OTTAWA — All season, Ottawa Senators fans have been discussing it: what’s more important, a top-six forward or a top-four defenceman?

The answer is clear: a top-four defenceman. 

The Senators’ future on the right side of defence is muddied today and into the future, while much of Ottawa’s young forward group is signed into the next decade, with the notable exceptions of captain Brady Tkachuk and Drake Batherson.

Sure, the puck could find the back of the net more often, but the Senators as a collective have the 10th-best shooting percentage in the league. An issue has been that their defence is incomplete. 

In an ideal world, the Senators need to upgrade in both areas, but this season has been anything but ideal for Sens Nation. 

Ottawa’s top four defence corps is settled, outside of pending unrestricted free agent Nick Jensen, who has played better of late but overall has struggled. It’s evident that Jensen is not the solution. He has been on the ice for 53 goals against at five-on-five: that’s the 13th-most of any player to play over 800 minutes this season, and third-most goals per 60 at 3.54 in the league. An addition to the right side of the top four could conceivably mean the Senators have one of the best defences in the league, led by Jake Sanderson, Thomas Chabot, Artem Zub and (insert trade-deadline acquisition). 

Also, the narrative that Ottawa struggles to score is deceptive. The Senators are 11th in goals and have the eighth-best power play, while sitting 23rd in goals allowed per game. 

Plus, what may have been Ottawa’s biggest question mark offensively, Dylan Cozens, has found his game.

It’s naïve to think that Ottawa’s forward group is of championship calibre. But a top-six elite forward won’t fix finding a partner for Chabot. Most of the time in the NHL, you defend your way out of problems, not outscore them. General manager Steve Staios will eventually need to find a scoring winger, but presumably not before Friday’s trade deadline.

Ottawa’s centres Cozens, Tim Stutzle and Shane Pinto are all signed until 2030, while only Sanderson is signed to Ottawa’s blueline past 2028. The defence needs reinforcements. 

We all know the reason the Senators’ season has been underwhelming. Every Senator goaltender this season has faltered, most notably Linus Ullmark with his .884 save percentage. Yet, on Tuesday in Edmonton, the Senators’ defence let Ullmark down. 

We understand the Senators are six points out of a playoff spot, but Moneypuck.com gives them 39 per cent odds of making the playoffs. They’ve got points in eight of their last nine, and in games Ullmark has started and finished, he is 7-0-3 in his last 10 (he was pulled against Toronto on Dec. 27). They are clawing close enough to a playoff spot. 

If Ullmark’s run of play continues, that gives more reason to believe in the roster, if you’re Senators management.  

The Senators should go all in, a bold deadline to bolster this season but, importantly, into the next few. 

You have to capitalize on your window with Tkachuk signed, and with Sanderson and Stutzle on bargain contracts, making barely over $8 million a season. In theory, the next few seasons should be when the Senators become a contender. 

Meanwhile, Staios clearly recognizes the need for a right-shot defenceman because his first two first-round selections as GM were grabbing just that in Carter Yakemchuk and Logan Hensler.

The underrated plot point is that Zub is an unrestricted free agent in 2027, when he will be 31. Zub has created one of the best defensive partnerships in Senators’ history with Sanderson — in the same stratosphere as Erik Karlsson-Marc Methot or Zdeno Chara-Chris Phillips. It puts the Senators’ hierarchy in a precarious position, as youngsters Yakemchuk and Hensler aren’t likely to be impact contributors in the near term. Ottawa’s lack of draft capital, prospects and impending free agency to Zub means they have to plan to fill the right side of the defence for 2027-28. 

All of these point to Ottawa needing a right-shot defenceman for the Sanderson-Stutzle-Tkachuk era of Senators hockey.

The Sens could trade one but not both of their prospects for the ready-to-win-now version of what you’d hope Yakemchuk and Hensler would someday become. 

Elite right-shot defencemen are hard to acquire but not impossible. On Nick Kypreos’ Trade Board, there are plenty of right-shot defencemen with term.

There’s MacKenzie Weegar, who is paid until he’s 38 but is an Ottawa native and a really good NHL defenceman. Imagine a top four of Sanderson-Zub and Chabot-Weegar? Pretty good now and into next season.

Also on Kypreos’ board are the likes of Tyler Myers, Justin Faulk, Dougie Hamilton, Rasmus Ristolainen and Braeden Schneider — all with team control until at the very least the end of next season.

None are perfect solutions, but some would be clear upgrades for this Senators franchise.

Priority No. 1 for Staios at the deadline must be to propel Ottawa into a playoff spot, in tandem with elevating the Senators’ lineup for 2026-27 and beyond. 

It would also insulate Yakemchuk’s future next season, meaning he wouldn’t be thrust too soon into a top-four role. 

We acknowledge the Senators need to be prudent in not trading picks away needlessly for short-term gain, as former GM Pierre Dorion did, trading a first-rounder each for Alex DeBrincat and Jakob Chychrun, who combined for two-and-a-half seasons in Canada’s capital. 

At the same time, the Senators aren’t as far away as they were then. They are ready to win now, not trying to expedite a rebuild with short-sighted, short-term swings at the wrong time, as Staios’ predecessor did. 

Let’s be clear, any move must have term. Ottawa isn’t a free-agent destination, and without a first-round pick this season and just two elite prospects at their disposal. Staios has one shot at this. 

Something in the way of a smart, calculated gamble is in order.