- The Senators are expected to make an aggressive pitch for pending UFA defenseman Matt Roy, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. The 29-year-old is positioned to be one of the top right-shot defenders to hit the open market on Monday and is coming off a strong year that saw him record 25 points, 197 blocks, and 152 hits in 81 games while averaging just under 21 minutes a night. After making $3.15MM the last three seasons, he could potentially come close to doubling that in free agency which would be very difficult for Ottawa to fit into their current salary structure.
Senators Rumors
Shane Pinto Hoping To Be Offer-Sheeted
Offer sheets are a rarity in the NHL and it’s even rarer that there is word of a player believed to be trying to solicit one on the opening day of free agency. However, that appears to be the case in Ottawa as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports (Twitter link) that Shane Pinto’s camp will be looking to get an offer sheet when the market opens up on Monday.
[Related: Offer Sheet Thresholds for 2024]
The Senators and Pinto haven’t had much success with contract talks. Last year, the two sides weren’t close to an agreement for most of the summer and just when it looked like they were closing in on an agreement, the 23-year-old was suspended for the first half of the season for a violation of the league’s gambling policy. Upon being reinstated, he didn’t have much choice but to accept a pro-rated deal for the minimum salary of $775K.
To his credit, Pinto was rather productive for the Sens down the stretch, notching nine goals and 18 assists while logging over 18 minutes a night. That brought him up to 30 goals and 40 assists in 140 career NHL appearances.
Both sides were believed to be interested in a long-term agreement but a report in mid-May suggested that they were far apart on money with Pinto’s camp believed to be seeking around $5MM on that contract. The report that he’s now seeking an offer sheet indicates that they remain far apart in discussions.
A $5MM asking price pegs the required compensation at a first-round pick and a third-round pick. Both of those must be 2025 selections and the offer-sheeting team must have their own picks to use; they can’t substitute one from another team. That means that 16 teams are ineligible to attempt to give Pinto an offer sheet at that threshold, per CapFriendly, unless they’re able to re-acquire their own selections first.
Once the market officially opens up at 11 AM CT on Monday, there will generally be a free-for-all when it comes to unrestricted free agent signings so if Pinto is to get his way and get an offer sheet, he may have to be patient and wait for the dust to settle before assessing if there is a viable option out there. Unlike many restricted free agents, salary arbitration isn’t an option as he is ineligible for one this summer so if he wants to show the Sens that he’s worth the money he’s seeking, an offer sheet is the only route he can take.
Senators Still Trying To Move Brannstrom Before Sunday's Tender Deadline
The Senators will soon have a decision to make on pending RFA defenseman Erik Brannstrom who is owed a $2MM qualifying offer on Sunday, one that carries arbitration rights. However, they’re hoping to not be the ones to have to make that decision in the end as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch relays (Twitter link) that Ottawa is continuing its efforts to try to trade the 24-year-old. Being a strong offensive threat in Sweden helped make Brannstrom the 15th overall selection back in 2017 but he hasn’t been able to become a consistent threat at that end in the NHL. This season, Brannstrom had 20 points in 76 games, a handful of which were spent as a winger.
Senators Sign Matthew Highmore To One-Year Extension
June 27: The Sens confirmed the details of Highmore’s extension in a media release Thursday.
June 26: According to PuckPedia, the Ottawa Senators have re-signed forward Matthew Highmore to a one-year extension. The deal will pay Highmore an AAV of $775K at the NHL level and $400K at the AHL level. It will be Highmore’s eighth year at the professional level and his second straight season with the Senators organization.
Despite a flurry of injuries to their forward core throughout the regular season, Ottawa only recalled Highmore to play seven games for the team this past season. Highmore tallied two assists while averaging less than eight minutes of ice time per night during those seven contests. For the most part, as he’s largely done for much of his career, Highmore suited up for the Senators’ AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators.
Suiting up in 43 games for the AHL Senators, Highmore scored nine goals and 31 points over 43 games which was good for sixth on the team in scoring. On this new contract, it is more than likely that Highmore will start the year in the AHL but serve as a potential depth option if the forward group succumbs to injury.
Throughout this career, in addition to the Senators, Highmore has suited up for the Chicago Blackhawks, Vancouver Canucks, and St. Louis Blues, totaling 12 goals and 29 points over 146 games. Garnering much more experience at the AHL level, Highmore has scored 59 goals and 156 points in 208 games over five seasons.
Senators Downplay Thomas Chabot Trade Rumors
Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot had found his name in trade speculation over the past week, mostly in connection to a report that they were in deep talks with the Flyers about a trade that may involve first-round picks changing hands closer to the draft. Chabot was never firmly linked to the deal by reputable sources, though, and Ottawa general manager Steve Staios shut down the possibility in his media availability today (including Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia and Claire Hanna of TSN).
