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Mark Borowiecki Expected To Test Free Agency

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After more than a decade in the organization and endless work in the community, Mark Borowiecki appears to be headed for a breakup with the Ottawa Senators. The veteran defenseman is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason and as Hailey Salvian of The Athletic reports, he’ll be “testing the waters” and is expected to go in a different direction.

Borowiecki, 31, always seemed like he would be a Senator for his whole career, given the obvious connection he had with ownership and the comments made by GM Pierre Dorion just a few months ago. After Borowiecki was not dealt at the trade deadline, Dorion told TSN radio that he wanted the depth defenseman to be a “Senator for life.” Unfortunately, even then it was easy to be skeptical about those comments given how the team had treated other core players over the years.

It’s not just the fact that Borowiecki has been a hard-nosed defenseman with 375 games under his belt for the franchise, but he has become something of a folk hero in the community. While his robbery-foiling happened in Vancouver, there are countless other stories of him helping people in Ottawa in one way or another. His wife, Tara Borowiecki, is actually on the board of directors for the Ottawa-Gatineau Youth Foundation, a charitable organization that used to be known as the Sens Foundation before it split from the franchise.

Borowiecki is coming off a two-year contract that totaled $2.4MM and it’s hard to see him earning a lot more than that moving forward. Even though he’s been a regular in the Ottawa lineup, he still does have poor possession stats and doesn’t contribute much at the offensive end. For a team looking to add some bite to their lineup, he could be an option. Borowiecki has recorded more than 1,500 hits in his 375 games and blocked 120 shots this season for the Senators.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Bobby Ryan Wins Bill Masterton Trophy

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This week, the NHL will be revealing some award winners in the pregame show of a Conference Final game.  Today’s award announcement was for the Bill Masterton Trophy which was won by Senators winger Bobby Ryan.  The other two finalists were Flyers winger Oskar Lindblom and Stars defenseman Stephen Johns.  The award is given to “to the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey”.

Ryan took a leave of absence from the Senators in November to enter into the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance program and was in there for close to three months.  He had quite the memorable return as in his second game back, he had a hat-trick against Vancouver.  Before the pandemic hit, Ryan had played in eight games, collecting four goals while playing over 16 minutes a night, well above his season average.  While his season ended on a high note, he’ll remember it best for overcoming the alcohol abuse issues that saw him enter the assistance program and for sharing his story publicly.

Lindblom was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma back in December, ending his regular season.  At the time of his cancer diagnosis, he was leading the Flyers in goals with 11 and had 18 points in 30 games.  He was well on his way to recovery at the time of voting and signed a three-year, $9MM contract back in July.  While it was initially believed that he wouldn’t play in Philadelphia’s playoff run, Lindblom recovered quick enough to get into their last two games against the Islanders, playing more than 16 minutes in both contests.  He looks well-positioned to once again be an important winger for the Flyers next season and could be a contender for this trophy next season as well.

Johns returned to the ice after missing 22 games due to lingering concussion trouble that first came about in Dallas’ training camp in 2018.  He made an immediate impact upon his return, picking up an assist in his third game back and a goal in his fourth contest.  Overall, he played in 17 games and logged an impressive 17:40 per game while adding some stability to the back half of their defense corps in the process.  Johns suited up for their first four playoff games (all three Round Robin matches plus the first Qualifying Round game versus Calgary) before being injured.  He remains unfit to play and there is no word on how long he’ll be out.

Golden Knights goaltender Robin Lehner was the recipient of the award last season.  The Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award is next up and will be revealed on Tuesday.

Vitaly Abramov Loaned To Jukurit

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The Ottawa Senators have sent another prospect overseas for the next few months, loaning Vitaly Abramov to Jukurit in Finland. Abramov will return to North America in time for NHL training camp but can get some playing time while he continues his development.

One of the big pieces that came back to Ottawa in the Matt Duchene deal, Abramov was originally a third-round pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Picked in 2016 after his outstanding rookie-of-the-year season in the QMJHL, Abramov has done nothing but score throughout his hockey career. His time in the CHL ended in 2018 after 301 points in 185 regular season games and the professional ranks haven’t proven too difficult either. Abramov is coming off a season with the Belleville Senators in which he scored 41 points in 51 games as part of a high-powered offense with Joshua Norris, Drake Batherson, and Alex Formenton (among others).

