Senators Rumors

Minor Transactions: 02/17/20

February 17, 2020 at 9:36 am CDT | by Zach Leach Leave a Comment

A pair of big trades by the New Jersey Devils were not the only surprises on Sunday. Five of yesterday’s nine games could be labeled as upsets, including the Devils own win after dealing captain Andy Greene and fan-favorite Blake Coleman earlier in the day. New Jersey went on to beat Columbus in a shootout nonetheless. Additionally, the Senators squeaked by the Stars in overtime, the Predators narrowly edged out the slumping Blues, and the Ducks and Sabres won handily over the Canucks and Maple Leafs respectively. Anaheim will look to play spoiler again today as they visit Calgary as one five games on the docket today. With one week to go until the NHL Trade Deadline, these games will be an important piece in determining buyers and sellers, as could the roster tweaks they make ahead of these key contests. Keep up with all of those minors moves right here:

Boston Bruins defenseman Connor Clifton is nearing a return to the lineup, as the team announced last night that they had assigned Clifton to AHL Providence on a conditioning loan. Clifton has played in 30 games so far this season, but has been out since before the calendar flipped to the new year with an upper-body injury that landed him on long-term injured reserve. Clifton’s eventual return will cause some complications for the Bruins as his roster spot has been occupied by Jeremy Lauzon, who has moved into a starting role in Boston and even earned a new two-year extension. If the Bruins opt to carry eight defensemen upon Clifton’s activation, the most likely candidate to go down (following waivers) would be young grinder Anton Blidh.
St. Louis Blues beat writer Lou Korac reports that veteran Troy Brouwer has been reassigned to the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage. While there has been no official announcement by the team, this should not come as much of a surprise, as Brouwer has previously been sent to the AHL this year. The 34-year-old signed with St. Louis in late November for what will likely be his final NHL campaign, but has only been used sparingly and has struggled to produce in what time he has been given.
After recalling defenseman Andreas Englund from AHL Belleville before last night’s game, the Ottawa Senators were quick to send him right back once the game was over. The up-and-down has been a common theme of Englund’s season, as the big Swedish blue liner has played a dozen games with Ottawa and 22 with Belleville. He has just two points combined this season, both in the NHL.

Minor Transactions: 02/16/20

February 16, 2020 at 10:25 am CDT | by Holger Stolzenberg 2 Comments

The Colorado Avalanche’s opportunity to take over first place in the Central Division came up short Saturday night at the Air Force Academy in Colorado at the Coors Light Stadium Series outdoor matchup. The Los Angeles Kings got a hat trick from Tyler Toffoli, who likely raised his trade stock, and helped the Kings knock off the Avalanche, 3-1. Instead of moving into first, Colorado fell behind the Dallas Stars Saturday, who came back from a 3-0 deficit to the Montreal Canadiens to win in overtime, to move into second place. To make matters worse, both St. Louis and Dallas play Sunday, while Colorado has the day off, giving both teams a chance to extend their lead on the Avalanche. As the playoff race intensifies, teams will continue to make roster moves to strengthen their teams. Check back to see the roster moves throughout the day.

