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Offseason Checklist: Ottawa Senators

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The offseason has arrived for all but two teams now with the playoffs nearing an end.  Accordingly, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Ottawa.

This year was a much-needed breakthrough for the Senators. Major offseason trades saw Jakob Chychrun and Joonas Korpisalo shipped out the door for Nick Jensen and Linus Ullmark, while names like Michael Amadio and David Perron were picked up in free agency to complement their young forward corps. That, along with a coaching change, was enough to get Ottawa over the hump and into the postseason for the first time since 2017. After a first-round loss to the Maple Leafs, general manager Steve Staios now has his heights set even higher for 2025-26.

Land A Needle-Moving Winger

Most of Ottawa’s jump in the standings this year can be attributed to improved team defense and vastly upgraded goaltending. Their offensive output improved by a minimal amount and remains an area of concern as the Senators look to become a consistent postseason contender.

Matters in 2024-25 weren’t helped by a down season from captain Brady Tkachuk, whose 29 goals and 55 points were his lowest totals since the shortened 2021 season. Outside of him, though, the Senators simply weren’t a good offensive team. They weren’t bad – just slightly below average by most available metrics, and an area in which they’ll need to add an impact piece to have any legitimate championship aspirations with their current core group.

This season, Ottawa ranked 18th in the league in goals, 21st in 5-on-5 shot attempts, 22nd in 5-on-5 expected goals, and an eye-popping 31st in actual goals at 5-on-5. Their 139 goals at standard play were nine ahead of the last-place Predators. They were helped by being the league’s best team at drawing penalties, receiving 269 power-play opportunities with an 11th-place 23.8% conversion rate for 64 power-play goals tied for the league lead.

While they’ve built out enough scoring depth to have an effective group of middle-six forwards behind their anchors in Tkachuk and Tim Stützle, they don’t have another player on the club with a surefire shot at 75-80 points in a season. That’s why they’ve reportedly made the dependable Drake Batherson available in trade talks. They’re looking for a right-winger with a higher production ceiling to slot into his top-six minutes.

They don’t have enough cap space this summer, either. While the organization has reportedly made it a priority to add a right-shot defenseman (more on that later), they’re perhaps better off spending the bulk of it on pursuing one of the better UFA wingers out there in Nikolaj Ehlers or leveraging their current spending flexibility on the trade market.

Make A Call On Giroux

There’s only one uber-notable pending UFA for Staios to contend with this summer. That’s hometown vet Claude Giroux, who’s wrapping up the three-year, $19.5MM deal he signed to join Ottawa in free agency in 2022. There’s mutual interest in extending the relationship. How much of a discount he’ll be willing to take from his current $6.5MM cap hit, especially with his open market value still above the $5MM line (per AFP Analytics), remains to be seen.

If Giroux holds firm to an ask in the $5MM range, the Senators might do well to counter with a one-year offer that includes performance bonuses to get him to that number and lower the initial cap hit of the deal. He’s now 37 and has seen a steady production drop over his three years in the Canadian capital. His 15 goals and 50 points in 81 games this year worked out to his lowest per-game outputs since the 2009-10 season. His points-per-game rate has dropped linearly since his arrival, and if the trend continues, he’s tracking to score just 37 points in a full 82-game schedule next year.

Getting an early indication of Giroux’s salary floor in negotiations will help Staios decide whether to continue pursuing an extension or cut bait early and earmark that cap space for another task. Letting him walk could expand the case for keeping the younger Batherson, an established 60-point scorer at a team-friendly cap hit of $4.975MM through 2027. For a team with semi-limited maneuverability this summer, that’s not a deal they should be actively looking to shed.

Sign Cost-Effective Fourth-Liners

This checklist item could be accomplished by retaining some of the pieces Ottawa is currently willing to lose, but they might do better to look for six-figure bargains in free agency. The Sens struck gold last year with the pickup of Adam Gaudette on a two-way deal. He scored a career-high 19 goals while averaging just 10:25 per game, 16 of which came at even strength.

As such, he may have priced himself out of an extension with the Sens’ priorities set more on bigger moves on offense. The reality stands that Ottawa only has eight NHL forwards under contract for 2025-26, although pending RFA Fabian Zetterlund at least gives them nine under team control. They need bodies, especially without a surplus of high-end AHLers ready to jump to NHL minutes.

