Season summary:The rebuilding Senators went through some growing pains in their first season under coach D.J. Smith but battled after a 1-6-1 start and managed to be competitive, particularly at home where they were 18-13-6. Playing 10 rookie skaters over the course of the season, Ottawa was tied for 24th in the NHL in goals per game (2.68), 30th in goals-against per game (3.35), last on the power play (14.2 percent) and tied for 28th on the penalty kill (76.1 percent).