The Columbus Blue Jackets announced Wednesday that forward Cam Atkinson would miss the next two to three weeks with a high ankle sprain. Now the team has placed Atkinson on injured reserve, retroactive to Feb. 8. The team will replace him on the roster with forward Kole Sherwood. The 23-year-old has appeared in three games with Columbus so far this season with no points, but has only averaged 6:38 of ATOI, as he tries to earn the trust of head coach John Tortorella.
The Vegas Golden Knights announced they have assigned forward Nicolas Roy to the Chicago Wolves of the AHL after being recalled on Saturday with Jonathan Marchessault questionable. However, Roy was not needed as Machessault did play, so the team returned him. Roy has six points in 19 games with Vegas this season.
Speaking of players who got assigned Saturday, the Winnipeg Jets announced they have recalled forward Andrei Chibisov from the Manitoba Moose of the AHL after sending him down the previous day. Chibisov is still looking to make his NHL debut. The 26-year-old, signed out of the KHL last June, has seven goals and 24 points in 48 games with the Moose. It’s expected that Chibisov will make his debut Sunday.
The Toronto Maple Leafs announced they have brought up two young prospects in forward Egor Korshkov and Mason Marchment from the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. The 6-foot-4 Korshkov, the team’s 31st pick in 2016, finally came over from Russia this summer and has fared well in the AHL, scoring 14 goals in 35 games, could make his NHL debut if he gets into a game. Marchment has appeared in three games for the Maple Leafs, but has been on a tear since the team returned him to the AHL on Jan. 14. He has eight goals in the past five games with the Marlies. With the recall of two players, CapFriendly reports that Toronto placed Andreas Johnsson on long-term injured reserve. Johnsson was deemed to be out for the next eight weeks on Friday with a knee injury.
The Ottawa Senators announced they have recalled defenseman Andreas Englund from the Belleville Senators of the AHL. Englund has been up and down all season. The 24-year-old has two assists in 12 games for Ottawa, but is actually scoreless in 22 games with Belleville.
After acquiring Andy Greene in a trade from the New Jersey Devils, the New York Islanders have sent Sebastian Aho back to the minor leagues. Greene will join the Islanders on the road in Arizona where they face the Coyotes tomorrow.
The Colorado Avalanche have recalled Hunter Miska, just a few days after signing him to an NHL contract. Miska will likely serve as backup for Pavel Francouz after Philipp Grubauer was injured last night.

Senators Notes: Borowiecki, Veronneau, Ryan

February 14, 2020 at 12:40 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

The Senators have been believed to be talking to some of their pending unrestricted free agents about the possibility of signing a contract extension before the February 24th trade deadline. It appears that veteran Mark Borowiecki will soon be sitting down for his talks as TSN’s Darren Dreger reports in the latest Insider Trading (video link) that discussions with the 30-year-old are expected to occur in the near future. Borowiecki has spent the entirety of his NHL career with the Sens, spanning parts of nine seasons. He’s in the midst of a career year with 18 points in 53 games while averaging 17:56 per night, nearly three minutes more than his career average. That should have him in line for a raise on his current $1.2MM price tag and while the veteran has indicated his preference to stay in Ottawa, he may have to take a little less than he could get on the open market to stay there. Unfortunately for both him and the team, he is expected to be out for a little while following an injury sustained last night, notes Sportsnet’s Kyle Bukauskas (Twitter link) which could also impact his odds of being dealt.

Senators Assign Filip Chlapik To Belleville

February 14, 2020 at 9:47 am CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

After having a very limited role in recent weeks, the Senators announced (Twitter link) that they have sent center Filip Chlapik to AHL Belleville. The 22-year-old has played in 30 games with Ottawa this season but has averaged just 8:37 per night in largely a fourth line role. He has been more productive in the minors with 14 points in 24 contests while spending a lot of time in Belleville’s top six.

Trade Deadline Primer: Ottawa Senators

February 9, 2020 at 4:30 pm CDT | by Holger Stolzenberg 6 Comments

With the trade deadline now less than a month away, we will be taking a closer look at the situation for each team over the coming weeks. Where do they stand, what do they need to do, and what assets do they have to fill those needs? Next up is a look at the Ottawa Senators.

It’s been a improved season for the Ottawa Senators. New head coach D.J. Smith seems to be having some success and the franchise finally seems to be heading in an upwards trajectory. That doesn’t mean the team is winning that much, however, as they have the 29th best record, but no longer are they the worst in the NHL. However, the rebuild continues and while many of their prospects are developing nicely, the team still has plenty of assets they could move to continue their full rebuild.

