The National Hockey League announced on Friday that the Ottawa Senators will play two games in Duesseldorf in December, which has a couple of players on the team with close ties to the country, excited for next season.
As part of the NHL Global Series, the Senators will play two games against the Chicago Blackhawks at PSD Bank Dome in Duesseldorf – the second and third regular-season games ever played in Germany after the Buffalo Sabres and Los Angeles Kings battled in Berlin in 2011.
Senators star forward Tim Stutzle, who was born and raised in Germany and represented the country at the Olympics in Milan in February, said that Senators management let him know ahead of time that this announcement was coming, and that he could barely contain his excitement.
“I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone,” Stutzle said on Saturday, per TSN’s Claire Hanna. “But couldn’t really hold it in, so I told a bunch of the guys… [it’s] 20 minutes from where I grew up, so it’ll be awesome. Show the boys around Germany.”
The red-hot Stutzle, who has eight goals and 19 points during an ongoing 14-game point streak that started back in January, grew up in a city called Krefeld, just northwest of Duesseldorf.
“Hopefully we can get dinner at my parents’ house,” Stutzle said. “I’m really excited for my parents, gonna call them today. I kind of told them briefly, but ya, it wasn’t 100 per cent yet. Now that it’s official, [it’s] really exciting.”
Stutzle, 24, scored four goals to lead Germany at Milano Cortina 2026 and finished second behind Leon Draisaitl in points on the team with six. The team finished sixth overall, its best finish in any Olympic tournament in which NHL players were permitted to play.
Stutzle is hopeful that the team’s success at the tournament, combined with the added presence of the league through the Global Series, can help it grow even more than it has since Stutzle was a child.
“For us as a small hockey country, it’s trying to get better every year,” Stutzle said. “Keep working on those things and try to get more kids to play hockey. I think that’s the biggest part we can do. Be role models for them … If I were that age, I would have loved to see the NHL in Germany. I think that’s really going to grow the game as well.” Stutzle did not attend when the Kings played the Sabres in Berlin 15 years ago.
Senators winger Drake Batherson also has close ties to hockey in Germany, as he spent the first eight years of his life there when his dad played hockey there.
“[I’m] Excited, I haven’t been there since I moved back,” Batherson told Hanna. “All my buddies, all the minor hockey I played was in Germany. I hung out with all German people, the only time I spoke English was at my house.”
Batherson, 27, trails only Stutzle in goals and points on the Senators this season. He said that one of his favourite memories of living in Germany was the final year that his father, Norm, played there. Because Norm knew that he was playing his final season and the schedule wouldn’t allow for a full school year, Batherson spent the end of the season “living the pro hockey life” with his dad.
The one thing Batherson is most excited to get back to in Germany?
“I’m excited to get back and have some pretzels,” Batherson said. “I’ve missed those.”
The surging Senators have more to look forward to this year. With wins in four of their past six games, the Senators are five points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Ottawa was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs last season by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
