Training camp for the Ottawa Senators is about trying to determine where everybody will fit when the regular season gets underway on Oct. 3 against the Toronto Maple Leafs

The Ottawa Senators will begin putting the pieces of the puzzle together on Monday night.

Training camp isn’t about a battle for jobs for the Senators, it’s about trying to determine where everybody will fit when the regular season gets underway on Oct. 3 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Senators will open the preseason against the Montreal Canadiens on Monday night in the annual Kraft Hockeyville game, which will be held at the 4,300-seat Centre Vidéotron in Trois-Rivières.

While alternate captain Thomas Chabot won’t make the trip because his wife, Marion, is due to give birth to the couple’s first child any day, judging by the 23 players and three goaltenders on the ice Sunday at the Canadian Tire Centre, this will be a strong lineup.

The three goalies on the ice were Linus Ullmark, Samuel Ersson and Leevi Merilainen.

“Tomorrow, we’ll have a majority of our group play,” coach Travis Green said before the club’s short flight to Trois-Rivières.

The Senators have only five exhibition games before Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, Green and the rest of the group have to declare the club’s final 23-man roster by Monday, Sept. 28, at 5 p.m.

Though the Senators will essentially practise as a National Hockey League group, the club will need to keep extra players around. Ottawa will host the Leafs for a split-squad game on Wednesday at home, while 20 other players will travel to Scotiabank Arena.

That will be the same scenario on Saturday when one group hosts the Montreal Canadiens at the CTC and 20 more players wearing Ottawa uniforms will face the Habs at the Bell Centre at the same time.

“It’s exciting to get going and to play a game to get yourself ready. It’s all about gearing up for the first game of the year,” Green said. “And as camp goes on, you’ve got to fight through fatigue and stay mentally sharp. Those are all things we’ve talked about, and it’ll be nice to get a game under our belt for sure.”

The Senators only did special-teams work on Sunday, so there weren’t any lines or defensive pairings used. Green is trying to find out what his top four lines will look like.

Tim Stutzle, Dylan Cozens, Shane Pinto and Stephen Halliday will be in the middle, but how will it look around them? That’s to be determined.

“Training camps are always about that,” said Green when asked if this is about determining where everybody fits. “We feel like our forward group is a deep group, and it’s not going to be an easy decision to determine where everybody is going to play.

“Quite frankly, if you play on a certain line and it looks good, then that’s the way we’ll start. If not, we’ll try something else.”

This is the way the Senators lined up in the scrimmage on Saturday:

Andre Burakovsky-Tim Stutzle-Drake Batherson

William Eklund-Dylan Cozens-Fabian Zetterlund

Phillip Tomasino-Shane Pinto-Nick Cousins

Claude Giroux-Stephen Halliday-Tyler Boucher

The next five games will be a chemistry test.

Day 4 of camp is the point where players are ready to shift gears to prepare for the season. Camp is short this year, and that’s why it’s important for the players to get up to speed quickly.

“It’s always good to get two or three games,” Giroux said. “I know it’s a little different this year, but you want to feel the puck and get a feel for the game.”

Defenceman Jordan Spence joined the list of the walking wounded on Sunday.

Green called it a maintenance day, but nobody will take any risks with injuries during camp. The club is already without blueliner Artem Zub and winger Warren Foegele. Rugged forward Kurtis MacDermid suffered an upper-body injury during training camp and is also out.

The club made one roster move on Sunday by sending goaltender Lucas Beckman back to the Cape Breton Eagles of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.

Selected No. 27 overall by the Senators in 2025, Beckman was acquired by Cape Breton from the defending league champion Chicoutimi Saguenéens and has a chance to play in the Memorial Cup next spring.