In the infamous words of the team’s owner, “buckle up”.
The surprise hiring of Pierre McGuire occupied our attention for a couple days but it seems like the fun is just beginning in Ottawa.
Expansion Draft, Entry Draft, Free Agency and trades all on the near horizon. And if the rumour mill is to be believed, Pierre Dorion and the Ottawa Senators could find themselves right in the middle of a lot of the action.
It’s no secret that the Senators plan to do a little bit of shopping this off-season.
As the Owner made clear and management has echoed recently, Ottawa is in the market for a couple key pieces. Specifically, a centre that can play on one of the team’s top two lines and a more defensive defenceman.
Easier said than done obviously but it gives some sense of the type of player Ottawa might be targeting in free agency or via a trade. At centre, Nazem Kadri is a name that has come up a lot over the last few months.
At the same time, with expansion protection lists due this weekend, there could be a little bit of roster shuffling in the next few days. This morning, Bruce Garrioch mentioned that there is an outside chance Logan Brown gets moved before the weekend.
If he doesn’t, the Senators will have to make the difficult decision on whether or not to protect him in the Expansion Draft. If they do, it’s likely at the expense of someone like Evgenii Dadonov.
Tough call.
And once Expansion is wrapped up (Seattle will announce their picks on Wednesday of next week) the attention will quickly shift to the Entry Draft.
As it stands now, the Senators are slated to pick 10th overall but according to that aforementioned rumour mill, there is a decent chance the Senators ultimately move that pick.
We’ll see if anything materializes on that front over the next nine days.
So, to recap- expansion draft wheeling and dealing, a potential Logan Brown trade, a new top line centre/defensive defenceman and a top-ten draft pick in play. Not to mention some fairly prominent RFAs that still need new contracts.
Like I said….buckle up.