There should be many high-ceiling rebound options available for at or under $1MM on a one-year deal for the Sens to replace or even add upon Gaudette’s production level. One name that immediately jumps out is Michael Carcone, who’s already made it clear he doesn’t intend to sign a new deal with the Mammoth and will hit the open market. He previously spent the 2019-20 campaign in the Sens organization but played entirely in the minors. Between then and now, he had a 21-goal campaign for the Coyotes one year ago under eerily similar circumstances to Gaudette’s breakout this year. This year was a more trying campaign for Carcone, who lost a regular spot in the lineup and was limited to seven tallies in 53 appearances. Still, there’s certainly 15-20 goal potential without inserting him into extended minutes.

They’ll also need to re-sign or replace Nick Cousins and Matthew Highmore with low-cost checking options, although that should be a fairly easy task. They can spend an average of $2.14MM on their seven open roster spots with their current projected cap space, enough to fill out their roster with six-figure depth pieces after one or two more notable signings.

Strengthen Depth Defense

While parting ways with Chychrun limited Ottawa’s puck-moving arsenal on the blue line, bringing in the right-shot Jensen as a stay-at-home partner for Thomas Chabot worked wonders chemistry-wise. His +18 rating was the highest on the team. Unfortunately, his status to begin next season is uncertain following lower-body surgery, and they don’t have any legitimate NHL right-shot options behind him on the depth chart outside of Nikolas Matinpalo.

That’s led them to explore outside help, but they risk making too big of a move here with Jensen not expected to miss the entire campaign and young righty Carter Yakemchuk on the way as one of their top prospects. Adding a cheaper name with a history of reliably flexing into second-pairing minutes should still be a checklist item, but it doesn’t need to be a big splash.

Matinpalo isn’t a real internal answer outside of short-term promotions, and bringing back struggling veterans on expiring contracts like Travis Hamonic is a worst-case scenario option compared to finding more cost-efficient players on the open market. Someone like Henri Jokiharju or Jan Rutta can be had without breaking the bank and keeps Matinpalo in the mix as a good extra option when Jensen makes his return.

Image courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.

Senators Sign Tyler Kleven To Two-Year Extension

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The Ottawa Senators have signed defenseman Tyler Kleven to a two-year, $3.2MM contract extension per Chris Johnston of The Athletic. Kleven was set to become a restricted free agent this summer. The team has made the deal official.

Kleven played through his rookie season in the NHL this year. He operated from Ottawa’s third pair and managed 10 points, 27 penalty minutes, and a minus-11 through 79 games. It was a quiet year across the board, but Kleven stepped it up when the games mattered most. He recorded two assists and eight blocked shots – good for third on the team in blocks – through six playoff games. He played physical and instinctive throughout Ottawa’s First Round matchup against the Maple Leafs, and even earned a career-high 23 minutes of ice time in the Senators’ overtime win in Game 4.

The late-season flash seemed to reaffirm Kleven’s upside. Just one year into his career, he’s clearly still learning to keep up with the pace of NHL forwards. But at his best, Kleven is an effective shutdown defender who uses his stick and body to separate opponents from the puck. He’s a strong option to return to Ottawa’s third pairing next year, and could find his way up the depth chart with a hardier season. This new contract will carry Kleven through his age-25 season, and gives him a chance to earn a deal that could carry him through the bulk of his career on the other side.

Senators Begin Contract Talks With Claude Giroux

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May 30th: A few weeks after this initial report that informal discussions had begun, Garrioch shared today that face-to-face talks between Giroux and the Senators would start next week. The expectation is that if everything goes well, a new contract will be agreed upon then.

May 15th: Forward Claude Giroux highlights Ottawa’s list of pending unrestricted free agents but if they get their way, he won’t make it to the open market altogether.  Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the two sides have started informal discussions on a new contract for the 2025-26 season while GM Steve Staios is expected to meet with Giroux’s agent in the next few weeks to try to hammer out a deal.

