The Ottawa Senators All-Time Team USA Starting Lineup

With the offseason in full swing and many, but not all, free agents off the board, all hockey fans, us included, can’t wait for October. Here at Last Word on Hockey, we have been exploring some different “bests” during the long, hot days of summer. Best players by number for a few teams, top Canadians by position, and top first-round draft picks are some of the select rankings our writers have been exploring. As an ode to the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, here for the Ottawa Senators, we are looking at the all-time starting lineups based on nationality. Other teams have started this series as well, such as the Carolina Hurricanes and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Ottawa Senators All-Time Best American Starting Lineup

A few parameters to this list to get us started. This will be a starting lineup, so two wingers, one centre, two defencemen, and a goalie. The player must have played in the NHL with the Senators (so not considering prospects), and since the 1992 reincarnation of the franchise. The assessment comes from the players best performance with, and impact on, the Senators, not over his career if he played with other teams. So let’s get down to business and the all-time Ottawa Senators American starting lineup.

Brady Tkachuk

Any excuse to talk about the Sens current captain, Brady Tkachuk, and how dominant he can be, is fun to take advantage of that opportunity. In terms of the best Americans to play for Ottawa, Tkachuk is in the top-two really. We will refer to the other candidate when we get to him. First of all, at 24 years old, Tkachuk is already ninth on the Sens all-time points list with 349. However, this point total puts him first among those representing the star-spangled banner. In the past couple seasons, he has really boosted his offensive game. Tkachuk has put up 157 points in 163 games since the start of 2022-23. Also, he is a three-time, 30-goal scorer, in six NHL campaigns thus far.

However, it is more about his leadership qualities and the punch he brings to his all-around game. He is consistently among the league’s hit leaders. For instance, in 2023-24, he finished third in the entire league with 294. Tkachuk is also not afraid to drop the mitts, whenever and wherever. If a teammate needs someone to stick up for him, if the team needs a rallying cry, more often than not, and even with more traditional enforcers on the roster at times, it is Tkachuk who steps up. Tkachuk is the unheralded leader of the current Sens team, comes from hockey family royalty, and comfortably finds himself on the all-time Ottawa Senators best American starting six.

Shane Pinto

Pinto finds himself in pretty select company with his inclusion to this lineup. One reason he was our choice, is the fact that he is a centre. Among his direct competition, most of the decent American forwards that have played for Ottawa, have been wingers. Also, his body of work has proved to everyone he’s a very important piece to the current Ottawa Senators roster. Missing Pinto for the first half of 2023-24 was a big influence as to why the Sens struggled. The reason this was made painfully evident to Sens fans, was upon his return he scored 27 points in 41 games. This was in primarily a top-six forward role, playing over 18 minutes a game.

Over his career, he has accumulated 70 points in 140 games. In only two full NHL seasons, Pinto is a 20-goal scorer, and shown to be an effective two-way, number two centre in the NHL. His overall influence on the current Sens roster secures his positioning, down the middle, on the Ottawa Senators all-time best American lineup.

Shawn McEachern

Next up, is one of the many of the crop of American forwards that would cause us to debate both Pinto and McEachern’s inclusion on the list of best all-time Ottawa Senators. One big factor is that he is 12th on the Senators all-time points list with 304, and only second to Tkachuk among USA players. McEachern had a solid six-year career with the Sens, playing in 454 regular season games. Moreover, one of the big reasons for his selection was his reliable playoff performances. He was a member of the first Sens team to qualify for the playoffs in 1996-97. He was a part of memorable playoff series victories in 1998 or 2002. In total, he appeared in 44 playoff games, recorded 17 points, and played an important plus-19 minutes a game. These reasons all combine to give him a leg up on his direct competition, which we will reference at the end.

Jake Sanderson

It can be difficult to achieve star status as a young NHL defenceman. However, at 22 years old, with his $8+M deal starting, Jake Sanderson carries the classification as a young star on the blueline well. Sanderson is an extremely effective skater and has the power in his stride of a seasoned vet. Furthermore, his numbers in his first two seasons have been remarkably consistent. In his rookie year, he had four goals and 28 assists in 21:55 minutes of ice time. Then, he kicked it up a notch last year. He recorded ten goals and 28 assists for 38 points, playing 23:13 a game. He played in all situations, and led the Senators defencemen in power play ice time last year as well. Also, he played a lot on the penalty kill and was on the ice over 230 minutes on both special teams, individually.

In terms of his inclusion on this list, there’s not much to dislike about Sanderson, including his pre-NHL development path. After all, he came from the Senators unofficial feeder program under coach Brad Berry at the University of North Dakota. Fellow members of the current Sens blueline are also alumni, including Tyler Kleven and Jacob Bernard-Docker. Shane Pinto played there as well. With Sanderson’s connections and his tremendous skill, put him down in pen, not pencil, on our best American Ottawa Senators lineup.

Joe Corvo

Of the other candidates for USA defencemen, Corvo just had enough of an advantage. One reason Corvo makes the cut for this All-American lineup, was his contributions to the 2007 Stanley Cup finalist edition of the Ottawa Senators franchise. In that magical playoff run, Corvo had nine points in 20 games. He was a very valuable depth piece to the very deep Sens roster that season. In total with the Sens, over parts of three seasons, he had 152 games played and registered 74 points. Given the total body of work, along with factoring in the ’07 run, Corvo earns his spot in the starting six.

Craig Anderson

Remember when we said Tkachuk is in the top two of the best Americans to ever play for the Ottawa Senators? Well, here we are with the other one of the two. Forget the best goalie on Team USA for the all-time Sens lineup, Anderson might be the best goalie in Sens history. As a note, we did do a deeper analysis previously where, based more so statistically, than from a popularity contest, Anderson did lose out to Patrick Lalime in our rankings. In terms of a symbolic sense, it could also be difficult to separate the two, as Lalime was a huge contributor to the Sens first, real deep playoff runs. However, in terms of numbers, Anderson does tip the scales with his longevity. His 435 regular season games were way beyond Lalime’s 283. Additionally, Anderson had an outstanding .914 SV% during his time with Ottawa.

Anderson was a huge piece in the improbable 2017 Eastern Conference Final run by the team. In addition, Anderson walked away with the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy in 2017. His dedication and perseverance was obvious from his play, but also behind the scenes as his wife, Nicholle, had battled cancer. Basically, Anderson was a huge part of the organization and community as a whole, for such a long time. As a matter of fact, the Sens organization still struggles with consistency in goal since his departure from the club, now way back in 2020. For all the reasons, from stats, to providing leadership in goal and the team, Craig Anderson is the best goalie to represent the USA the Sens have ever seen.

The Honourable Mentions of the Best American Ottawa Senators Starting Lineup

The honourable mentions for the Sens Team USA lineup, have some names people may be disappointed didn’t make the main list. However, for one reason or another, they did fall short, but it is still worth discussing them. The top candidates include Bobby Ryan, Nick Foligno, Bryan Smolinski, and Josh Norris. These guys, aside from Norris, were wingers, but were edged out by McEachern’s full body of work with the Sens. This was, for the most part, based on total time spent with the club but also McEachern’s productivity and playoff contributions. Norris and Pinto’s impact on the club is a bit of a toss-up at this point. However, with Pinto emerging as a top-six regular, seemingly being the front-runner for number two-centre behind Tim Stutzle, he got the nod.

In the end, there are no wrong answers. We hope you enjoyed our list. Stay tuned as we continue our series with other nationalities.

Main photo: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports