In July of 2019, the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Maple Leafs pulled off one of the strangest trades in recent memory.
They swapped problems, really. Pierre Dorion managed to convince Kyle Dubas to voluntarily acquire Cody Ceci and in return, he took the unfortunate Nikita Zaitsev contract off their hands.
Michael Carcone came Ottawa’s way while Ben Harpur, Aaron Luchuk and a 3rd round pick went to the Big Smoke.
But a little less than a year later, it’s pretty clear who the best player in that trade was.
Connor Brown, now 26 years old, fit in nicely on a young Ottawa Senators team and quickly became one of their most reliable and consistent forwards.
Brown put up 16 goals and a career-high 43 points in his first 71 games in an Ottawa uniform and not surprisingly, the Senators want him to stick around for a little while.
It will be important for the Senators to get the number right here but Connor Brown is exactly the type of a player you want to hang on to during a rebuild.
He can play in all situations and sets a good example for young players with a relentless work-ethic and willingness to do whatever it takes to win. He took on an expanded role under DJ Smith and showed that he’s more than capable of playing up and down the line up, including on the top two lines if necessary.
Brown is an RFA this summer after wrapping up the final year of a 3 year/$6.3 million dollar contract.
He’s certainly in line for a pretty hefty raise on his next contract but if the Senators add on a couple extra years on the deal, they should be able to keep his cap hit at a reasonable number. Something under $4 mil a season maybe?
Get it done, Pierre.
