Article content continued

During the course of the next two months, however, there are far more significant bigger-picture questions about what steps the organization will take in moving the rebuilding project to its next phase.

After the hectic, road-heavy opening 12 weeks of the season, the Senators have reason to be relatively pleased with the foundation Smith has put into place.

Without question, the club is more determined, more focused on necessary defensive details. The Senators have delivered a few forgettable outings along the way, but generally they’ve hung around in most games, and are more competitive and defensively detailed than many observers might have expected at the outset.

“Certainly the start (of the season) wasn’t what we wanted,” Smith said of the 1-6-1 stumble out of the gate. “If we work hard, we stay in games. We’ve had some timely goals of late. We’ve played well at home, but we’ve got to continue this after the break and take care of home ice.”

Photo by Wayne Cuddington / Postmedia

In one sense, it has been almost a perfect scenario: winning enough to prevent doom and gloom from setting in, but also losing enough to maintain hope of securing a top-flight potential game-breaker in next summer’s draft.

Maybe even too good for those concerned that too many victories will reduce the Senators’ chances of hitting the jackpot in the draft lottery. With their solid pre-Christmas run, the Senators have jumped into a tie for 26th in the overall standings. The Senators also own the San Jose Sharks’ first pick and San Jose is two points behind the Senators, offering the potential of securing two top-five selections.