Nine days.
That’s all that stands between us and one of the most important days in the history of the Ottawa Senators.
As soon as the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Dallas Stars get around to wrapping up the Stanley Cup Final, you can expect the chatter around the National Hockey League to hit a level we haven’t really seen before.
The condensed off season combined with a flat salary cap means that there will be a plenty of teams looking to wheel and deal. And that means Pierre Dorion, with his millions of draft picks and unprecedented cap flexibility is going to be a popular guy around the league.
If his phone isn’t already ringing off the hook, it will be in the days to come.
While the Senators, as an organization, have been reluctant to use their cap space to accumulate assets (young player and prospects) in the past, this year is different. Not because Eugene Melnyk is suddenly going to open the purse strings but rather because they are in a situation where they have to spend a ton of money just to get to the floor.
It’s almost certain that they’ll be looking to hit that floor while spending as little money as possible but there should be enough teams looking to off-load salary that the Senators can still add those contracts and get compensated for it.
At the same time, we know that Dorion is also looking to use his handful of second round picks to acquire NHL-ready young players that fit within the team’s rebuild for this upcoming season and beyond.
Again, Ottawa’s targets will be teams in a salary cap pinch that have to make tough decisions about who they can afford to keep. Anaheim, Arizona, Tampa Bay and Vegas are among the teams up against or even over the current salary cap.
And that’s just the trade front.
Pierre Dorion is going to be equally busy when it comes to free agents. Locking up his own players is the priority but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Ottawa dabble in the UFA market too. Again, cheaper, short-term players would be the priority but there will be plenty of options.
Busy days ahead indeed.
-Yesterday, the Senators made their buy out of Bobby Ryan official. It’s a move that will save the Senators $3.67 million in total and it now means the Senators have $22 million in space under the league’s salary cap floor and just nine players signed for next season. It also means that Bobby Ryan is an unrestricted free agent looking for a new home this off season.
-Another Sens prospect is headed overseas. Goaltender Filip Gustavsson was loaned to Södertälje of Sweden’s HockeyAllsvenskan. According to Bruce Garrioch, both Erik Brannstrom and Olle Alsing could be considering opportunities in Europe too. With the uncertainty surrounding the start of the next NHL season, it’s safe to assume there will be more Sens prospects looking for similar opportunities in the days and weeks to come.
