After watching the 22-year-old help save the Senators' season and send them back to Scotiabank Arena for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET: CBC, TVAS, SN, ESPN), the follow-up question was obvious. That is, where does Stutzle rank Sanderson now?

The teams needed extra time for the third straight game, with Ottawa finally breaking through after 3-2 overtime losses in Games 2 and 3.

There were mounting expectations that Jake Sanderson would take a step forward during the 2024-25 season, as was the case for just about all of his Ottawa Senators teammates. When Sanderson wasn’t meeting his expectations,