Staios said Chabot “hasn’t been talked about once” as a trade candidate internally, at least since he took over from Pierre Dorion as GM in November. It doesn’t mean they aren’t looking to make a big change on defense, though. Former first-round pick Erik Brännström is a candidate to be non-tendered and hit the UFA market early, and Jakob Chychrun has found himself in some more credible trade rumors as of late with one season left on his deal. Staios didn’t have anything notable to say about the latter today.
The Sens have their longtime top blue liner under contract for four more seasons at an $8MM cap hit. Chabot signed a healthy eight-year, $64MM extension in 2019 after finishing 18th in Norris Trophy voting the year prior, but he hasn’t received any consideration for the award since. He has a 10-team no-trade list for the duration of his contract beginning July 1. Chabot was surpassed as their top defender in terms of average ice time by Jake Sanderson, who looks to be their star defenseman of the future after Chabot held their number-one title from that 2018-19 campaign onward.
Ottawa will certainly look to make major additions on the right side of their defense to support Chabot and Sanderson, one reason the left-shot Chychrun has become somewhat expendable. The Sens are a reported suitor for Chris Tanev should he hit the open market next week, among others. They already have a capable top-pairing shutdown partner for Sanderson in Artem Zub, who’s excelled since coming over as an undrafted free-agent signing from Russia in 2020.
As they attempt to turn things around after yet another non-playoff season, the team has already made one aggressive move to improve their team defense, which finished 26th out of 32 teams in 2023-24. Out is disappointing 2023 UFA signing Joonas Korpisalo between the pipes – he’s off to Boston, along with a first-round pick and depth forward Mark Kastelic, in exchange for reigning Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark.
Senators Weren't On Linus Ullmark's No-Trade List
Linus Ullmark had his first media availability today after being acquired from the Bruins by the Senators on Monday, clearing up some pre-trade rumors that had been floating around in the process. While some believed Ullmark had waived his modified no-trade clause to green-light the deal to Ottawa, he told reporters today that the Senators were never on his no-trade list (via TSN’s Claire Hanna).
Ullmark also confirmed that he won’t start any extension discussions with the Senators in the immediate future (via Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch). He said those will wait until after he and his family get acclimated to the city. He’s entering the final year of his contract and will be a UFA in 2025.
- After taking on the struggling Korpisalo from the Senators in this week’s Ullmark blockbuster, the Bruins intend to have him start next season as Jeremy Swayman’s backup, a team representative confirmed to The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa. Boston picked up Korpisalo at a $3MM cap hit through 2027-28, a 25% reduction on his initial $4MM price tag. Some wondered if a buyout may be coming for the netminder who had a .890 SV% and saved 20.8 goals below average in 55 games for the Sens this year, but that isn’t in the cards.
Senators Gauging Trade Market For Jakob Chychrun
Elliotte Friedman noted on the 32 Thoughts podcast that Pittsburgh Penguins netminder Tristan Jarry is likely available via trade this summer. The 29-year-old signed a five-year $26.875MM contract last summer with the Penguins and put up pedestrian numbers in another inconsistent season and eventually lost the starter role to recently re-signed Alex Nedeljkovic.
Jarry’s contract might have looked unmovable just a few months ago, but given the goalie market and the fact that he is a two-time All-Star, a move seems very possible. Whether the Penguins want to make that move or not is another story, but the fact that they didn’t start him in the final 13 games of the regular season is certainly not a vote of confidence. Jarry went 19-25-5 last season with a .903 save percentage and a 2.91 goals-against average. His underlying numbers were a tick better as he posted 2.6 goals saved above expected (as per MoneyPuck).
In other Eastern Conference notes:
- Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia is reporting that the Ottawa Senators are gauging what the trade market looks like for defenceman Jakob Chychrun. The 26-year-old has one year left on his contract at $4.6MM and will be a prime trade target for many teams looking to improve their backend. Ottawa is reportedly looking for a first-round pick, as well as a second-round pick or a high-end prospect in exchange for Chychrun, a steep price for what could be a one-year rental. Chychrun had a good offensive season last year with 14 goals and 27 assists in 82 games; however, he was -30. Chychrun turned the puck over with alarming frequency last season, committing 73 turnovers, however, his possession numbers were very good with a CF% of 51.2% at even-strength.