Giroux joined the Senators three years ago as an unrestricted free agent, inking a three-year, $19.5MM deal on the opening day of free agency.  It’s fair to say the contract worked out quite well for Ottawa as the 37-year-old put up 71 goals and 122 assists in 245 games with the Sens while winning 59.1% of his faceoffs, one of the top rates in the NHL over that time.  This past season, he had 15 goals and 35 helpers in 81 outings while logging over 18 minutes a night of ice time.

While his age makes a raise quite unlikely, it wouldn’t be surprising if term is a key element in these negotiations.  Garrioch cites league executives who feel a one-year deal between $3MM and $4MM would be palatable for both sides while it’s worth noting that Giroux would be eligible for performance incentives in his deal if it’s a one-year pact.  However, given the anticipated demand for centers on the open market this summer, Giroux could have enough leverage to try to get a second year on the deal while also making him ineligible for those performance bonuses.

A veteran of 1,263 NHL games over parts of 18 seasons between Philadelphia, Florida, and Ottawa, Giroux has recorded 365 goals and 751 assists.  His 1,116 points put him in 66th place in NHL history in that regard.

Ottawa enters the offseason with around $17.5MM in cap space, per PuckPedia, giving Staios some flexibility to work with.  However, with that money, he has to re-sign or replace Giroux, re-sign trade deadline acquisition Fabian Zetterlund, add a second goalie (or promote Leevi Merilainen to the role), and fill out the roster with a handful of other pieces.  While that probably won’t leave them a lot of room to go shopping on the open market, they should have enough space to work with to get something done with Giroux in the coming weeks.

Rasmus Andersson Reportedly Has Senators On No-Trade List

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While the Senators have been tied to the Flames’ Rasmus Andersson in their search to upgrade the right side of their defense this offseason, it appears he won’t be an option. Ottawa is among the six teams on his no-trade list as part of his modified no-trade clause, sources tell Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff.

Andersson, entering the final year of his contract at a $4.55MM cap hit, would have been the most needle-moving option available for the Sens in their price range. Pending unrestricted free agent Aaron Ekblad might be a more desirable pickup if he reaches the open market in a few weeks, but he’s projected to earn a seven-year deal north of $7.8MM per season, according to AFP Analytics.

Without a cap-clearing trade, that would be a tight fit for Ottawa, which enters the offseason with $16.627MM in cap space to spread across eight roster spots, per PuckPedia. While they could place right-shot rearguard Nick Jensen on long-term injured reserve to begin the campaign for increased spending flexibility if he’s not ready for the start of the year, he’s not expected to miss the whole 2025-26 season and they’d still need cap space to activate him when he’s ready to return.

Andersson’s inavailability will likely leave the Sens looking for some of the second-tier stay-at-home options on the free agent market to help steady the waters in Jensen’s projected absence and add depth when he returns. It’s not a very long list, but Cody Ceci and Dante Fabbro may be out there as potential impact second-pairing pickups and high-tier third-pairing options.

As for Andersson’s long-term future in Calgary, it remains uncertain a year away from a potential trip to unrestricted free agency. While the Flames have at least explored trading him multiple times in the past couple of years amid their retool, they’ve quickly pulled him off the market – either because they weren’t impressed by the offers they were getting, didn’t want to disrupt team chemistry amid a strong start to 2024-25, or had mutual interest in retaining the player.

It looks like they’re going through that same song and dance again. “After ’looking around’ the landscape of the NHL, keeping Andersson ’might make the most sense at the right number,'” DiMarco wrote.

With the salary cap slated to jump to $104MM for 2026-27, an Andersson extension, if agreed to this summer after he’s eligible to sign one on July 1, would likely be a seven-year deal in the $8.5MM range per season, AFP Analytics projects. Suppose his camp holds firm to that framework. In that case, it’s worth questioning whether that’s a deal general manager Craig Conroy is willing to sign following a season in which Andersson posted his worst offensive totals (31 points in 81 games) in four years, along with a career-worst -38 rating, worst on the Flames by double.

