(UPDATE 8:54 AM)- Late yesterday afternoon, the Senators announced a minor signing, inking forward Tom Pyatt to a one year, two way contract. It’s a deal that will see Pyatt earn $200,000 in the AHL or $800,000 in the NHL. Pyatt has spent the last two seasons in Switzerland where both Guy Boucher and Marc Crawford saw a lot of him. Before that, he spent time with Guy Boucher in Tampa Bay. The Senators are going to have to rebuild the AHL team this summer and the signing of a guy like Pyatt is a good start. He’ll give the organization some much-needed forward depth and is a player that could take an NHL shift if injuries become an issue. The official news release is here.
In some ways, I think we were a little bit spoiled by the early days of the off-season.
Between a shake-up to the team’s front office to wholesale changes behind the bench, there was no shortage of Sens news to keep us occupied. But now, the reality of a long summer without Ottawa Senators hockey is starting to set in a little bit.
And as we approach the end of May, things are likely to stay quiet for the foreseeable future. There will be contract news sprinkled over the next few weeks but things are likely to stay pretty slow leading up to the Draft in about a month’s time.
Settle in, everyone. In the meantime, another edition of Monday News and Notes. Except this time lacking in both news…and notes. And on Tuesday.
-While things are likely pretty quiet for Pierre Dorion and his staff right now, the Mike Hoffman negotiations are certainly a priority. It’s not that there’s a pressing deadline necessarily but the organization definitely wants to have a sense of where they stand heading into the Draft in Buffalo in a month’s time. That means you can expect the Senators to open up negotiations with Hoffman’s camp in the next couple weeks. I certainly didn’t have a great feeling about these negotiations heading into the off season but recent comments by Dorion, Boucher and Hoffman give me some hope. Will be really interesting to see how these contract talks end up.
-While Hoffman and Cody Ceci are Ottawa’s two highest profile restricted free agents, there are a handful of others that Dorion will have to make a call on this summer. Patrick Wiercioch, Frederick Claesson, Alex Chiasson, Matt Puempel, Ryan Dzingel, Max McCormick and Buddy Robinson all need new deals although it’s safe to say that a couple guys from that group may not even get qualifying offers. They’ll have to make decisions on some AHL guys too as Casey Bailey, Travis Ewanyk, Jerome Leduc, Troy Rutkowski are all RFAs.
-As far as unrestricted free agents go, most of the decisions Ottawa will have to make are at the AHL level. Scott Gomez won’t be back and Chris Phillips seems like he’s leaning towards retirement. Mike Kostka, Mark Fraser, Matt Fratin, Dave Dziurzynski, Philip Varone and Jason Akeson are all UFAs this summer. While Binghamton struggled this past season, that’s some pretty significant depth they could be losing. Should be a very different looking team in Binghamton next season.
-Aside from the RFAs and UFAs, there are still a few coaching decisions that need to be made. Guy Boucher is expected to add at least one and possibly two more people to his staff in the next couple months. In last week’s 30 Thoughts column, Elliotte Friedman mentioned Rob Cookson as a possibility to join the staff. Leo Luongo, brother of Panther’s goalie Roberto Luongo, has been rumoured as a candidate to join the organization as a goalie coach. The Senators still need a coach in Binghamton too. Both Boucher and Marc Crawford, as well as Randy Lee, are expected to be involved in that decision. Would expect that the organization wants something done on that front prior to the Draft.
-Speaking of the Draft, the Senators are currently locked into the 12th spot and based on what Dorion said earlier this month; you can probably expect them to stay there. Like any GM, Dorion will look at opportunities to move up but based on some of the hype leading up to this Draft, it will probably be tough to do so. Moving down is always an option too but because the middle part of the first round is so wide-open, it would be hard to imagine the Senators going any lower than 12th.
-In a week from now, the NHL will hold their annual Draft Combine in Buffalo. It’s a chance for teams to see the collection of prospects up close and personal. Teams can conduct 1-on-1 interviews with the prospects from May 30 through June 3. The medical examinations will take place June 2 and fitness testing on June 4. The full list of combine invitees is available here. In past years, the Senators have then selected a handful of guys and invited them to Ottawa for additional workouts/interviews. Safe to assume they’ll use that approach happen again this year.
-Francis Perron and the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies are off to a 1-1 start at the Memorial Cup in Red Deer, Alberta. Perron has four points through the first two games of the tournament and has looked damn good on Junior Hockey’s biggest stage. The Huskies take on a powerful London Knights team tonight in what should be a huge test for Perron’s team. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 10:00 PM.