- Aaron Portzline of The Athletic lists Ivan Provorov as a potential trade chip for the Columbus Blue Jackets this summer as newly hired general manager Don Waddell tries to improve the struggling team. The 27-year-old Provorov has one season left on his contract with a cap hit of $4.75MM ($2MM retained by Los Angeles) and should receive interest if Columbus decides to move him. Portzline says he would be surprised if Provorov spends the year with the Blue Jackets, given his contractual status and the fact that the Blue Jackets have defenseman Denton Mateychuk turning pro. Mateychuk could be ready to tackle the top four minutes very shortly which could facilitate Provorov’s trade, however, it is important to note that Waddell has a history of being patient with young players and might opt to keep Mateychuk in the AHL for extra seasoning.
Senators Sign Wyatt Bongiovanni To One-Year Extension
The Ottawa Senators have signed centerman Wyatt Bongiovanni to a one-year, two-way contract extension (Twitter link). The deal will carry a league-minimum NHL salary of $775K and an AHL salary of $92.5K.
Ottawa acquired Bongiovanni ahead of the 2024 Trade Deadline, sending future considerations back to the Winnipeg Jets. He now earns a new deal after playing through a two-year, $1.6MM entry-level contract signed with the Jets in 2022 – a deal Bongiovanni earned after signing an amateur try-out with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, joining the team as an undrafted free agent.
Bongiovanni got hot after his move to the Senators organization, recording eight goals and 10 points in 14 regular season games with the Belleville Senators, then adding four points in seven postseson appearances. The scoring brought his season totals up to 25 points in 48 games, a new career-high for the 24-year-old forward. With this season, Bongiovanni brought his AHL career totals up to 43 points across 107 games.
This deal likely doesn’t push Bongiovanni up Ottawa’s depth chart, though it will give him a full season to solidify his prominent role in Belleville. After a meager start to his career in Manitoba, the former Quinnipiac standout seems to be in a good position to push into the AHL top-six. Should his strong scoring continues, Bongiovanni’s new contract will make him eligible for an NHL call-up.
Senators Hoping To Extend Ullmark, Not Done Making Moves
Ottawa Senators general manager Steve Staios went on Ottawa radio show TSN 1200 on Tuesday morning to discuss the aftermath of his first big move with the team – the acquisition of former Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins. The Senators gave up this year’s 25th-overall pick and players Joonas Korprisalo and Mark Kastelic for Ullmark, and don’t plan on letting their new star walk soon – with Staios sharing the team is already focused on an extension, captured by Sportsnet’s Wayne Scanlan (Twitter link). Staios added that an extension is all part of the process and thus may not come quickly, though it is a priority.
Ullmark will begin the final year of a four-year, $20MM contract signed with the Bruins in 2021. He’s emerged as a star goaltender on the deal, so far
recording 88 wins and a collective .924 save percentage in 130 games on the contract. That stat line includes his Vezina-winning performance in 2023, when Ullmark posted 40 wins and a .938 save percentage in 49 games. The dazzling year not only earned him the Vezina – and he and Jeremy Swayman the William Jennings Trophy – but also ranked Ullmark tenth in Hart Trophy voting.
The 2022-23 season elevated Ullmark into the conversation with goaltenders like Igor Shesterkin and Andrei Vasilevskiy. Naturally, it took a significant amount of time for the Senators to work out a deal for that caliber of player, with Ullmark trade-talks starting at the 2024 Trade Deadline, shares Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia Hockey (Twitter link). Ullmark was a very popular name at the Deadline, using his no-movement clause to reject a move to the Los Angeles Kings and even ending up in discussions of a trade to the Carolina Hurricanes. Boston wasn’t able to find a move that worked, though, and now settles for what many argue is a meager return from the aggressive Senators.
Per Staios, that aggression on the market isn’t set to end any time soon. The team will continue to look at all of their trade options leading up to the draft, including continuing to shop around the seventh-overall pick, shares Scanlan (Twitter link). Ottawa is also poised to test the free agent market after July 1st, with Staios sharing that the team is looking to add pieces to build around their strong core (Twitter link). Staios didn’t specify who these core pieces were, though he did express a lot of hope in their ability to take the next step under new head coach Travis Green. Ottawa has each of Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson, Jake Sanderson, and Thomas Chabot signed through at least the next three seasons. With extensions to Ullmark and Shane Pinto, the Senators would solidify a young cohort of talent that stretches through the bottom of their lineup.
Staios’ faith in his lineup was apparent through his interview, with the rookie GM even heaping praise onto the depth of his coaching staff, which features Daniel Alfredsson, Mike Yeo, Nolan Baumgartner, and Ben Sexton behind Green. The Senators are entering the summer with a measly $11.3MM in cap space – and will need to be smart spenders as they prepare for a hefty Ullmark extension. But it seems the eagerness to build a contender is there – giving Senators fans plenty to be excited about after a year of major turnover.
