Monday News and Notes

SensChirp June 18, 2018 0
Monday News and Notes

Welcome to the biggest week in the history of the franchise.

Okay, that might be a bit of hyperbole but it certainly has the potential to be.  The Ottawa Senators will pick twice in the first round including at 4th overall.  This is a deep draft and the name they call out on Friday night has the potential to be an impact player for this team, perhaps as early as next season.

At the same time, they hold the 22nd overall pick and the consensus among scouts seem to be that they’ll get a good player there too.  In all likelihood, the team will walk away from Dallas with two players they have ranked in their top 15 heading into the Draft. Maybe even two out of the Top 10.

Exciting times, right?

That’s only the half of it.  Ottawa also finds themselves smack dab in the middle of the rumour mill heading into one the league’s busiest times.  They almost have to move their top goal scorer and they also have this franchise defenceman that teams might be calling about.  Settle in Sens fans. This week could get wild.

Time for a little Monday News and Notes to help us prepare for the days ahead.

-We’ll start with Mike Hoffman.  Given the off-ice drama surrounding the Sens sniper, it seems like a slam-dunk he moves this week.  Assuming there’s a market anyway. During his podcast last week, Elliotte Friedman suggested that some other GMs might not be too pleased with Pierre Dorion right now because he may have been shopping Hoffman without giving all the details of his uhh situation.   Not that a GM is required to disclose that information but it’s certainly not a great way to make friends around the league.  There are still teams interested in Hoffman but the fact that other teams know Ottawa has to move him isn’t ideal. St. Louis, Calgary and Edmonton all still make sense.

-The NHL’s buyout window opened on Friday and so far, it has been quiet around the league.  But that could change this week.  The Senators have one obvious buyout candidate in Marian Gaborik but there has been no indication from the team whether they plan to go that route. During his year-end remarks, Dorion mentioned that buyouts were a possibility this summer but given the team’s reluctance to go this route the last few years, we’ll have to wait and see.  Gaborik underwent off-season surgery but timelines suggested he should be healthy by early June.

-Despite everything Pierre Dorion said during the Town Hall sessions, Erik Karlsson watch is officially on this week.  Teams are going to be calling to make their best pitch and Dorion is going to have to listen.  The Golden Knights, the Islanders, the Rangers, the Lightning, the Oilers and well probably every other team has interest. The Senators have said they will not trade Karlsson at the draft and that they plan on making him an offer on July 1st but the thing about plans is, they can change.  You would have to think there will be a handful of teams with picks in this weekend’s draft that will be calling Dorion this week.  I am mentally preparing myself for a potential trade this week and I suggest you all do the same.

-As if Dorion wasn’t busy enough, he also has to make what seemed like an easy decision related to the 4th overall pick.  They owe the Colorado Avalanche a pick and there seems to be a growing sentiment that maybe they should consider giving them the 4th overall pick this year rather than waiting till 2019.  The thinking is if the Senators are going to retool/rebuild this summer and there is a legitimate possibility of losing Erik Karlsson, it might make sense to bite the bullet this year. Especially when they have another first this year and maybe a couple more if they did decide to move Karlsson. It’s a little bit terrifying to think that Dorion is making all these decisions by himself.

-Chris Wideman will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1st but if he had his choice, he would be back with the Senators next season. Over the weekend, Wideman made it clear that he is open to the idea of coming back but that he really doesn’t have a good indication on where the team is at on that front. Wideman said the following- “I don’t know what they are truly thinking and where they are. We’ll see how it all shakes out. I’ve played with most of these guys for the last six years. We’ve all kind of grown up together and we’re all close. It’s been a second home to me.”  For what it’s worth, the organization had previously indicated that they are interested in bringing Wideman back.

-Sometimes a topic will get stuck in the rumour mill for so long that it gets to a point where you start to tune it out. You hear about a rumour enough times that it begins to lose all meaning.  And it sort of feels that way when it comes to speculation about the future of Sens Ownership. Some useless blogger tweeted about it back in November and now it feels like we can’t read one Sens-related article without a mention of the ownership situation. Well, that isn’t going to stop anytime soon. In fact, I can tell you that in the last couple weeks, talk has picked up considerably.  Now it may be a case of people recycling the same rumour which does tend to happen in the hockey world. As many as six people have reached out in the last two weeks, all with different connections, to suggest they’ve heard some sort of Ownership rumour recently. Vague, I know.  And I suspect that’s how this story will remain until…well until it happens. For what it’s worth, Ian Mendes reached out to Eugene Melnyk  last week and he again denied the rumours but with an interesting qualifier this time saying that there had been no “worthwhile offers”. Huh.