The Alex Burrows era has come to a fitting and perhaps predictable end.
With a mid-summer trip through the waiver wire and a buy out.
This afternoon, the Ottawa Senators announced that they have placed the veteran forward on unconditional waivers. When he clears tomorrow at noon, he’ll have the last remaining year on his contract bought out by the team.
Burrows was scheduled to make $2.5 million next season. Instead, the team will now pay him $833,333 over the next two seasons. And because Burrows was older than 35 when he signed the contract, the $2.5 million dollar cap hit remains on the bookes.
To call Burrows’ time in Ottawa disappointing would probably be an understatement.
While he proved to be a useful player during the team’s playoff run, providing some much-needed depth at the bottom of the line up, he took a major step back last season. He had just 14 points in 71 games and rarely brought any of the physical play or agitating abilities that made him so effective in Vancouver. Simply put, he looked done as an NHLer.
His season took an even uglier turn in the second half when he was suspended 10 games for kneeing eventual Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall in a meaningless game in early February.
While the buyout makes sense in that it allows them to open up another spot on the roster for a young player this fall, it’s somewhat surprising to see the Senators go the buyout route. Eugene Melnyk hasn’t done a lot of that over the last five years with the last buyout coming way back in 2012.
This one really doesn’t cost the team much though and it’s certainly worth the price to officially close the book on Burrows’ time in Ottawa. Credit to Dorion for at least admitting the mistake he made in dealing for Burrows but I suspect this is one trade that will linger on his GM record for years to come.
Anybody checked in on Jonathan Dahlen lately? You know what…nevermind.
-The Senators kicked off Development Camp this morning with fitness testing in the morning and the first on-ice session in the afternoon. For those in attendance, it was our first look at the eight players added to the organization last weekend in Dallas, including first round draft pick Brady Tkachuk. For those interested in hearing a bit more about what went on today, check out Sens Prospects on Twitter. He has some great pictures, videos and analysis from the first. They’ll be back on the ice tomorrow morning (9:45 AM) at the Sensplex. Full team scrimmage goes on Friday night. Here are some day one thoughts from the aforementioned Sens Prospects.
Quick thoughts from the first on-ice sessions at #SensDevCamp 2018.
I should probably get that website going soon… pic.twitter.com/RRAdrGZW8W
— Sens Prospects (@SensProspects) June 26, 2018