Record

18-26-11, seventh in the Atlantic Division

Deadline Status

Seller

Deadline Cap Space

$26.13MM in a full-season cap hit (using LTIR), 0/3 used salary cap retention slots, 48/50 contracts per CapFriendly

Upcoming Draft Picks

2020: OTT 1st, SJ 1st, OTT 2nd, CLB 2nd, DAL 2nd, OTT 3rd, OTT 4th, TB 5th, SJ 6th, STL 6th, OTT 7th
2021: OTT 1st, OTT 2nd, CLB 2nd, SJ 2nd, OTT 3rd, OTT 6th, OTT 7th

Trade Chips

The most coveted player is center Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who has had a breakout year, scoring a career-high 21 goals already and not letting up. The 27-year-old is highly coveted and while it might make sense to lock up the center as a piece of the team’s future, recent reports suggest that there has been little to no negotiations between the two sides so far, suggesting that a trade is highly likely. In total, Pageau has 21 goals, 34 points, 102 hits and a 52.8 face-off percentage. He also is quite affordable at $3.1MM, but will hit unrestricted free agency and hasn’t indicated that he would be willing to sign an extension with another team upon a trade, meaning he could just be a rental option for a playoff team.

The team also has other intriguing options as the Senators have quite a few pending unrestricted free agents. While it’s likely they will re-sign some of them, there are a number of players like Vladislav Namestnikov and Tyler Ennis that could attract some attention.

If teams are interested in defense, the Senators have a few options as well with veteran Ron Hainsey standing at the top of the list. Hainsey has been a solid top-four option on Ottawa’s defense since signing with them this summer on a one-year deal. The Senators have quite a few young defensemen looking for playing time. Therefore it would make sense for Ottawa to move out Hainsey, who averages 20:07 ATOI at $3.5MM. While he doesn’t provide a significant amount of offense (one goal, 11 points), he provides solid defense, including a plus-four rating and 75 blocks. Throw in Dylan DeMelo and Mark Borowiecki as potential trade targets as well.

Five Players To Watch For: D Mark Borowiecki, D Dylan DeMelo, D Ron Hainsey, F Vladislav Namestnikov, F Jean-Gabriel Pageau

Team Needs

1) Draft Picks: You don’t have to look farther than the draft chart above to see that the Senators are already loaded with picks, but the more you have, the more successful you will be. The team already is armed with two potential lottery picks for 2020, loaded with draft talent, and have three second-rounders after that. The team has another three second-round picks for the 2021 draft. So, adding more could be the key to this team’s long-term future.

2) NHL-Ready Youth: The team is already loaded with prospects, although many of them have struggled to make the transition from the minors to the NHL. However, especially with the Senators looking to move on from several players, the team could use some more prospects who are either already in the NHL or have started to make that transition which could give the team some buffer room so they can avoid throwing their prospects into a situation they may not be ready for yet.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Trade Rumors: Canucks, Tatar, Petry, Maple Leafs, Pageau

February 9, 2020 at 3:00 pm CDT | by Holger Stolzenberg 2 Comments

With little cap space anyway, many were not expecting the Vancouver Canucks to be particularly active at the trade deadline. However, that viewpoint may have changed after forward Brock Boeser suffered an upper-body injury Saturday against the Calgary. While the extent of the injury is unknown, head coach Travis Green said after the game that Boeser would be out “for a bit.”

NHL.com’s Tracey Myers writes that the Canucks may be looking for a forward at the trade deadline, especially with the team hanging on to first place in the Pacific Division by just one point with four teams breathing down their necks. The team is expecting to get back forward Micheal Ferland soon, but Ferland isn’t likely to provide the offense the team gets from Boeser, who has 16 goals and 45 points, third on the team in scoring.

