On with the show, this is it for the Senators.

As the Senators prepared to hit the ice for the first time as a team on Tuesday, GM Pierre Dorion dropped by the dressing room to address the troops and outline his expectations. The season gets underway with the Battle of Ontario against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night at the Canadian Tire Centre.

After missing the playoffs last year and then making plenty of changes — including the hiring of coach Guy Boucher and acquiring centre Derick Brassard from the New York Rangers — the Senators are determined to get back to the post-season.

“I feel good,” said Dorion, who took over the GM’s duties from Bryan Murray at the end of last season. “We’ve said it right from the get-go, we feel we’re a playoff team. We hope we can surprise people once we get in the playoffs.

“I know I’ve used very big words in the summer of what our expectations are. I met with the players, and it will be my only meeting with the players this year before practice today, and it was (to outline) what we feel is the path the Ottawa Senators have to take. We’re ready to go.

“Since April 10th, I think (Wednesday) will be the most exciting day for a lot of us.

And, there is no shortage of excitement as the club wraps up this camp.

The Senators set their roster at 22 players by sending winger Curtis Lazar, who has battled mono throughout camp, to their AHL affiliate in Binghamton on Tuesday morning and placing winger Clarke MacArthur, out with a concussion, on the injury list.

That means, for now, Ryan Dzingel, Phil Varone and defenceman Thomas Chabot, who still has junior eligibility, will be part of the team. The Senators studied a couple of the names on the NHL’s waiver wire but at the end of day took a pass because they want to see what they have in the organization.

The reality is the players are on waivers for a reason — usually because there’s no room on the roster or they didn’t have good camps — and in October every team feels like they’ve got the right people in place.

“We definitely had discussions about guys on waivers,” Dorion said. “As an organization, we look at whoever is available if we feel we can be better.

“You look at some of the guys that have had camps here and they’ve had really good camps. We owe it to those players to give them a chance.”

That doesn’t mean they’ll have forever to get their act together because Dorion indicated he wants to see success immediately and won’t hesitate to either make a deal or pick somebody up off the waiver wire if the Senators don’t win.

“I won’t be the most patient man if we start losing,” Dorion said. “We can look at other possibilities when they present themselves but, for now, this is the roster we have.”

This game will mark the debut of Boucher behind the bench.

He promised when he took over the reins last spring things were going to change around here and there’s no question they have in a big way, which is a positive sign. The tone has changed in practice, they’re held at a much higher tempo and there’s a lot of teaching going on.

Dorion has been impressed with what Boucher has brought to the table because he’s lived up to the promises he made on the way he’d do things during his interviews with the club before getting the job.

That hasn’t always been the case in the past.

“He has delivered. So far with the expectations of how we want camp to go. He’s definitely delivered. I’d like to have him deliver two points on Wednesday. Is that too much to ask?,” Dorion said, tongue in cheek. “No, he’s definitely delivered. It’s exactly the type of coach we needed for this team to have success.”

The Senators know the changes Boucher has made aren’t going to make for overnight success. But it would help everybody involved if the Senators beat the Leafs — with the Montreal Canadiens here Saturday and another game against a division rival Monday when the club travels to Detroit for the Red Wings’ home opener.

“We’d like to get off to a fast start,” Dorion said. “Are we going to be patient? I think we have to be patient to a certain degree but I think we can be patient and still win.”

This is the first step in what the Senators can only hope will be the right direction.