With three NHL games under his belt and exceptional talent, Abramov is a candidate for full-time minutes with the Senators in 2020-21. The 22-year-old will be entering the final season of his entry-level contract and looking to put up some stats before hitting restricted free agency. Getting a chance to kick things off in Europe will do nothing but help his chances of making the Ottawa roster, especially on a team like Jukurit. Since 2016 when they moved up into the highest division, Jukurit has gone 66-85-29 and missed the playoffs four times. With the kind of offensive skill that Abramov brings, he could very well find himself getting prime minutes with the team’s best players.

Senators Could Make Sense As A Landing Spot For One Of Pittsburgh's Goalies

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  • While the Senators appear to have their goalie tandem intact for next season already with Anders Nilsson and Marcus Hogberg, Postmedia’s Don Brennan argues that Ottawa GM Pierre Dorion should be inquiring about the availability of Pittsburgh’s goaltenders. Penguins GM Jim Rutherford mentioned earlier this week that he has had interest in both Matt Murray and Tristan Jarry and suggested one will likely have to be moved.  While Ottawa has amassed a lot of prospect depth between the pipes (including former Pittsburgh prospect Filip Gustavsson), they don’t have anyone that necessarily projects to be a starter and either of Murray or Jarry would represent an upgrade.

Prospect Notes: Thomson, Mysak, Wilkes-Barre

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The Ottawa Senators have loaned Lassi Thomson back to his Finnish club for the start of the 2020-21 season to get the young defenseman playing in meaningful games. Thomson, the 19th overall pick from 2019, signed his entry-level contract last year but spent the season playing in Finland with Ilves. Even suiting up at that level as a teenager is impressive, but Thomson recorded 13 points in 39 games while also logging big minutes for the World Junior club. Senators GM Pierre Dorion explains why he’ll be back in Finland to start the season:

Playing league games is beneficial to any young player’s development. To Lassi’s credit, he expressed a desire to do so and it’s something that we very much support. Starting the year with the same Finnish team for which he (Thomson) played last season provides him with his best preparation opportunity ahead of our next training camp.

The important note is ahead of training camp, when Thomson will likely be back on North American ice to show the Senators up close what he can do. As with any rebuilding team, there will be opportunity galore for young players with the kind of upside Thomson possesses, but with plenty of other names on the depth chart he’ll have to really show he’s ready before they burn a year of his entry-level contract by putting him in NHL games.

  • After playing a half-season for the Hamilton Bulldogs of the OHL, Jan Mysak will be returning to the Czech Republic for the time being. The 2020 draft prospect scored 25 points in 22 games for Hamilton after coming over midseason and could potentially be picked in the first round come October. NHL Central Scouting ranked him the 28th best skater in North America, but he’ll be back overseas to prepare for his professional career.
  • The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have signed Felix Robert and Luke Stevens to AHL contracts for 2020-21, bringing in a pair of prospects that have aged-out of their respective amateur programs. Robert was a linemate of Penguins prospect Samuel Poulin this season with the Sherbrooke Phoenix of the QMJHL and led the team in scoring with 92 points in just 46 games. The 21-year old went undrafted but used his experience to dominate the competition this season even standing just 5’8″. Stevens meanwhile was a fifth-round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes in 2015 but failed to sign a contract with them and became an unrestricted free agent last weekend. Through his four years at Yale, he recorded 35 points in 101 games.

Senators Won’t Attempt To Trade Up For Top Pick

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While the draft lottery didn’t quite go the way that the Senators wanted, they still wound up with two of the first five selections in October’s NHL Entry Draft with their picks slated to fall third and fifth.  Considering that they’ve added several notable picks and prospects in recent years (even without having their own first rounder a year ago), the thought of packaging those two picks together to try to move up to the top slot to land prospective top pick Alexis Lafreniere had come up.

However, Senators owner Eugene Melnyk told Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch that they won’t be entertaining the idea of trying to move up to nab that top selection:

The idea of trading our 3rd and 5th picks for the No. 1 pick is nonsensical.  We’re very excited to welcome our many new Ottawa Senators that will come to us via the upcoming draft.