Plenty of rumors have come up regarding two players with the Montreal Canadiens, including defenseman Jeff Petry and forward Tomas Tatar. Both Petry and Tatar would be valuable trade chips for the Canadiens as they both have one year remaining after this one with reasonable contracts ($5.5MM for Petry; $4.8MM for Tatar). Both are having impressive seasons as well, making them even more intriguing. However, TVA’s Renaud Lavoie reports that he has been told that neither player is being shopped and the team will wait until they are closer to the deadline to see whether they are any closer in the standings to competing for a playoff spot before deciding on whether they would move any of their unrestricted free agents, which could include Ilya Kovalchuk, Nate Thompson or Marco Scandella.
Now that the backup goaltender position has been taken care of, the Toronto Maple Leafs are thought to need to add to their defense before the deadline. However, Elliotte Friedman on Hockey Night in Canada reports that the Maple Leafs intend to wait until closer to the deadline before they consider making another move. The team currently has Cody Ceci on long-term injured reserve and the team wants to wait to see his status in a couple weeks before making a final decision. “Toronto is going to wait,” Friedman said. “Morgan Rielly has a doctor’s appointment next week, they still want to see what his future is, also the health of Cody Ceci, which they’ll know more about probably in a couple of weeks.”
On the same Hockey Night in Canada last night, Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reports that while the New York Rangers have started negotiating with soon-to-be unrestricted free-agent Chris Kreider to see if a reasonable deal can be worked out, the Ottawa Senators have not started to negotiate with Jean-Gabriel Pageau, suggesting that he is a strong candidate to be dealt at the trade deadline with several suitors likely lining up to acquire him.

Pierre Dorion Comments On The Current Trade Market

February 8, 2020 at 1:59 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 4 Comments

With quite a few pending unrestricted free agents, the Senators are certainly a team to keep tabs on over the coming weeks on the trade front. However, GM Pierre Dorion told TSN that the trade market has been relatively quiet so far:

Of their ten UFAs, Dorion acknowledged that they do have some interest in keeping some of them but he has no intention on publicly commenting on who those may be or the status of talks after what transpired last season with the Mark Stone and Matt Duchene situations. The GM also indicated that they would like to keep some veterans in the mix so it’s far from a guarantee that those that don’t receive new deals will be dealt by the Senators by the February 24th trade deadline.

Trade Candidate: Jean-Gabriel Pageau

February 7, 2020 at 8:54 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

With the trade deadline quickly approaching, we continue to profile players that have a good chance to be dealt by February 24th.

Quite a few players that will be on the move are having quiet years with the acquiring team hoping that a change of scenery would get them going. That is not the case when it comes to Senators center Jean-Gabriel Pageau. He’s in the middle of a career season and if he doesn’t agree to an extension with Ottawa in the coming weeks, he’ll become one of the more sought after forwards around the league.

Contract

Pageau is in the final season of a three-year, $9.3MM deal. The contract is a little back-loaded as his $3.4MM salary is a little higher than his $3.1MM cap hit. Pageau does not have any form of trade protection in his deal and is slated to become an unrestricted free agent in July.

2019-20

After scoring just four goals in an injury-plagued 2018-19 campaign, expectations were about as low as they could be for the 27-year-old. However, with Colin White struggling early on, Pageau was pressed into a big role and instead of merely holding his own, he thrived. He has already established new a career high in goals with 20 and his point-per-game average is the best of his career at 0.63. He also has been above average at the faceoff dot for the fifth year in a row and his offensive output hasn’t slowed down his defensive ability. Coming into the season, Pageau looked like he could be a depth defensive forward for a contending team but now, he could be counted on to provide a lot more than that.

Season Stats

52 GP, 20 goals, 13 assists, 33 points, +11 rating, 20 PIMS, 117 shots, 19:19 TOI, 47.4 CF%, 52.7% faceoffs

Potential Suitors

It is a fairly weak market in terms of impact centers to the point where Pageau is arguably the best one available. Accordingly, any team looking for help down the middle is going to have at least some level of interest.

In the East, the Islanders have been looking for upgrades down the middle dating back to the summer. Pageau would give them another penalty killing option while providing a secondary scoring upgrade as well which is an area of need. The Blue Jackets banged up down the middle with Alexander Wennberg and Brandon Dubinsky out and it’s not like Columbus and Ottawa haven’t made these types of deals before. If the Bruins strike out in their search for help on the wing, they could turn around and add Pageau which would allow them to move Charlie Coyle to the right wing for the stretch run. They’d need some assistance to make the money work though.

