Senators Expected To Begin Extension Talks With Adam Gaudette Soon

With free agency now less than three weeks away, the Senators have been busy trying to get their top pending unrestricted free agent, Claude Giroux, locked up before he hits the open market.  It appears that he’s not the only UFA that they intend to try to sign early as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the Sens are expected to start talks on a new deal with Adam Gaudette.

The 28-year-old has largely bounced around his eight-year professional career, spending time with five different organizations.  Gaudette came back for a second stint with Ottawa last summer, inking a one-year, two-way deal with an eye on him being a key contributor with AHL Belleville and coming up for stints with the big club when needed.

That didn’t go quite as planned.  In fact, it went better.  While Gaudette cleared waivers in October, he never actually suited up in the minors this season.  Beyond a few one-day stints with Belleville, he was exclusively up with Ottawa.  Along the way, he played in 81 games, scoring a career-best 19 goals along with seven assists; that goal total is particularly notable considering he averaged just 10:25 per game of ice time.  He added three points in six games in their opening-round playoff loss to Toronto.

While Gaudette had 33 points back in 59 games with Vancouver, this was his first season of being a full-time NHL player.  Overall, he has suited up in 301 contests at the top level, notching 46 goals and 50 assists along the way.  All told, not a bad showing from a fifth-round pick.

However, despite the success he has had at times, Gaudette has yet to earn a seven-figure single-season salary throughout his career.  He should have a chance to do that this time around but he might not beat the $1MM mark by too much considering the limited ice time he had this season and the fact he had primarily been a minor leaguer the previous two years.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see Ottawa, like a lot of teams, try to keep their spots at the end of the roster close to the minimum salary to increase their spending flexibility so it will be interesting to see if an early agreement can be worked out to keep Gaudette off the open market.