Well, it’s Draft Day.
The Ottawa Senators have two picks in the first round (4th and 22nd) and they may have more before the day is out.
Pierre Dorion and his small staff have put in the work over the last few weeks and now they’re ready to select two names that will add to an already decent prospect cupboard.
For Sens fans, that should be exciting enough. Only today, you get the sense that there could be more. A lot more.
Erik Karlsson’s name continues to be circulated in the rumour mill and despite Dorion’s best efforts to deflect attention away from his Captain, the league is talking. Players of Karlsson’s caliber don’t hit the market very often and even the possibility that he might be available has General Managers in a frenzy.
Vegas continues to be the team with the most interest although their GM did his best to pour cold water on the situation last night. Not sure anybody is really buying it but it was worth a shot.
It’s worth pointing out that the Golden Knights don’t actually have a pick in tonight’s proceedings so there’s a little less urgency than is being suggested. With that said, if the Senators are weighing an offer from the Golden Knights against a proposal from another team, there may be a need for Vegas to step in the next 10-12 hours.
It was previously reported that the Knights were reluctant to include top prospect Cody Glass in any trade talks. Hard to see how a deal gets done with him involved though.
During the Town Hall sessions, Dorion indicated that the team planned to make Karlsson an offer on July 1st. Reality is, the two sides should already have a pretty good idea where they stand in potential contract negotiations. Yesterday, rumours suggested that the Senators were at least prepared to make Karlsson a contract offer worth north of $10 million a year over eight seasons. PK Subban is currently the league’s highest paid defenceman with a cap hit of $9 million.
While Karlsson is by far the biggest name in the rumour mill, he’s not the only Senators being talked about. Zack Smith, Bobby Ryan, Jean Gabriel Pageau and even Craig Anderson have all been mentioned as possible trade candidates in the last 24 hours.
The addition of Anderson’s name is especially interesting. He’ll earn $5.5 million this coming season and $4.0 million in year two of his deal. Anderson is coming off a dreadful 2017/2018 campaign though so you’d think the market would be pretty limited. Friedman went on to say that the Senators also have interest in RFA to be Phillip Grubauer from the Washington Capitals.
It probably goes without saying at this point but Dorion is likely to be the most popular GM in Dallas today.
At the same time, internally, the Senators remain focused on their choice at 4th overall. A lot of it will depend on what direction the Montreal Canadiens plan to go at 3rd overall but the Senators are going to have options. If Montreal reaches on a defenceman or centre, it’s likely the Senators would jump at the chance to take Filip Zadina. If the Habs take Zadina, then suddenly Brady Tkachuk or one of the defenceman, becomes an option at four.
Trent Mann and the scouts will have drawn up every possible scenario and they’ll have to make a quick decision once Bergevin makes his choice.
As Eugene would say, buckle up. It could be a wild one.
Updates and rumours will be shared at the top of this post or in the comment section below. If you’re usually more of the lurking type, today might be a good day to join the madness that is the comment section.
Happy Draft Day!