Senators Exploring Right-Shot Defense Market

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The Senators head into the offseason with a young core coming off its first playoff appearance and more than a few roster spots to fill for 2025-26 with a middling amount of salary cap flexibility to do so. They may need to add additional depth on defense out of the gate, with righty Nick Jensen’s availability for the beginning of the season uncertain following a recent lower-body surgery. The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch reports it was a “hip or knee” injury that Jensen played through all during the second half of the season, which will likely activate general manager Steve Staios’ previous commitment “to address the club’s defence after learning the extent of Jensen’s ailment.”

Adding on the back end is one of the more reasonable priorities for a Senators club that’s got a bona fide starting goaltender in Linus Ullmark and a wealth of top-six-caliber forwards. They also shouldn’t have too much trouble retaining pending UFA Claude Giroux to augment their offense, considering there’s strong mutual interest in keeping the hometown vet in Ottawa.

But if Jensen is out to begin the campaign, that leaves Nikolas Matinpalo and Artem Zub as the Sens’ only NHL-caliber right-shot options, and the former is untested outside of limited bottom-pairing minutes. Jensen’s injury could open a pathway for 2024 No. 7 overall pick Carter Yakemchuk to get a look in Ottawa’s top four to begin the campaign, but that’s a questionable choice for a team with playoff expectations, especially given Yakemchuk’s underwhelming output this season with WHL Calgary.

But suppose the organization is still high on Yakemchuk. In that case, it may make more sense to ride out Jensen’s absence with a depth free agent signing rather than making a long-term splash for a right-shot D that would block Yakemchuk’s ascension over the next few years. As Garrioch writes, there aren’t many quality top-four options available on the trade or free-agent markets, and acquiring any of them would require Ottawa to subtract from a position of strength. The only needle-moving UFA available at present is Florida rearguard Aaron Ekblad, who’ll likely end up being out of Ottawa’s price range for a free agent pickup and would require them to make a cap-dump trade (maybe veteran winger David Perron and his $4MM cap hit?).

Trade options league sources highlighted to Garrioch were Calgary’s Rasmus Andersson and Philadelphia’s Rasmus Ristolainen, both of whom would command a first-round pick in addition to an established NHL forward, presumably centers Ridly Greig or Shane Pinto, based on the offers those clubs turned down at the trade deadline. Andersson is also entering the final year of his contract and would likely command north of $8MM per season on an extension. Is that a figure Ottawa is willing to pay with two $8MM blue-liners already in Thomas Chabot and Jake Sanderson?

That leaves Staios likely looking for secondary options on the UFA market in July to help augment his defense. With Jensen sidelined, they’ll likely look for a comparable stay-at-home presence to aid his usual partner in Chabot. Names like Brent Burns and Tony DeAngelo don’t fit that bill, but a reunion with 2012 first-rounder Cody Ceci might. He’s almost certainly hitting the market this summer with the Stars in a cap crunch. Although he has plenty of experience averaging north of 20 minutes per game, his possession metrics last year paled compared to what Jensen provided in his first year in Ottawa. Beyond the Blue Jackets’ Dante Fabbro and the Sharks’ Jan Rutta, though, there isn’t much else out there in terms of defensive-minded righties.

Senators Sign Luke Ellinas To Entry-Level Contract

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The Ottawa Senators announced they’ve signed forward Luke Ellinas to a three-year, entry-level agreement. The Toronto, ON native recently finished his second year with the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers.

Ellinas’ second year in Kitchener ushered in notable improvements. After scoring 16 goals and 33 points in 67 games during his draft year, in which the Senators selected Ellinas with the 104th pick of the 2024 NHL Draft, he registered 20 goals and 37 points in 50 games this past season.

His real coming-out party came during the 2025 OHL Playoffs. He helped bring Kitchener to the Western Conference Final, in which he scored eight goals and 16 points in 14 contests with a +6 rating. It wasn’t enough to be one of the playoff scoring leaders, but it was enough to lead the Rangers in postseason scoring.

It was an unforeseen run for a grittier player. Ellinas is a workhorse in the offensive zone, but his offensive production hadn’t caught up to how hard he was working until now. The Senators have inked a playoff-style performer if Ellinas continues on his trajectory.

It’ll be interesting to see where the Senators place Ellinas to begin the 2025-26 season. Their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators, could use the help in a hotly contested North Division. Still, Ellinas may benefit from another year in the OHL to wholly hone in his offensive game before making the jump to professional hockey.

