The Ottawa Senators have some pieces to sell
Wayne Scanlan of Sportsnet: Pierre Dorion has his options open for Monday afternoon’s trade deadline. The question is will there be enough partners to make a few sales?
Again, Ottawa has a whopping nine unrestricted free agents and several other potential playoff chips. The Senators have a first and two seconds for this year and next plus a slew of picks into 2023.
Ryan Dzingel seems plausible to move but some have suggested he could stay. Braydon Coburn was shipped to the New York Islanders for a seventh-round pick. Mike Reilly was traded to the Boston Bruins for a third-round pick. Basically, Ottawa could net a couple of more picks to stock their farm system in the hopes of building into the future.
Ottawa has several veterans to dangle in the expansion draft and maybe even offer to Seattle for something in return too. Maybe they expose Matt Murray, Nikita Zaitsev, or even Evgenii Dadonov. Even Marcus Hogberg or Joey Daccord gets a look. Ottawa may have goaltending as its most attractive position at this juncture.
Philadelphia Flyers’ Chuck Fletcher may have to try and sell now
Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer: A bit of an update comes in as Philadelphia lost to Buffalo on Sunday afternoon 5-3. This may push Chuck Fletcher from a pretty much-standing pat to a possible seller.
There were players on the market a few weeks ago when Philadelphia was in a position to do something. When Nashville went on their hot streak, commodities like Mattias Ekholm and Ryan Ellis went off the board. Now, it is almost a moot point as Philadelphia does not have games in hand and is behind Boston for the final playoff spot.
Though Boston is hurting with defensemen in a big way, they have enough of a team to stay the course. Philadelphia does not enjoy that luxury as losing Matt Niskanen hurt the Flyers irreparably. Who knew? They dropped in goals per game allowed from 7th to 30th. It is more than that but giving up five goals to Buffalo on Sunday looks to be the dagger.
It may be too late for Chuck Fletcher to sell much. However, he now has to try anyway before Monday’s trade deadline.