Out West, the Oilers have been looking for center help all season long and with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins spending a lot of time on the wing, there’s an opening for Pageau on their third line. Colorado has a well-balanced group of secondary scoring but could certainly add to that and shift J.T. Compher back to the wing. Dallas has strong depth down the middle already but considering that Pageau would be their leading goal-getter, that alone could get their attention as they look to add some scoring punch.

Likelihood Of A Trade

Compared to some other rentals out there, this one isn’t a guarantee. The Senators do have legitimate interest in giving Pageau an extension and there have been recent discussions to that end. If they can reach an agreement, they’ll forego trading him; a trade and return scenario isn’t likely. If an extension isn’t reached, then it’s all but a certainty that he’ll be on the move and the biggest question will be what the Senators will get in return. A guaranteed first-round pick could be tricky but a second-rounder that upgrades to a first if the acquiring team wins a couple of playoff rounds could be doable.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Craig Anderson Would Prefer To Not Be Traded

February 7, 2020 at 7:16 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

While Senators goaltender Craig Anderson has been discussed as a speculative trade candidate in what is likely his final NHL season, the netminder told Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch that his preference would be to not get traded. The 38-year-old has been with Ottawa since the 2010-11 campaign and is having a bit of a tough season with a 3.19 GAA and a .901 SV% while losing starts to Marcus Hogberg in recent weeks. With Anders Nilsson getting closer to returning as well, it could be a crowded crease if Anderson isn’t moved. The veteran has a $4.75MM cap hit and a 10-team no-trade clause which could make any potential move tricky.

Minor Transactions: 02/07/20

February 7, 2020 at 12:00 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 2 Comments

Just four games grace the NHL schedule this evening, but there are sure to be some whoppers. The Buffalo Sabres head into Madison Square Garden to try and find some tiny bit of success in what has been a trying time for everyone involved with the team. The Sabres lost yesterday to the historically-bad Detroit Red Wings and are now 23-23-8 on the year. Meanwhile, the reeling Toronto Maple Leafs will throw Jack Campbell into the net right away against the Anaheim Ducks to try and save their season. As they and the rest of the league get ready, we’ll keep track of all the minor moves.

The Ottawa Senators have recalled Andreas Englund from the minor leagues, as Mark Borowiecki prepares for the birth of his first child. Borowiecki won’t be with the team as they travel to Winnipeg for tomorrow’s afternoon tilt against the Jets.
Jeremy Lauzon and Karson Kuhlman have been recalled by the Boston Bruins, who welcome in Phil Kessel and the Arizona Coyotes tomorrow night. Brandon Carlo will not be playing for the team as he is dealing with a personal matter, but is expected to re-join them in time for Sunday’s game.
Antti Suomela has been returned to the AHL after sitting out the last few games for the San Jose Sharks. The 25-year old center has played 12 games this season, recording three assists.
The Anaheim Ducks have recalled Kiefer Sherwood from the minor leagues, sending Daniel Sprong down in his place. Sprong, 22, has played most of the season in the AHL for the San Diego Gulls, scoring 24 points in 31 games.
After losing Ryan McDonagh and Jan Rutta recently, the Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled Cameron Gaunce from the minor leagues. The team will need to find a way to keep their blue line in order after the recent losses.
Morgan Frost is on his way back to the NHL, recalled by the Philadelphia Flyers after a month in the minors. In total, the young forward has played 30 games in the AHL this season, scoring 20 points. Andy Andreoff has been sent back down.
Guillaume Brisebois has been recalled by the Vancouver Canucks, coming up for just the second time this season. The 22-year old defenseman hasn’t played a game at the NHL level this year, but does have 14 points in 43 games for the Utica Comets.

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