Stutzle believes Senators can push for playoff spot: 'Expectations are high'

Tim Stutzle is confident a busy offseason has the Ottawa Senators on the rise.

The club reinforced its roster by trading for Alex DeBrincat and Cam Talbot while signing Claude Giroux in free agency. Core forward Josh Norris also inked an eight-year extension.

"The expectations are high," Stutzle told NHL.com's Dan Rosen.

He added: "The moves we made, the signings we made with Josh for long-term committing to that time, the talk about the new rink downtown, everything - the expectations are high. We want to show the fans that we're a good team, a young team, and we can really be a lot better than we played the last two years."

Ottawa drafted Stutzle third overall in 2020. The team has finished second-last in its division in each season since, but the 20-year-old believes a playoff berth is a possibility for the Senators in 2022-23.

"We want to be in the playoffs, and I think that's why we made the moves," Stutzle said. "We talked about that in the exit meetings, too, that we have to make moves to be in the playoffs. They fully committed to that, so everyone is really happy to get back to Ottawa."

The Senators last reached the postseason in 2017 when they fell in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ottawa will be in tough to make headway in a deep Atlantic Division that sent four 100-point teams to the playoffs last season.