As things stand, Ottawa is likely to land one of OHL center Quinton Byfield or German forward Tim Stutzle with the third pick and both could be ready to play in the NHL next season.  Whoever they get with the fifth pick may not be NHL ready right away but the Sens have several youngsters in the system that are close to making the jump so there’s no rush for whoever is picked there to suit up for Ottawa.

Garrioch suggests that the Canadiens will likely make a push for the top selection.  Lafreniere is from Quebec while he notes that Montreal’s management made a strong push for them to be a part of the Draft Lottery during the NHL’s Return to Play discussion.  However, they upset Pittsburgh in the Qualifying Round and as a result, they will pick no higher than 16th which will likely make such a move quite difficult.

Having said that, the odds that the Rangers would deal the pick are quite low.  The last time a number one pick was moved was back in 2003 when Florida moved down two spots.  However, with Melnyk stating that the Senators don’t intend to try to move up, the one team that could do a similar deal is now off the table as it appears that they’ll be quite content to stay at picks three and five.

Draft Pick Fall Out From Qualifying Round Results

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It was a dark day in the NHL on Friday as five teams were eliminated from playoff contention and, barring a miraculous last-minute comeback by the Toronto Maple Leafs, it could have been six-for-six. While the focus on these pivotal games yesterday was on those teams advancing and those team going home, there were also numerous draft picks impacted:

  • In addition to yesterday’s winners, it was also a big day for the New Jersey Devils. In a year in which the draft class is lauded for its depth, particularly in impact forwards, the Devils are now the proud owners of three first-round picks. New Jersey acquired Arizona’s first-rounder in the Taylor Hall trade and Vancouver’s first-rounder from Tampa Bay in the Blake Coleman However, both picks were lottery protected. Now that the Coyotes and Canucks have advanced, they will not take part in Monday’s second draft lottery to determine the No. 1 pick and as a result their picks have officially been sent to the Devils.
  • The Ottawa Senators will also have three picks in the first round of the 2020 Draft. Already owners of their own pick and San Jose’s, the Senators officially acquired the New York Islanders’ pick yesterday. The Isles had sent a lottery-protected first-rounder to Ottawa in the Jean-Gabriel Pageau trade, but with New York moving one they will not be in the running for a lottery pick. There is also a conditional 2020 second-round pick involved in that deal which will transfer to the Senators if the Islanders win the Stanley Cup. That dream for now remains alive for New York.
  • The clock is ticking on the Pittsburgh Penguins. The first-round pick that the team sent to the Minnesota Wild in the Jason Zucker trade contained a condition that the Penguins could keep the pick if it landed in the top 15. Now that the team has been surprisingly knocked out of the postseason, their first-rounder will fall in that range. They now have seven days to decided whether or not to retain the pick and send their 2021 first-round pick instead or to simply trade their 2020 selection. Obviously, the team will wait for the results of Monday night’s lottery, but regardless it seems likely that the Penguins will keep the pick and bet on themselves to make the playoffs next season.
  • One first-round pick that still remains undecided is the pick that will transfer to the New York Rangers as part of the Brady Skjei When the Carolina Hurricanes acquired Skjei, they promised the Rangers the later of their two first-rounders, their own and the Toronto Maple Leafs’, acquired alongside Patrick Marleau. However, the Toronto pick has conditions of its own; if the Leafs pick lands in the top 10, they will retain the selection and transfer their 2021 first-rounder instead. The only way for this to occur would be for Toronto to both lose Game Five against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday and then win the No. 1 overall pick in Monday’s draft lottery. If the Maple Leafs lose both the game and the lottery, their pick will be No. 13 and by default will be earlier than Carolina’s, meaning the Hurricanes’ own pick will go to the Rangers. Should Toronto win on Sunday, it will remain to be seen how far each team goes in the playoffs and which pick will head to New York.

Brett Kulak, Jayce Hawryluk Confirm Positive COVID-19 Tests

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While the NHL hasn’t been making announcements on which players have tested positive for COVID-19, a handful of players have acknowledged that they have had the virus.  Two more have done so recently in Canadiens defenseman Brett Kulak and Senators center Jayce Hawryluk.

