When Artem Zub returned to the Ottawa Senators lineup in early January, the prevailing thought was, “Okay, now that the Senators have two quality defensive pairings, how much will the needle move?”
Despite dropping their first four games (0-3-1), the Senators have put together a 10-5-2 record in the 17 games since the Russian defender returned from a fractured foot.
Interestingly, the team has only been able to keep Thomas Chabot and Nick Jensen together for 10 of those games. The latter has remained sidelined with an undisclosed lower-body injury, believed to be the knee, since January 24.
The Senators have still managed to win games, but Chabot’s minutes have been spread out almost equally between the injured Jensen and Travis Hamonic. Irrespective of who his partner was, the underlying metrics have not been good.
After a one-game reintroduction to the lineup, Artem Zub was reunited with Jake Sanderson on January 3, 2025, for the Senators’ game against the St. Louis Blues.
According to NaturalStatTrick, here is how the Senators performed at five-on-five with Thomas Chabot on the ice with his different partners since January 3:
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With Nick Jensen: 10 GP, 49.82 CF%, 44.44 SF%, 33.33 GF%, 40.16 xGF%
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With Travis Hamonic: 6 GP, 45.10 CF%, 48.68 SF%, 100.0 GF%, 43.41 xGF%
Jensen has been dealing with the injury without impacting his performance, but seeing these metrics, it is not surprising that he went on the shelf shortly thereafter. The team’s performance with Chabot and Hamonic on the ice is understandable, given the latter’s history of being an anchor dragging any partner he plays with.
Coupled with the fact that the Tyler Kleven and Nik Matinpalo pairing have generated some porous numbers during this stretch, it is incredible that the Senators have been as successful as they have been.
The Senators have generated 47.27 percent of the shots (CF%), 42.97 percent of the shots on goal (SF%), 40.00 percent of the goals (GF%), and 36.56 percent of the expected goals (xGF) with the Kleven/Matinpalo pairing on the ice.
The Senators have overcome these performances on the strength of their goaltending, but what has helped immensely is the play of the Sanderson/Zub pairing.
Since reuniting on January 3, the duo have been paired for 15 games, logging 218:47 of ice time. They have been one of the best pairings in the league at five-on-five, generating 56.54 percent of the shots (CF%, 5th in NHL), 58.64 percent of the shots (SF%, 2nd in NHL), and 64.76 expected goals (xGF%,…