In this edition of the Ottawa Senators News & Rumors, plenty of speculation and reports have been coming out about a significant amount of players. An interview with Sam Dickinson shows he is prepared to get picked by the Senators, Steve Staios and Shane Pinto’s camp are working hard on their next deal, and the Senators have been linked to both Brandon and Chris Tanev.
Sam Dickinson Ready for Ottawa
Until a player’s name is called, nothing is truly set in stone at the NHL Entry Draft, and when selecting seventh overall, the Senators can’t be sure who will be available. With several mock drafts seeing Dickinson as an option for the club, TSN’s Mark Masters had a chat with the highly-ranked defenceman and the idea of being drafted to Ottawa came up.
“That one [pre-draft interview] was a little more intense knowing that there has been some talks about me, at the end of the day, heading to Ottawa…so it was definitely one that I was looking forward to and I wanted to show my best and impress in that interview. At the end of the day I think it went really well.”
Mark Masters, TSN
The London Knights star defenceman added that being drafted by the Senators, who are close to his hometown, would be a great opportunity. Dickinson added that Ottawa being a Canadian market, the fanbase, and meeting Staios and the front office, it is a very well-run organization he would be honored to play for.
Related: Ottawa Senators’ 2024 NHL Mock Draft
The Senators have a lot of potential options with the seventh-overall pick, and a defenceman is certainly high on their priority list, but Dickinson being a left-handed defenceman with the likes of Jake Sanderson, Thomas Chabot, Jakob Chychrun, and Tyler Kleven all being lefties, that could deter them. Nevertheless, he is a great prospect and his talent alone could be enough to sway the club regardless of the left-handed logjam.
Shane Pinto Is Looking for a Big Payday
Shane Pinto has had a roller-coaster of a career so far. The 23-year-old missed nearly a full season with a shoulder injury and another half-season suspended by the league. Negotiating a contract at this point may be one of the more difficult things that Staios will do as the general manager of the Senators.
There has been mutual interest in a long-term extension since the end of Pinto’s suspension. It was reported that there were two likely options, either a sub-$1 million deal to play out the season or a long-term extension, likely five or six years. Pinto signed a one-year deal to play the last 41 games of the season at a low value, but looking ahead to what it will take for him to get a contract this summer will be interesting.
PostMedia’s Bruce Garrioch reported that Pinto and his agent, Lewis Gross, are looking at a $5 million average annual value (AAV) for a long-term deal. While that isn’t egregious by any means, Staios and the Senators front office would like to keep that a bit lower if they can. In the meantime, according to Garrioch, the club and Pinto’s camp are looking at the possibility of a two-year deal to keep the AAV down for the next few seasons while the cap rises (from ‘SHORT-TERM SOLUTION: Senators studying two-year deal for centre Shane Pinto’, OttawaSun, June 18, 2024).
Senators Could Acquire a Pair of Tanevs
As reported by both Garrioch (in the aforementioned article) and Elliotte Friedman (on The Jeff Marek Show), the Senators could look to pull off the ultimate bargaining chip in free agency – a brotherly reunion.
Both reports say that the Senators are looking at Seattle Kraken forward Brandon Tanev. With one year left on his contract with a cap hit of $3.5 million, Staios would need to move money out before considering a trade. One player the Senators have making similar money is Mathieu Joseph, who Garrioch reports the club is trying to deal ahead of the NHL Entry Draft beginning on June 28.
Acquiring Tanev as a replacement for Joseph is a pretty even trade, and while making this change could be beneficial purely for a must-needed personnel swap in the lineup, there is another layer of depth there, too. The Senators previously tried to acquire Chris Tanev at the 2024 Trade Deadline, but it was the Dallas Stars who wound up with the defender. Bringing in Brandon could sway Chris to sign with the club. Not only is there an open spot for him, the Senators need a defenceman like him, and he has proven multiple times that he doesn’t mind playing in the Canadian climate and media.
For now, these are rumors, but with credible reports like this rolling in, they could turn into news very quickly. Staios is without a doubt spending all of his time working the phones, and there could be a ton of movement in Ottawa this summer.