Following practice today, Kulak confirmed to reporters, including Sportsnet’s Eric Engels (Twitter links) that he was dealing with symptoms for a little more than a week after initially testing negative just prior to the start of camp.  Two positive tests quickly followed and he was only recently cleared to rejoin the team.  The 26-year-old is in the mix for a spot on Montreal’s third pairing for their series against Pittsburgh but after missing so much of camp, he might be on the outside looking in for next weekend’s start.

Meanwhile, Hawryluk was among those that tested positive back in March when the pandemic was just beginning.  He discussed what happened with Thomas Drance of The Athletic (subscription required) and wonders if he played through their last game (one in which he scored) with the virus.  Of the five Senators to test positive, the pending restricted free agent is the only one to publicly confirm his positive test.

Snapshots: Suter, McLeod, Senators Logo

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Switzerland’s leading scorer is headed to the NHL, but to which team exactly is still a mystery. Pius Suter has opted into his exit clause for the 2020-21 season with the expectation of signing in the NHL, the ZSC Lions of the Swiss NLA have announced. Head coach Rickard Gronberg also thanked and congratulated the young star on his move to North America. A former OHL prospect who has played at home in Switzerland for the past five years, Suter had shown flashes of scoring ability before but truly broke out this season with a league-leading 30 goals and 53 points in 50 games. The NLA has slowly been climbing the ranks of the top leagues in Europe and several players who have graduated from Switzerland in recent years have found instant success in the NHL. Suter, 24, dominated the Swiss ranks this season and has shown an innate ability to create offense. This sounds very similar to Chicago rookie Dominik Kubalik, who had nearly identical stats to Suter in the NLA in 2018-19 and went on to record 30 goals and 46 points in 68 games in an incredible debut season this year. Kubalik’s success continues a trend of Europeans finding a good fit with the Blackhawks, which could be why The Athletic’s Scott Powers reports that the club is considered a front-runner for Suter’s services. With little cap space and a relatively thin forward corps, a productive player on an entry-level deal would be an excellent addition for Chicago and Suter would also like the opportunity that the Blackhawks could offer. Suter is expected to make his decision in the coming days – and other teams are in the mix – but don’t be surprised if it’s Chicago who lands the exciting Swiss scorer.

  • Veteran grinder Cody McLeod is coming back for another year of pro hockey. The fan favorite agitator earned a one-way NHL contract for a decade before this season and instead settled for a one-year deal with the AHL’s Iowa Wild. To no surprise, McLeod was a hit in Iowa and a good leader for the young prospects as well and has earned an extension. The junior Wild announced that that they have signed McLeod to another one-year deal for 2020-21. McLeod only played in 21 games for Iowa, recording seven points (and 41 penalty minutes), but as long as McLeod remains a positive locker room influence and a menacing presence on the ice, he can play as long as he likes.
  • The Ottawa Senators are rewinding back to 2007. The Athletic’s Hailey Salvian reports that the franchise is returning to the two-dimensional logo that they debuted in 1997 – or at least one that looks very similar – next season. The 2D look was retired after a decade and replaced with the three-dimensional logo that the team donned this season. However, Salvian writes that the club has decided that they favor the more retro look. The two-dimensional logo does better represent the Roman style of their centurion logo in a way that the three-dimensional logo never could, and Ottawa fans are already excited about the return of the old logo. Salvian also writes that the new logo will be accompanied by redesigned jerseys, including a brand new third jersey. The Senators hope that these changes will drive merchandise sales and, more importantly, pair with a promising young roster, two top-five draft picks, and a long hiatus from hockey in the city to create an atmosphere of excitement in Ottawa ahead of the 2020-21 season and help to cure the league’s worst attendance numbers.

Offseason Keys: Ottawa Senators

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The offseason has arrived for at least seven teams that were not invited to take part in the play-in round that’s slated to begin in early August.  With that in mind, our Offseason Keys series is underway for the teams that are on the outside looking in.  Next up is a look at Ottawa.

The Senators committed to a full-scale rebuild over the last couple of years when they dealt away the majority of their top players.  Not surprisingly, the corresponding performance this season wasn’t particularly strong.  The good news is that they have built up a strong prospect pool and are set to add to that with two picks in the top five in October.  But hitting on those two selections is only a small part of what they will be looking to do this offseason.

