When it comes to the Free Agent Frenzy, things are usually pretty quiet for the Ottawa Senators.
They aren’t a big spending team and over the last couple seasons, they are the exact opposite of that. We are poor and everyone knows it. The Owner doesn’t have money (or money to spend on the team anyway) and frustrated fans are cancelling tickets at an alarming rate.
The Budget Years have certainly taken some of the fun out of the off-season.
But for the now rebuilding Sens, July 1st ended up being a surprisingly active day.
No big money acquisitions obviously but some fairly significant tinkering with a roster expected to be in or at least near the NHL basement next season.
The day started with a downright wacky trade between Ontario rivals. It was a deal that allowed the Senators and Leafs to swap problems, for the most part.
In the aftermath of a trade, there is always a rush to declare a winner and a loser but it’s almost impossible with this particular deal.
The Leafs and Senators are in completely different situations (contenders with money vs. rebuilding team without money) and the value they attach to the various elements of the deal is completely different.
The cash-poor Senators find a low salary/high cap hit contract that’s free of signing bonuses for a few years and is attached to a player that can actually step into their line up. They get a young cheap forward that can play on their third (and maybe second line) in Connor Brown and they get an upgrade at the AHL level in Michael Carcone. And for a draft pick, they save almost $4M in actual dollars which guarantees Dorion will get at least one hug out of this deal.
Meanwhile the Leafs get a little bit of much-needed cap space and contract flexibility moving forward and a fairly expensive 3rd round draft pick.
They also get Cody Ceci and Ben Harpur, which is just perfect.
The addition of former-Leafs didn’t stop there though as the Senators made two minor signings picking up defenceman Ron Hainsey and forward Tyler Ennis.
The nice thing about these additions is they come in as respected veterans in the league but more importantly, they’re on short-term deals. In a perfect world, both guys play well in Ottawa and can flipped at the deadline.
Hainsey’s $3.5 million dollar salary was surprisingly high but obviously they like the idea of adding a Cup winning defenceman that can help teach some of the young defenceman.
Same sort of thing with Tyler Ennis. He’ll make just $800,000 next year and is the type of forward that can play up and down the line up if need be.
It’s going to take a while to get the Leaf-stink off of these guys but all four should bring something needed to a young roster.
And if it doesn’t work out, well we always have the 2020 Entry Draft to look forward to.
Speaking of prospects, Sens Prospects has pulled together highlights from the 3 on 3 tournament at Sens Development Camp.
Worth a look…
