One of the primary offseason objectives of the Ottawa Senators’ hockey operations department will be to secure the services of “a big defenceman who can play big minutes,” Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen reported last week.
Garrioch had previously reported that the Senators considered making a play for St. Louis Blues defenseman Colton Parayko at the trade deadline, and he could be a possibility if he would consider waiving his no-move clause for Ottawa.
The Blues agreed to a deal with the Buffalo Sabres for Parayko near the deadline, but Parayko declined to waive his no-move clause to head to Western New York. Garrioch also noted that the Senators “pushed hard” to acquire Philadelphia Flyers veteran Rasmus Ristolainen at the deadline but couldn’t finalize a deal. Like Parayko, Ristolainen could remain an option for the summer but the Flyers may also not have much interest in subtracting such an important piece from their roster after making a run to the second round of the playoffs this spring.
As the Senators’ reported targets before the deadline indicated, the team’s clear need for a defenseman is specifically for a right-shot blueliner. The team’s top two defensemen, Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot, both play on the left side. 
Chabot is under contract at an $8MM AAV for the next two seasons, while Sanderson is signed at $8.05MM AAV through 2029-30. They have been the anchors of Ottawa’s defense, and veteran Artem Zub, who is under contract through next year at $4.6MM is the team’s top right-shot blueliner.
Adding one more right-handed defenseman to the mix would give Ottawa an enviable set of top-four defensemen.
Of course, the hope to add a big, minutes-eating right-shot defenseman isn’t something unique to the Senators. Players who check those boxes are often among the most coveted assets in the NHL.
What is most interesting about the Senators’ aggressive pursuit of such a blueliner at the trade deadline is what it says about how they view their internal options for the role. Ottawa invested the No. 7 overall pick at the 2024 draft in a dynamic right-shot blueliner, Carter Yakemchuk. Now 20, he could be close to NHL-ready after a solid debut professional season. In addition, Ottawa has 25-year-old Jordan Spence, who enjoyed a strong 31-point debut season with the Senators. He is set to become a restricted free agent, but remains club property for the time being.
On paper, it might make sense for the Senators to simply stand pat, and trust in that duo of internal options alongside Zub to make up the right side of their defense. But after getting pushed around in a first-round series against the Hurricanes, Ottawa appears set to redouble their efforts to acquire a top-four defenseman of a specific mold, one that is traditionally viewed to be best-suited for the rigors of playoff hockey.
While the upcoming free agent class appears deepest at the position of right-shot defensemen, there are some caveats. Rasmus Andersson appears likely to re-sign in Vegas while Darren Raddysh and John Carlson aren’t quite built in the same mold as Parayko and Ristolainen. While both players would certainly represent an upgrade over Spence, they may not be enough of a stylistic departure for the Senators. Additionally, the league-wide interest each is expected to receive could remove them as an option for Ottawa, as the market has traditionally struggled to attract the league’s very best free agents.
The best fit for the Senators could be veteran Jacob Trouba, who has had a bounce-back stint with the Anaheim Ducks after a difficult end to his time as captain of the New York Rangers. It remains to be seen if Trouba will end up hitting the open market, or if he even would have interest signing with the Senators. But of all of the upcoming free agents, he is the one most stylistically comparable to the defenders Ottawa reportedly attempted to acquire at the deadline. After Trouba, the next-best fit might be Connor Murphy of the Edmonton Oilers, a 6’4″ rearguard who is able to weather substantial time on the penalty kill.
Photos courtesy of Marc DesRosiers-IMAGN Images