Spend, Spend, Spend

For a team that, let’s face it, has shown a reluctance to spend towards the Upper Limit of the salary cap, this may seem like a strange header.  In normal times, they likely wouldn’t be going out of their way to take on contracts but this isn’t anywhere close to being normal times.  The cap isn’t going up and that means there are going to be plenty more motivated sellers this offseason than we’ve been accustomed to seeing.

Ottawa has a strong stockpile of picks and prospects already but there is always room for more at this stage of their rebuilding phase.  The more options they have, the better.  Those will likely be the currency getting used to make those deals and GM Pierre Dorion should be quite interested as a result.

The Senators would likely be shopping at a different end of the market though and it actually may wind up being to their advantage.  While higher-spending teams will be shopping for the best talent available and trying to drive a hard bargain to get the best deal possible, Ottawa’s previous willingness to take on high AAV deals that carry a lower salary is going to be appealing to teams looking to cut money.  (Their past trades for Marian Gaborik and Ryan Callahan – both injured players – provide another pathway to pursue if it’s a short-term deal as well.)  Rather than lose an impact player, parting with a decent sweetener to pawn off an inflated AAV is a much better alternative and Dorion should be poised to take advantage of that, perhaps better than any other team.

Duclair Deal

Last summer, the Senators played it safe with Anthony Duclair, a move that was certainly understandable given his past performance.  Instead of looking for a long-term deal, they opted for a one-year, $1.65MM pact which the winger certainly lived up to and then some this year.  While his production was still streaky at times, he finished up his year with 23 goals (a career high) and 40 points while his point-per-game rate of 0.61 was better than any other season in his career.

With salary arbitration rights, Duclair is looking at a nice raise this offseason even with the salary cap flattening out.  But will it be a long-term contract this time around or a short-term one?  He’s two years away from UFA eligibility so it’s at the typical point where the bridge contract is now done and a long-term deal is worked out.

That still doesn’t seem like an automatic outcome here, however.  As some of Ottawa’s prospects work their way up the system, is there going to be a spot for Duclair in their top six a few years from now?  If they think the answer is yes, then this is probably the best spot to buy out a UFA year or two at the very least.  But if not, another short-term pact (perhaps even another one-year contract) may be the better way to go even though it runs the risk of getting him to a point next summer where he opts for a one-year arbitration award to expedite a shot at the open market (for the second time after he was non-tendered in 2018).  This will be one of the trickier decisions that Dorion will have to contend with in the coming months.

Add A Top-Six Center

Part of the reason that Jean-Gabriel Pageau was in the middle of a career year before being shipped out at the trade deadline was that he was effectively Ottawa’s number one center by default which allowed him to average more than 19 minutes per game.  That’s not an ideal amount of ice time for him but in head coach D.J. Smith’s defense, he didn’t really have any other options.  Colin White struggled mightily in the first year of his new deal, Chris Tierney is best used on the third line, while Artem Anisimov and Nick Paul should be in even lesser roles.  It got to the point where Brady Tkachuk was tried in the middle at times and while he held his own, his willingness and ability to engage physically makes him a better candidate to stay on the wing.

Granted, Ottawa does have high hopes for Josh Norris but despite a stellar rookie campaign in the minors, he’s not stepping into that role right away.  Neither is Logan Brown, a player who hasn’t been able to put it all together just yet.  There’s a good chance that they’ll wind up with at least one center with one of those early selections but throwing them to the wolves right away with a spot on the number one line is asking for trouble.

It’s not an area that Ottawa is realistically going to be able to address in free agency as quite frankly, the UFA market for centers isn’t the greatest.  It’s also unlikely that they’d be the top bidder if there was one out there.  Instead, this is one spot they’ll likely have to make a trade to improve.  A number one pivot is doubtful but as teams are looking to free up money, some quality second liners should be out there.  Even that would represent a considerable upgrade on what their current options are and would allow their up-and-coming youngsters to ease into their roles which, from a long-term development perspective, would be ideal.   Someone with three or four years left on their contract would fit in relatively well and would be a nice addition for Dorion to make.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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