It’s Monday. Again.
Seems like a fine time for another edition of Monday News and Notes. You see the only issue is there seems to be a complete lack of news. Or notes, for that matter.
Despite the fact that the Senators are barreling towards to NHL Trade Deadline with three of their best players as UFAs-to-be, there is an odd calm around the organization right now. Sure the hockey world is talking about Matt Duchene, Mark Stone and Ryan Dzingel but the organization itself is silent. Like, eerily silent.
No Pierre Dorion appearances on TSN1200. In fact, there hasn’t a Pierre Dorion appearance of any kind in weeks. Or has it been months? Eugene Melnyk has gone dark too. Usually we could count on an ill-advised appearance on Toronto radio to get us through these down times but not a word from a guy who usually has plenty of them.
And what about Ottawa’s Assistant General Manager? Peter MacTavish. Remember that guy? They hired him back in September and outside of one radio interview Belleville, he too has been missing in action.
Wait…we do still have a Front Office, right? RIGHT?!
And now, some news and notes.
-If you haven’t been paying attention the last couple months, it looks like the Senators have struck gold again in the late rounds of the Draft. Joey Daccord, selected in the 7th round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft (only 12 players went later), is turning heads in the NCAA. The 22 year old goalie is playing with the previously unknown Arizona State University team and he has kind of put them on the map this year. Through 28 games, he has a stunning .930 save percentage and leads the NCAA with 7 shutouts. Over the weekend, he blanked a quality team in Boston University. It wouldn’t be an Ottawa Senators note without a little angst though. Daccord remains unsigned and it sounds like there’s a good chance he could turn pro at the end of this season. Might want to get this guy locked up.
-While Matt Duchene and Mark Stone continue to grab most of the headlines, it sounds like there’s a growing market for Ryan Dzingel. The Senators have had next to zero discussion with Dzingel about a potential extension so it should come as no surprise that teams are interested in a player like Dzingel as a potential deadline acquisition. It will be interesting to see what the Senators can get in return, should they decide to move him. As it stands right now, the Senators are without a first round pick in the upcoming draft and this may be their chance to add one. There aren’t a lot of goal scoring options on the market right now which means Pierre Dorion should be in a pretty good spot.
-Craig Anderson’s name also seems to be popping up in the rumour mill a little bit lately. Which is sort of surprising. Not surprising that the Sens would listen (they actually shopped him around a bit in the summer) but more so interesting that there would be a market. Anderson is the best goalie in franchise history but there’s no doubt that his game has dropped off a little bit the last couple years. When you add in the fact that he’s 37, that he’s had concussions issues recently and that he has another year on his deal at $4 million, it would be surprising to see anybody step up to make a move.
-The longer Matt Duchene and Mark Stone remain unsigned, the more we’ll hear their names pop up in the rumour mill. It’s just the way things are going to go for the next few weeks. This morning, The Athletic breaks down the possibility of Mark Stone in a Jets jersey. On the weekend, everyone freaked out when Duchene’s agent went on RDS and suggested a trade was a possibility. Pierre LeBrun has thrown out the idea of Duchene in Nashville and Stone in Vegas. There is going to be a lot more of this in the weeks to come. The Senators are obviously playing with fire here by leaving extension talks to the last minute and contenders are starting to circle. If I’m Pierre Dorion, I give those two until like February 8th to give a concrete answer one way or the other. He’ll need at least a couple weeks to pull off two trades of this magnitude, should he have to go in that direction. For what it’s worth, most people seem to agree an extension with Stone is far more likely than an extension with Duchene.
-As expected, the National Capital Commission was pretty silent on the LeBreton front at last week’s public meeting of the Board of Directors. With the RendezVous LeBreton group receiving an extension until February 28th, there really isn’t a lot the NCC can say at this point. One interesting comment came from outgoing CEO Mark Kristmanson when he suggested that the NCC has a “viable alternative approach ready to go”. Should mediation prove unsuccessful, there has been some speculation the NCC would consider restarting the process. This comment certainly seems to suggest otherwise. Back in December, DCDLS issued a news release suggesting the NCC was legally obligated to turn to them should negotiations with the RendezVous be unsuccessful.