Nick Jensen Undergoes Surgery For A Lower-Body Injury

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Earlier this month, Senators defenseman Nick Jensen acknowledged that he might need surgery to address a lower-body injury that nagged him in the back half of the season.  While it took some time to decide the best course of action, the blueliner has indeed gone under the knife, according to Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch.

With further details beyond that unknown, it’s uncertain how long Jensen will be out for.  At the exit meetings roughly three weeks ago, the 34-year-old indicated that he was hopeful he would be ready for the start of training camp.  With surgery being delayed until just recently, that goal might be a little more difficult to reach, depending on how invasive the procedure was.

Despite requiring the surgery, it was a solid first year in Ottawa for Jensen.  Acquired last offseason as part of the return for Jakob Chychrun, he put up 21 points in 71 games, tying the second-best point total of his career.  Jensen also logged over 20 minutes a night for just the second time in his career and was a key cog on their penalty kill.  That continued into the playoffs in their opening round when he averaged just shy of 21 minutes per game despite playing through the injury.

Earlier this month, GM Steve Staios acknowledged (video link) that if Jensen’s availability for the start of the season was in question, he might examine an external addition to help cover for the blueliner’s absence.  At the moment, Ottawa has five blueliners under contract with Tyler Kleven being a restricted free agent while Travis Hamonic and Dennis Gilbert will hit the open market in July so there will be a roster spot available for Staios if he wants to add to hedge against Jensen potentially being unavailable to start in October.

What The Senators Must Do To Become Stanley Cup Contenders

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The Senators lost to the Maple Leafs in the opening round of this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs. While they performed well in a six-game loss, they showed the team isn’t ready to be a serious contender. Some might argue that this is the first major hurdle in their rebuild, and they have plenty of time to ramp up expectations, but Ottawa has been rebuilding for half a decade and will need to be bold this summer if they hope to jump into the upper echelon of NHL teams.

Ottawa’s rebuild went through severe growing pains, the biggest being that the team hasn’t drafted particularly well outside its first-round picks. They took Drake Batherson in the fourth round in 2017 and Shane Pinto in the second round back in 2019, but their bottom six has been an area of concern for quite some time, and they hadn’t been able to squeeze bottom-six NHLers out of their draft picks. That put increased pressure on Ottawa’s strong top six, an area that Ottawa could look to improve if it wants to contend.

It doesn’t matter how good Ottawa’s top six is; if they don’t receive much help from the bottom two lines, winning games, particularly in the playoffs, becomes increasingly complex. A good comparison for this is the Penguins during the prime years of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, when the Penguins couldn’t get out of the first round with a weak bottom six but became a buzzsaw during 2016 and 2017 when GM Jim Rutherford built an above-average third and fourth line.

Ottawa needs to adopt the same approach to take the next step. Last year, Ottawa’s top six was dramatically improved by the end of the season, with Pinto centering the third line, and the acquisition of Fabian Zetterlund offering another solid piece for the bottom two lines. But if they want to be bold, there are two places they should look to improve, both of which would organically improve their overall depth.

The first is up front, where their depth was mentioned as an issue. Ottawa could tinker at the edges of their roster and sign depth players as they did last summer, or they could make a push to acquire a top-six forward who could push a David Perron or Claude Giroux (if he re-signs) into the bottom six and add some scoring. Alex Adams of Sportsnet has speculated about the Senators potentially taking a run at Winnipeg’s Nikolaj Ehlers or Florida’s Sam Bennett, and both would fit what Ottawa needs. However, the Senators have solid center depth in their top nine and limited cap space, making Bennett a longshot target. Brock Boeser could also be a target, but Ottawa might be best served to look elsewhere for cap management reasons, given what he will command on the open market.

The other area that the Senators badly need to address is the right side of their defense. Artem Zub is a good pro and a solid second-pairing defenseman, but he should not be on the first unit for a team with Stanley Cup aspirations. That said, Ottawa currently has a solid defensive core, but it could use some help in the short term.

