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“We knew it would probably be trying at certain points,” alternate captain

Photo by Tony Caldwell / Postmedia

told Postmedia Saturday morning. “It’s definitely been tougher than expected. There’s a lot of lessons to be learned a lot of things to take away from it.

“First and foremost as a group, it needs to be losing sucks. You can’t get comfortable losing and you can’t be one of those groups or teams that falls into that trap of being content to work hard and not get a result. We almost have to get a little bit of that of losing into this room again going into next year. That will be a good thing.”

The Senators are heading into an off-season of unknowns but there will be movement. Coach Guy Boucher was fired March 1 and the plan is for Dorion to begin his search for a replacement immediately. Yes, interim coach Marc Crawford has a shot at the job, but the Senators owe it to themselves and their fan base to do an extensive search.

On the ice, decisions have to be made on unrestricted free agent forwards Brian Gibbons, Oscar Lindberg and Magnus Paajarvi along with restricted forward Anthony Duclair. The expectation is the club will make a qualifying offer to Duclair and try to keep Gibbons. Paajarvi and Lindberg likely won’t be back unless there’s a change of heart.

There isn’t going to be a whole lot of changes on defence. The club will try to sign restricted free agent blueliner Cody Ceci to a new deal. If that doesn’t happen then the expectation is he will get moved. Big blueliner Ben Harpur may be an attractive option to move if the Senators are able to get help up front.