According to the latest rumblings out of Ottawa, the Senators could be amongst the busier teams in the league as the NHL’s March 8th trade deadline approaches.
While there was little doubt following former GM Pierre Dorion’s firing, and the team’s continued on ice struggles that something would need to change with regards to the Sens lineup, it now sounds as though those changes could be larger than the marginal shifts Ottawa has seen at past trade deadlines.
In the lead up to last year’s deadline day, Ottawa shipped out Nikita Zaitsev to Chicago, and Tyler Motte to New York in a pair of salary dumps, before sending Kristian Rubins, Jayce Hawryluk, and Patrick Brown out of town in three separate deals that netted them future considerations and 6th round pick. The “big swing” came on March 1st when the team acquired blue liner Jakob Chychrun from Arizona in exchange for a 2023 1st, a 2024 2nd, and a 2026 2nd round selection.
The year prior saw Mathieu Joseph, Travis Hamonic, Zach Senyshyn, and Michael McNiven come in, while Zach Sanford, Joshua Brown, and Nick Paul all left town.
Fast forward to 2023-24 and the Senators find themselves in last place in the Eastern Conference with a 16-24 record, and more questions than answers regarding the state of their seemingly never ending rebuild.
Multiple outlets have now reported that new owner Michael Andlauer and GM Steve Staios are growing increasingly frustrated with the team’s lack of progress, and are actively listening to trade offers on some bigger name players than in years past.
The newly acquired Dominik Kubalik is one such player who is rumoured to have been getting shopped unsuccessfully over the past few weeks. The 28 year old winger currently has 12 points (9G, 3A) across 40 games with Ottawa this season. Vladimir Tarasenko is another name that’s popped up as the team’s slide down the standings worsened. The former 40 goal scorer sits at 29 points (11G, 18A) across 38 contests in the nation’s capital this year, and could fetch a sizeable return ahead of the trade deadline.
Tarasenko, 32, signed a 1 year, $5M contract with the Sens in the offseason, but doesn’t appear to be a candidate to sign a long term extension with the club before hitting free agency. As such, it’s believed that Ottawa’s front office has been in contact with Tarasenko’s representatives at Octagon Hockey to have the Russian waive his no trade clause.
However the real prize of deadline day could be the aforementioned Chychrun, who at only 25 years old, could be one of the most sought after defenders for clubs with championship aspirations. While Ottawa acquired the 6’2″ defenseman in exchange for draft picks, Staios has indicated his preference would be to make a “hockey trade” to acquire NHL ready bodies rather than replenishing the club’s war chest of draft picks.
That being said, a subplot to keep an eye on is the team’s upcoming forfeited 1st round pick as a result of the failed Evgenii Dadonov trade last year. It’s highly unlikely Ottawa would be interested in having that penalty vest this year given the team’s poor record and a strong draft class. But the front office could be looking to insulate themselves by acquire another club’s future 1st round selection in the event they opt to move on from any of their higher profile players in the coming weeks.
Erik Brannstrom, and Parker Kelly are both restricted free agents this offseason, and the club could look to move on from one or both of those assets if the right deal presents itself. Rourke Chartier is a UFA at season’s end as well, but those all represent smaller scale deals which would likely net the Sens a mid round pick at best, and not move the needle in any noticeable fashion.
With Shane Pinto needing a long term contract resolution sooner rather than later following his gambling related suspension, and Ottawa featuring only $1.05M in cap space (including the relief they’re getting from Anton Forsberg’s LTIR designation), the question isn’t whether Ottawa will make a move ahead of the trade deadline, but rather how many moves they’ll make.
For although the NHL salary cap is expected to jump up to $87.675M in 2024-25, and Ottawa will finally see Bobby Ryan, Michael Del Zotto, and Matt Murray’s contracts come off their books, the fact of the matter is that Ottawa is more than just 1 move away from becoming a contender.
With the club poised to miss the playoffs for the 7th consecutive season this spring, fans aren’t interested in another prolonged rebuild process. Which will put additional pressure on Staios and company to turn things around in relatively short order. What that ultimately means for the team’s roster is that unless your name is Stutzle, Tkachuk, or Sanderson, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be in the team’s lineup on opening night 2024-25.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Jenn G. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.