A joke going around Ottawa these days starts off with, “What do the Ottawa Senators and the Titanic have in common? The punch line is that they’re both at the bottom of the Atlantic.
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Not all Senators fans find that funny and many are demanding major changes in their team’s roster. Yet that’s unlikely to happen any time soon judging by what Senators’ president of hockey operations and general manager (GM) Steve Staios says.
Speaking to The Jason Gregor Show (Staios interview starts at 1:07:50) on Edmonton’s Sports 1440 on Jan. 5, Staios said he’d “like to add a veteran player if he could” before the NHL’s trade deadline on March 8. But that’s probably as far as Ottawa’s trades will go, at least until the off-season.
Still, Staios says he and his team “will be out (looking) and we’re being aggressive.” Let’s take a look at who he could be looking at acquiring leading up to the trade deadline.
Tough for Senators to Acquire Veteran at 2024 Trade Deadline
Finding a character veteran to add to the roster before the deadline won’t be easy. That’s because contrary to what a lot of fans think, the NHL isn’t fantasy hockey. As Toronto Maple Leafs’ GM Brad Trevliving once explained it, “the idea that you can go pick ‘this player’ off the player tree . . . it doesn’t happen that way.”
Staios acknowledged as much with Gregor explaining that, “I think (the deadline) is an important time to try to take advantage of certain situations, if they’re there. To try to force something into your team or to try something rash is never been what we’ve set out to do here. We’ve taken a process-driven approach. Certainly, it’s going to have to make sense. Time will tell on what the opportunities might become as we get closer to the deadline.”
Even if Staios does come across another character player like Claude Giroux, that player would come with a hefty price tag. The first thing any GM in trade talks with Ottawa is going to ask is whether any of the team’s top six are for sale. Ottawa insists they’re not, and that means all Staios is likely to land is a bottom-six skater or an addition to his blue line.
Not only that, but it’s fair to ask why a veteran would want to come to Ottawa. Finding good veterans is akin to searching for Sasquatch. And even if Ottawa could find the mythical beast, many have Ottawa (aka, Dullsville-on-the-Rideau) on their no-trade list. A case in point is Connor Hellebuyck, who last summer made it clear that he wanted out of Winnipeg but had Ottawa on his list (from, Bruce Garrioch, “GARRIOCH: Ottawa Senators score big by signing goalie Joonas Korpisalo to five-year deal”, 01/07/2023).
Even if Staios could find a seasoned veteran without Ottawa on their no-trade list, most would want to go to a team with a realistic shot at a Stanley Cup. That’s probably at least in part why Giroux and Vladimir Tarasenko came to Bytown. It’s anyone’s guess as to when or even if this current version of the Senators will be a Cup contender.
It’s true that unless the player Staios is acquiring is an unrestricted free agent, (UFA) then they’d have no choice but to come to Ottawa in a trade if it weren’t prevented by a no-trade clause. Even so, they’d be tough for the Senators to retain if they really didn’t want to be here. Just ask Alex DeBrincat.
As UFAs at the end of this season, Tarasenko and Dominik Kubalik are sure to attract some attention from other teams as playoff rentals. So too might pending restricted free agent (RFA) Erik Brannstrom. The problem for the Senators who are in “win now” mode, is that these players are likely to fetch only picks and prospects. No team that thinks they have a shot at a playoff run is going to give up valuable roster players for playoff rentals.
6 Potential Trade Deadline Targets for Senators
While Ottawa’s top six is struggling under interim head coach Jacques Martin, it’s solid and the team just needs to find a way to fix what ails it. That means that all Staios really needs to acquire before the trade deadline is a veteran who can help his bottom six or his struggling defence.
Here’s a look at some intriguing potential additions to the Senators’ roster. Not all of them come up in conversation and none would be game changers for the Senators. Yet each would complement Giroux as a mentor and model for the Senators’ young lineup.
Anthony Duclair – San Jose Sharks
Anthony Duclair is mentioned as a possible deadline acquisition and would be déjà vu for the Senators. The 28-year-old, 6-foot-1 winger spent part of the 2018-19 season and then all of the 2019-20 season in Bytown before moving on to the Florida Panthers.
