When Pierre Dorion spoke to the media on the afternoon of July 1st, he mentioned that some of the free agents they were looking at weren’t necessarily guys that were expected to go early in free agency.
A little bit of bargain hunting, by the sounds of things.
Not surprising when you consider the team’s internal budget and the sort of lingering uncertainty around how much they’ll have to pay for Mike Hoffman and Cody Ceci next season. And while the Sens GM does have a little bit of flexibility on how much he spends on player salaries next year, he’s obviously taking a cautious approach to any free agent acquisitions.
One player that they apparently have some interest in is Sam Gagner.
The 26 year old Oakville, Ontario native spent most of last season with the Philadelphia Flyers. He also had a brief 9 game stint in the American Hockey League.
While Gagner only had 16 points with the Flyers, he had 41 in his last full season in the NHL (with the Coyotes) and he’s eclipsed the 40 point plateau six times in his NHL career. Injuries and usage were an issue for him in Philadelphia last season but by all accounts, he can still play.
He’s a natural centre but has also played the right side a little bit in his career. Might be a good fit on a third line with Zack Smith and Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
Gagner made $5 million last season with the Flyers but obviously won’t be anywhere close to that on his next deal. Based on some of the contracts other veteran depth forwards are signing (Purcell, Stempniak, Parenteau, Stalberg), he might be available for less than $2 million a season.
We know the Senators aren’t going to make any big splash in this year’s free agent market but a low-risk signing like Sam Gagner might be worth considering.
-Later this afternoon, we may learn a bit more about the future of the Ottawa Senators’ AHL affiliate. A City Council meeting is expected to take place in Belleville at 3:00 PM at which point there’s may be an announcement on the future of hockey in that city. It has long been rumoured that the Ottawa Senators are considering moving their AHL affiliate to Belleville and based on everything I’ve heard, those talks have been progressing steadily. We may finally get some confirmation from the parties involved this afternoon.
-Development Camp wrapped up this morning with the always popular 3 on 3 tournament. Team White (Vito Bavaro, Cody Donaghey, Vincent Dunn, Chris Leblanc, Miles Gendron and Zach Saar) walked away with this year’s title. Following the tournament, the team announced that Nick Paul was this year’s winner of the prestigious “Hardest Worker Award”. Nick Paul is one of the players from this year’s camp that is expected to challenge for a roster spot in the Fall. Win the Hardest Worker Award certainly shows that the team likes what they’ve seen from him so far.
-At the other end of the spectrum, Randy Lee specifically mentioned that he was expecting a little bit more from Thomas Chabot in this year’s Camp. Chabot is obviously one of the top prospects in the organization and Management was hoping to see him dominate in Development Camp. Lee’s comments should give him a little extra motivation heading into the Main Camp in the fall.
