With his team stuck in the slump to end all slumps, Senators General Manager Pierre Dorion has been backed into a corner.
He already pulled the trigger on a blockbuster trade last month and the team on the ice has not responded. Matt Duchene has played reasonably well (although the points aren’t there yet) but as a team, the struggle has only gotten worse. An increasingly vocal portion of the fan base is calling for a change behind the bench but considering the success this group had under Guy Boucher only months ago, that seems unlikely.
While there’s still plenty of racetrack left in front of them, the Senators really can’t afford to fall any further behind.
They sit five points back of the Montreal Canadiens for third in the Atlantic Division with two teams (Boston and Detroit) to leapfrog on the way. It’s doable but the slide has to stop soon.
The Senators play their next four on the road, including a back to back against Anaheim and Los Angeles, a Saturday night showdown with the San Jose Sharks and then a game in Buffalo against the Sabres. It’s a stretch of games that will decide whether they remain in the mix in the Eastern Conference. Their playoff hopes are fading, according to most sportsbooks monitored by mytopsportsbooks.com. But they’re not out of it yet.
So with the season hanging in the balance, the GM is apparently considering the unthinkable, at least in the minds of this organization- trading Cody Ceci.
As we’ve seen in the past, Ceci is a player that both the Coach and General Manager hold in fairly high-regard. His name has come up in trade rumours over the years and often including some pretty high-profile players but the Senators have shown a reluctance to consider packages that include the 23 year old defenceman.
But if Dorion is legitimately looking for another impact trade, moving a young, big minute, right-shot defenceman might be one way to bring a useful piece back. The obvious problem being that no organization values Ceci quite as highly as the Senators do.
The timing might be right though.
Ceci is in the final year of his deal and is set to be a restricted free agent this summer. With big names like Mark Stone, Matt Duchene and Erik Karlsson all needing new contracts over the next couple years, the Senators have to be extremely careful with Ceci’s next contract. A long-term deal would be a completely unnecessary and unforgivable mistake for the organization to make.
Either they consider what they can get for him in a trade right now or they prepare to take him to arbitration this summer. The RFA squeeze has been a go-to for this organization over the last few years and never has there a better moment to employ that strategy.
The issue with a potential Ceci deal is it would leave a hole on the blueline. With Mark Borowiecki and Chris Wideman out and no timeline for their return, the team is already thin on the back-end. And while there are some internal options, it remains to be seen if any of them are ready to play big minutes on a regular basis.
But as the old saying goes, desperate times may call for desperate measures. We’ll see just how desperate Pierre Dorion really is if the slide continues.
The Ottawa Senators are on the ice for practice at 4:30 PM today. They take on the Anaheim Ducks tomorrow night.
