On Thursday, while I was off the grid in beautiful Saint John, New Brunswick, Pierre Dorion was hard at work. And he crossed another important item off of his summer To Do list.
Mathieu Joseph has a new contract and it will keep him in Ottawa colours long-term. With an arbitration date looming early next week, Joseph and the Senators found common ground on a four-year contract worth $11,800,000. That’s a cap hit of $2.95 million a season.
The now 25-year old Joseph hit the ground running with the Senators putting up an impressive 12 points in his first 11 games with the team. And while that kind of production is sort of unusual for Joseph, Dorion and the Senators obviously feel like there is some untapped offensive potential to his game and that he is a player worthy of a longer term deal.
Losing Nick Paul at last year’s trade deadline obviously hurt but it was a move that just made sense as soon as the Senators knew they could get a piece like Joseph back in return.
While Joseph had primarily played bottom six minutes on a talented Tampa Bay team, he was given more of an opportunity under DJ Smith and immediately showed that there is more to his game than your prototypical bottom six forward.
On many nights down the stretch, Joseph was one of Ottawa’s most noticeable forwards. He also seemed to immediately fit in with the team’s young core and as demonstrated by his comments post-signing, really is excited to be an Ottawa Senator.
And now he’s locked in for the next four years.
The Summer of Pierre may be winding down but there are still a few loose ends to tie up. Alex Formenton and Erik Brannstrom are both RFAs and in need of new contracts and at last check, Jakob Chychrun is still technically listed as a member of the Arizona Coyotes.
So as they say in the business, more to come.