Senators Acquire Linus Ullmark
With Jeremy Swayman set to land what’s expected to be a significant contract as a restricted free agent this summer, it has been widely expected that the Bruins would be moving out Linus Ullmark. That move has now happened as Ullmark has been moved to Ottawa in exchange for the 25th pick in this week’s draft, goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, and forward Mark Kastelic. Both sides have announced the swap which also sees the Senators retaining 25% of Korpisalo’s contract.
Ullmark has spent the last three seasons with Boston after signing a four-year, $20MM contract with them in free agency back in 2021. It’s fair to say that the move worked out quite well for both sides.
After struggling with inconsistency throughout his time in Buffalo, the 30-year-old has become one of the top netminders in the NHL. In 2022-23, he played in a platoon with Swayman but was nothing short of dominant, winning 40 of 48 starts while posting a league-best 1.89 GAA and a .938 SV%. That helped him earn his first career Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s Goalie of the Year.
Not surprisingly, those numbers dropped this season although coming off the year he had, that was to be expected. Even so, Ullmark was still above average, putting up a 2.57 GAA with a .915 SV% in 39 starts. However, he was limited to just two postseason appearances (one start) with Swayman getting the bulk of the workload.
With Swayman set to command a long-term deal and having arbitration eligibility for the second year in a row, it wouldn’t have been feasible for Boston to keep both netminders in the fold. Doing so would have made them one of the highest-spending teams on goaltenders which would have cut into their flexibility to fill some other needs this summer.
Meanwhile, from Ottawa’s standpoint, a move to shore things up between the pipes has been an annual occurrence recently with middling results at best. Last summer, Korpisalo was brought in on a five-year, $20MM contract following a strong bounce-back year with Columbus and Los Angeles. However, instead of turning things around in goal, he struggled considerably, posting a 3.27 GAA and a career-worst .890 SV%. Boston will assume a $3MM cap charge on Korpisalo for the next four years while Ottawa will carry $1MM of dead cap charges for that time. They’ll be hoping that in a better-structured system, he could put up similar numbers to the ones he put up with the Kings down the stretch in 2023, another defensive-oriented team.
Unfortunately for Ottawa, Anton Forsberg didn’t fare much better; while his GAA was a little better at a still-below-average 3.21, his save percentage also checked in at .890. Meanwhile, their potential goalie of the future Mads Sogaard also struggled, coming up with a 4.05 GAA and a .859 SV% in his six NHL appearances. Knowing that, many expected that they would be making another attempt to upgrade in goal this summer; Ullmark certainly represents one. The Sens were believed to be interested in acquiring Ullmark during the season although that never came to fruition with Ottawa believed to be on Ullmark’s partial no-trade list. Evidently, he had a change of heart to help facilitate the move.
Once July 1st comes around, Ullmark will become extension-eligible as he’ll officially be in the final year of his contract. No informal agreement is in place yet although Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports (Twitter link) that the two sides are working on getting an extension in place. If that happens, he’d become their long-term starter with Sogaard likely getting the full-time promotion to the NHL to serve as his backup starting in 2025-26 after Forsberg’s contract comes to an end.
Meanwhile, Boston is also adding a rugged fourth liner in Kastelic. The 25-year-old played in 63 games with the Sens this season, collecting five goals, five assists, 63 penalty minutes, and 126 hits while averaging a little less than eight minutes a night. For his NHL career, Kastelic has 25 points and 331 hits in 144 games with Ottawa. He’s signed through the upcoming season at a $835K cap charge and will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights at that time so he could be in their plans for a couple of years at least. The Bruins have several pending unrestricted free agents up front so Kastelic will be taking the place of one of those players.
Boston will also get to do something they haven’t been able to do lately and that’s draft in the first round. Assuming they hold onto the pick, this will be the first time that they picked on the opening day of the draft since 2021 when they took Fabian Lysell 21st overall. Interestingly enough, that pick has been well-traveled. It’s Boston’s own selection but they originally moved it for Tyler Bertuzzi at the 2023 trade deadline. Detroit then sent it to Ottawa as part of the Alex DeBrincat trade last offseason and now it has returned to the Bruins.
The move winds up being relatively cap-neutral for both sides. In the end, Boston saves $1.165MM with the swap, bringing their cap space for this coming summer to just under $21.6MM, per CapFriendly. Meanwhile, the Sens are now down to $11.3MM in room, per CapFriendly. We’ll find out in the coming days how the teams plan to spend the bulk of those funds.
Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald was the first to report that Ullmark was heading to Ottawa.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.