The Senators probably won’t be in on the likes of free agent Aaron Ekblad, and they don’t have the high-end assets to acquire a top young defenseman on the trade market. But what about a reunion with former Senators captain Erik Karlsson? The three-time Norris Trophy winner had his best years in Ottawa, and although he was traded to San Jose, Karlsson’s wife is from Ottawa, and it’s possible he would welcome a return to Canada’s capital. But would it make sense for Ottawa to do so? The short answer is no, but there could be a match there if the Penguins were willing to retain money.

Karlsson would provide offense, but plopping him into the top four would mean he has to play with Jake Sanderson or Thomas Chabot, both young defensemen tasked with covering for many of Karlsson’s defensive shortcomings. Given his skating and strong positional work, Sanderson could probably do that, but it would be a big ask for Chabot. Acquiring a player like Karlsson would allow Zub to drop to the second or third pairing, depending on the availability of Nick Jensen. The other thing that a Karlsson acquisition would do is serve as a stopgap until defensive prospect Carter Yakemchuk is ready to play in the NHL in a couple of years. Yakemchuk could become the top-pairing right-shooting defenseman that Ottawa is looking for. Still, the timeline for his development is unlikely to meet the urgency with which Ottawa needs to fill that hole.

Ottawa’s real target for a trade should be a defenseman who can help elevate Sanderson or Chabot. Zub has been a good soldier for Ottawa, but whenever he plays away from Sanderson, his underlying numbers take a hit, while Sanderson’s improve. It’s a delicate situation for Ottawa as they probably don’t want to disrupt their top pairings’ chemistry, but it might be worth exploring another defenseman on the trade market. Cost will be an issue for the Sens, but Seattle’s Adam Larsson is a name that could be available, as could Calgary’s Rasmus Andersson. The latter of those two might be tailor-made for Ottawa, but he did struggle last year, having some of the worst numbers of his career, and he will be due a massive extension shortly. Ottawa might be wary of acquiring an expensive veteran via trade if they have to turn around and give a lucrative long-term deal to an aging defenseman.

The options are out there if Ottawa does opt to fill in some of the holes at the top of their roster; however, at the moment, the cap space isn’t there to aggressively pursue any of the top free agent options. Ottawa has 14 players signed for next season and has just $17.5MM (as per PuckPedia) left in cap space. After they find a backup goaltender, re-sign Tyler Kleven and Zetterlund, it doesn’t leave much left over to pursue top-end talent, and this doesn’t even account for Giroux, who could potentially re-sign as well. The Senators don’t have much coming from their prospect pipeline either, so they will need to dip into free agency or the trade market to acquire some depth help, too.

The time has come for the Senators to act like a win-now team, especially given the window they have left to compete. They don’t have much young help coming, so management must be aggressive and creative. Bold calculated moves are required so the Senators don’t squander the prime of their young stars, who are almost all on long-term contracts.

Photo by Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

Sam Gagner Confirms Retirement, Joins Senators’ Front Office

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Longtime NHL forward Sam Gagner has confirmed his retirement and will join the Senators as their director of player development, the team announced.

“Sam had an incredible career as a player and we look forward to launching his next chapter,” Ottawa general manager Steve Staios said. “A true character individual, Sam has contributed to the success of his organizations, both on and off the ice.”

Gagner, 35, last played in the league during the 2023-24 season when he appeared in 28 games for the Oilers, his third go-around with the team that drafted him sixth overall in 2007. He cracked the 1,000 game plateau a few years ago. He finished his career with 1,034 regular-season appearances but played just 11 postseason contests over 17 years in the NHL, only reaching the Stanley Cup Playoffs with the Flyers in 2016 and the Blue Jackets in 2017.

After tantalizing with 118 points in just 53 junior games with the OHL’s London Knights in his draft year, the 5’11” center never arrived as an elite scoring presence in the pros. He was still a consistent yet sometimes injury-prone 40-point scorer, especially early in his career with Edmonton. He averaged 17 goals and 50 points per 82 games over the first seven years of his career with the Oilers and averaged north of 17 minutes per game.

