The Ottawa Senators are a team worth watching this upcoming March 8th NHL Trade Deadline.
There has been a lot of noise off the ice for the Senators this season. From the ownership change to the Shane Pinto Suspension to the Pierre Dorin firing to the draft penalty for Evgenii Dadonov trade to Vegas to the owner calling out the league in a press conference. Not to mention the latest hirings in the front office.
NHL Rumors: The Ottawa Senators may be open for business but they aren’t giving up
Before the Senators could do anything in terms of players being traded at the deadline they needed to get their house in order first. This was going to be more of an off-season move. However, as we saw the Senators made the coaching change with D.J. Smith, which they did not want to.
Then Steve Staios who was already the President of Hockey Operations, was named the new general manager the day the organization hired Dave Poulin as the new Senior Vice-President of Hockey Operations.
With Shane Pinto set to come back later this month and the Senators remaining in the bottom of the Eastern Conference, they need to identify who their corps is and what they want to do moving forward.
There were expectations this team was going to be a playoff team this season. The roster had talent. Before the trip to Sweden, the Senators were in a playoff spot. However, since returning to North America this team has been in a tailspin.
General manager Steve Staios has come out and stated that they are going to be looking to add a veteran player to help this club. Price and fit will determine who the Senators go after. However the organization wants to add someone who adds leadership to go along with Claude Giroux.
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We know who the corps of the team is. It is Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk, Thomas Chabot, Jake Sanderson, Drake Batherson, Josh Norris, Pinto and you could throw Jakob Chychrun in there as well.
But the rest of the roster is wide open for business on terms of players that could be traded. A name that you could see moved even though he has a full no-trade clause is Vladimir Tarasenko.
The Senators signed him to a one-year, $5 million contract in the summer after trading Alex DeBrincat to Detroit. You know teams will covet a player of Tarasenko’s caliber at the deadline. But again he holds all the cards on where he goes. What will the Senators be able to get in return for him?. Same goes for Dominik Kubalik.
Will that impactful move the Senators need to make really come at the deadline or will they evaluate the rest of the season with their management staff in order before making a more impactful move in the offseason?
But moving forward, the Ottawa Senators are a team worth watching.