34 goals last season, Drake Batherson had 33, Dylan Cozens had 28 and Shane Pinto had 23. That is four players at 23 goals or more, which is more balanced scoring than Toronto's forward group produced last season.

What Ottawa lacks now is weight. The Senators will be quicker in transition and less physically demanding to play against. For a Leafs team that has historically struggled against heavy Atlantic opponents, that is not a gift. Fast teams expose slow defence pairs, and Toronto's defence was the story of the season's first game.

The goaltending matchup

Ottawa's season likely rides on Linus Ullmark. When he was at his best late last season and into the playoffs, the Senators looked like a team capable of winning a round. When he was inconsistent, they were a bubble team. The club hired Maciej Szwoch, a friend and longtime mentor of Ullmark's, as coordinator of goaltending scouting and development in the off-season, a move clearly aimed at keeping the Swede at his best.

For Toronto, the choice is between Sergei Bobrovsky and Anthony Stolarz. Bobrovsky made 21 saves in the opening-night loss to Montreal. Stolarz made 26 saves on 27 shots in Wednesday's win over the Islanders. With two days off between games, Hiller could go back to Bobrovsky in a straight rotation or ride Stolarz after a strong start. Toronto has not announced its starter. Our view, laid out in the Bobrovsky-or-Stolarz debate, is that the job should be decided by performance over October, and Stolarz just made his case.

What Toronto needs to fix

Three things stand out from the first two games.

Five-on-five scoring from the top six. The Leafs have four goals in two games. William Nylander scored both in the opener, the first of them 48 seconds in. Against the Islanders, the goals came from the third line and the power play. The Kirill Marchenko-Auston Matthews-Jack Roslovic line has been dangerous without finishing, and the Gavin McKenna-John Tavares-Nylander line has been inconsistent. Against a team with Ullmark in net, the top six has to produce.

Breakouts. Darren Raddysh's five giveaways on opening night were the headline, but the larger issue is a defence group still learning how its pairs exit the zone. Ottawa's forecheck, led by Stützle's speed, will test that from the opening faceoff.

The power play's defensive side. Toronto scored on the power play Wednesday but also gave up a short-handed goal to Emil Heineman. Ottawa has fast forwards who kill penalties aggressively. A second short-handed goal against in three games would become a pattern.

The pre-season results do not count, but they happened

Toronto swept a split-squad doubleheader against Ottawa to close the pre-season, including a 6-1 win at Scotiabank Arena with something close to the opening-night lineup. We covered it in our pre-season finale recap. Those results are noise; exhibition hockey rewards depth and nobody plays the system at full intensity. But the Leafs' main group moved the puck through the neutral zone well that night, and that is the template for Saturday.

Players to watch on Saturday

Tim Stützle. Ottawa's best player and the engine of its transition game. He scored 34 goals last season, and with Tkachuk gone he becomes the clear focal point. How Toronto's top pair handles his rushes will shape the night.

William Eklund. The new Senator gets his first regular-season look in a top-six role. He is a playmaker who beats defenders with skill rather than size, the exact profile that gave Toronto's defence trouble against Montreal.

Easton Cowan. Toronto's best player on Wednesday, with a goal and an assist. If the third line of Cowan, Nick Paul and Colton Sissons keeps driving play, the Leafs have a matchup advantage Ottawa's depth will struggle to answer.

Why this game matters in the standings

Early-season games in October count exactly as much as games in April, and divisional games count more because they swing two teams at once. Toronto missed the playoffs last season with 78 points. Ottawa made it. If the Leafs are going to close that gap, it starts with winning head-to-head games against the teams they are chasing for a wild-card spot.

Our pre-season projection put Toronto around 91 points with playoff odds below 40 per cent. A home win against a division rival on that rival's opening night is the kind of result that moves that number. You can follow where both teams stand after Saturday on our live standings page.

What's next

Puck drop is 7 p.m. ET Saturday, Oct. 3, at Scotiabank Arena. After Ottawa, Toronto hosts the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, Oct. 6, then begins a three-game western trip in Vegas on Oct. 8, Colorado on Oct. 10 and Utah on Oct. 13.

The Maple Leafs vs Senators rivalry has a new captain on one side and a new coach on the other. Chabot's first game wearing the C will be loud, emotional and in a building full of people who would like nothing more than to spoil it. Toronto should oblige.