Ice hockey is a loved sport in the U.S. and Canada and obviously, even more Canadians – participated in ice hockey in 2018 while the NHL revenue almost doubled during the last decade and a half, accounted for $5.09 billion dollars in the season of 2018/19.
Hockey betting thrives as well: 24 teams from the U.S. and seven from Canada are on the radar of hundreds of thousands of bettors, who are perfectly aware of every minuscule detail, every purchase, and every move of the team they wager on. The scene is huge…and just like every huge scene, it has underdogs worth paying attention to – the underdogs poised to shock the world and bring fortunes to their supporters.
Believe it or not, the 2020-21 Ottawa Senators might become one of those dark horses in the season(s) to come, and here’s why:
2020-21 Ottawa Senators on the Rise
Unleashing the Potential Since 2003
One-time owners of the Prince of Wales Trophy (2006-07) and Presidents’ Trophy (2002-03), the Senators have never won the Stanley Cup. However, they managed to grow its from $92 million in franchise worth in 2003 to $435 million as of Dec. 2019. With the total net revenue of $127 million, the team has proved to be an ever-growing business project worth considering as a profitable investment.
Good Resilience in the Middle of the Rebuild
As expected, the turbulent season of 2019-20 turned out to be rough for the team. On the one hand, they managed to recover from an abysmal 1-6-1 start to end the first half of the season with comfortable 13-12-4. However, the ending was much worse. As a result, the team secured a well-deserved 24th place in the goals per game, 30th in goals-against per game, and the last place on the power play.
However, the resilience demonstrated during the season signifies the willingness to overcome difficulties and fight for life when the situation requires it. And if you do believe that’s what will create success for Ottawa Senators, you might as well join the bettors using only trusted and secured online gambling sites in Ottawa and make a bet on your favorite team.
Good Chances to Get Future Stars in the Draft Lottery
One of the most anticipated moments of the whole NHL season is the Entry draft, an annual meeting to select the best young hockey players to join the teams that didn’t reach NHL qualifying rounds. If the Senators win the 2020 NHL Draft Lottery, which is more than likely, they will select Alexis Lafreniere, an excellent rebuilding tool for the years to come.
The Thomas Chabot Factor
Team MVP Thomas Chabot has already proved to be worth his staggering eight-year contract he signed in 2019. Indeed, the sky’s the limit for this 23-year-old defenceman with an average time of 26 minutes on the ice per game. His future contribution is out of the question, as well as the fact that he is expected to become one of the pillars to build success on.
Undervaluation Still Takes Place
The franchise is worth $435 million and franchise growing at a rate of 4-percent per year and that’s no joke, but it’s still behind the average growth tempo of the NHL ice hockey teams (6-percent per year) and still less than one-third of the value of the top two teams in the league. Ranking 23rd in the league and 6th out of seven Canadian franchises, Ottawa Senators is bound to grow. Period.
What’s Next for the Senators
Regardless of whether the luck is to smile on the team during the Draft, they already have Chabot and Brady Tkachuk, the two young players capable of making difference in decisive games. Meanwhile, while the team is left to watch their qualified competitors in a play-in round left for the third season in a row they have a very good chance to learn from the mistakes of the past and finally achieve the long-awaited breakthrough in the very next season.