He shoots left but can play either wing and at that position has proven himself to be a 30-goal-per-season skater. His average annual salary (AAV) of $3 million would make him an expensive upgrade to the Senators’ current bottom/middle six. Even so, he is a seasoned pro with 10 years in the league spread across seven different teams.
Duclair becomes a free agent this spring so for a trade to make sense, Staios would need to find a way to add some term to his contract.
Sean Walker – Philadelphia Flyers
What should make Sean Walker interesting for the Senators is that he’s a right-shot defenceman. He is signed with the Flyers until the end of the 2024-25 season and his contract carries an AAV of $2.65 million.
Walker is comparable to Brannstrom who was once expected to be a 40-point scorer, but has proven to be much less. His small size means he gets thrown around in the corners of the defensive zone.
The Senators have tried making Brannstrom a winger to make room for Thomas Chabot who recently returned to the lineup from an injury. Yet what that really says is that the Senators don’t think he’s good enough to play on their blue line. If that’s the case, the slightly more expensive Walker would round out the Sens’ d-corps as a much-needed right-hand shot.
Rasmus Ristolainen – Philadelphia Flyers
The 6-foot-1, 215-pound Finn is a right-shot defenceman who would add size and grit to the Senators’ blue line. He would bring 11 years and 704 games worth of NHL experience to Ottawa.
What’s more, he is under contract with the Flyers until the end of the 2026-27 season. Even so, he would be a relatively expensive upgrade to Ottawa’s blue line with a contract featuring a $5.1 million AAV.
Matt Roy – Los Angeles Kings
Matt Roy is another option for Staios to add to the right side of his blue line. The 6-foot-1, 201-pound Michigan native’s current contract carries an AAV of $3.1 million. He becomes a UFA at the end of this season.
As with Walker, he’s more expensive than Brannstrom, but is bigger and has demonstrated an ability to notch more points. Even so, his pending UFA status is a problem that Staios needs to resolve if a trade for him is to make sense.
Blake Lizotte – Los Angeles Kings
Blake Lizotte is a left-handed centreman who last season notched 34 points. In his fifth season in LA, his contract features an AAV of just $1.675 million. Adding him to the roster presents a challenge for Staios because he becomes a UFA at the end of this season.
An argument could be made that Lizotte would be a smaller, more expensive replacement for Ottawa fourth liners Kelly (AAV of $762,000) and Mark Kastelic (AAV of $835,000). Still, neither compares to Lizotte in terms of points production, nor do they have his experience in the league. Not only that, but Kelly becomes an RFA at the end of this season and Kastelic a UFA in the spring of 2025.
Jordan Martinook – Carolina Hurricanes
Jordan Martinook is probably surplus to the Canes. There’s no question that the 31-year-old left winger would bring to the Senators much-needed veteran experience with his 10 seasons and 600 games in the NHL.
With six seasons in Carolina, he knows what it takes for a team to be a contender. Now a Hurricanes alternate captain, he could play anywhere in the Senators forward roster – top or bottom six. Not only that, but his contract features a very modest $1.8 million AAV making him an inexpensive upgrade to the fourth-line Kelly.
As with other potential acquisitions, he becomes a UFA this spring. That poses a challenge for Staios in working out a trade with the Hurricanes.
Senators Summer Trade Targets
Unless Sasquatch comes strolling out of the woods looking to sign with Ottawa, the trade deadline is unlikely to bring major changes to Ottawa’s roster. Rather, it is during the upcoming off-season that Staios will have an opportunity to make blockbuster trades that could turn the Senators into a legitimate contender for a Stanley Cup over the next four or five years.
Upcoming free agents in 2024 include marquee names such as the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Jake Guentzel and the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Steve Stamkos. The list of role players coming available is a long one and includes the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Tyler Bertuzzi and the Arizona Coyotes Jason Zucker.
Helping Staios bag some of this talent will be almost $16 million in additional cap space available to the Senators this summer. This will come from expiring contracts ($11.8 million) and an expected $4.175 million increase in the NHL’s salary cap. Not only that, but they have an impressive array of young talent in Ottawa along with some intriguing prospects in Belleville with which to engineer some big trades.
Summer in Ottawa this year will be very interesting.