One season into a three-year, $14.4MM contract he signed with the Oilers as an RFA, Gagner was flipped to the Coyotes via the Lightning in the summer of 2014 after underwhelming with 37 points and a -29 rating in 67 games the year prior. So began the journeyman stage of Gagner’s career as his offensive production fluctuated wildly from year to year, even resulting in some time in the minors. Between 2014 and 2020, Gagner would suit up for the Flyers, Blue Jackets, Canucks, the Oilers for a second time, and the Red Wings in addition to his year in Arizona. During that run, he scored a career-high 50 points in 81 games with Columbus in the 2016-17 campaign.

Gagner got a modicum of stability to end his career, spending two full seasons with Detroit after they acquired him from Edmonton at the 2020 trade deadline. He spent the 2022-23 season with the Jets before signing his final NHL deal with the Oilers nearly two years ago. The versatile right-shot pivot finishes his career with 197 goals, 332 assists, 529 points, and a -139 rating, averaging 15:37 per game and a 45.6 FO%. He earned approximately $38.1MM in salary throughout his career, per PuckPedia.

While Gagner didn’t play in the NHL last season, he was still active on an AHL deal with the Senators’ affiliate in Belleville, giving some context for his joining the front office of a team he never suited up for in the majors. He recorded 10 assists in 19 games for the B-Sens, appearing in his last game on March 5.

Ottawa also announced they’ve hired Matt Turek to serve as Belleville’s GM while taking a player personnel role with the parent club. He arrives in Ottawa after spending the last decade with the Hamilton/Brantford Bulldogs of the OHL as a scout and, later, their GM. Senators majority owner Michael Andlauer also owns that club, and Turek also worked under Staios as a scout when the latter was Hamilton’s GM before succeeding him upon his departure.

Turek will take on most of the responsibilities vacated by former assistant GM Ryan Bowness, who the Senators told clubs earlier this month won’t be back with the team next season.

Image courtesy of Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images.

Senators Opt To Retain 2025 First-Round Pick

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May 14: The Senators have indeed retained their 2025 first-round pick and will push the forfeiture penalty down the road to 2026 in hopes of having the penalty reduced, per PuckPedia.

May 11: After a strong second half of the season, the Senators worked their way into a playoff spot for the first time since 2017.  While they fell in six games to Toronto, it was certainly a step in the right direction for them.

However, they are still required to forfeit their own first-round selection either this year or next.  That stems from failing to disclose Evgenii Dadonov’s no-trade clause when they moved him to Vegas back in 2021.  That was realized less than a year later when the Golden Knights tried to flip him to Anaheim at the 2022 trade deadline, but the Ducks were on his no-trade list which eventually came to light.  Upset about the matter, Vegas asked the league to investigate, eventually leading to the Sens having to forfeit a pick in 2024, 2025, or 2026.

Given that they held the seventh overall pick last year, it made perfect sense to hold onto that one and the Sens used it on blueliner Carter Yakemchuk.  But with their run up the standings, Ottawa is set to pick 21st overall in next month’s draft.  Since it’s the first time since 2017 that their top pick fell in the 20s, there’s a case to make that this might be the right time to pay that penalty.

However, that doesn’t appear to be the case.  Speaking with reporters earlier this week including Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch, GM Steve Staios indicated that it’s “highly likely” that they keep the selection and push the forfeiture penalty into next season.

Late last year, team owner Michael Andlauer publicly admitted he’s hoping that Commissioner Gary Bettman will eventually reduce or eliminate that penalty altogether.  That approach isn’t entirely without precedent as a similar outcome happened with New Jersey’s penalty for the initial 17-year contract they gave Ilya Kovalchuk, one that was ruled as salary cap circumvention.  The deal was later reworked to a 15-year agreement and approved; had that deal been played out in full, it would have expired this summer.

At the time the initial penalty was assessed, New Jersey was required to forfeit a first-round pick over a three-year stretch.  But after not doing so in the first two years, Bettman opted for a lesser punishment, simply moving the first-round pick in the third year to the back of the round instead of parting with it altogether.  Speculatively, Andlauer may be hoping for a similar outcome here although Bettman’s public comments to Garrioch from November indicate that’s not being considered.

Accordingly, it appears the game of chicken, so to speak, will go on into the third and final year as the Sens will hope for a lesser penalty at that time.  In the meantime, barring a change of heart or a strong trade offer, it appears that they’re set on making the 21st selection on the opening night of the draft next month.

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