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Atlantic Notes: Ullmark, Lorentz, McCabe, Seider

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Linus Ullmark is preaching consistency as he takes his talents between the pipes from Boston to Ottawa. The 2023 Vezina Trophy winner will be the Sens’ biggest X factor as they try to return to the postseason for the first time in seven years. He’ll play a leadership role as well after three straight playoff appearances with the Bruins.

“I have to show them how it has to be done every single day and not just same days,” Ullmark told Bruce Garrioch for the Ottawa Citizen. “It’s a long road ahead of us. You can’t just play for 25 games, you’ve got to play for 82 [games]. When the dog days come around 56 games into the season, and you’re gone on a road trip for nine days, and you’re going on a back-to-back in Western Canada or whatever it may be, those are the games that you need to win. It’s all about making steps and becoming the better team after every 20 games or so.”

Ullmark’s acquisition alone may be enough for the Sens to get back to the playoffs. They’ve retooled their roster in other areas, but Ullmark has been a consistently above-average starter, even dating back to his final couple of years with the Sabres around the pandemic. He saved 13.7 goals above average last season, night and day, compared to Joonas Korpisalo’s, Anton Forsberg’s, and Mads Søgaard’s combined -36.8 GSAA for Ottawa last year. The Senators actually outpaced the Bruins at even strength in their ability to control shot attempts, scoring chances, and high-danger chances.

More from the Atlantic Division:

  • Maple Leafs training camp attendee Steven Lorentz hit a snag Friday in his quest to land a contract from his PTO. The forward is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury and didn’t skate, per the team. After spending most of last season in the press box for the Stanley Cup champion Panthers, recording three points in 38 games, the 28-year-old pivot had to settle for a tryout offer earlier this month.
  • Still with Toronto, defenseman Jake McCabe confirmed a report from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman a few weeks ago that his camp has begun contract extension negotiations. The 30-year-old told reporters today, including David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, that he’s loved his time with the Leafs and will let his agent continue talks throughout the season. Toronto has had McCabe on their books at a bargain $2MM cap hit for the past season and a half, thanks to the Blackhawks retaining 50% of his $4MM AAV in the February 2023 deal that sent him to Ontario.
  • Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider isn’t at training camp Friday after inking his seven-year, $59.85MM deal yesterday, per Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press. He’s still in his native Germany but is scheduled to fly to Detroit tomorrow. He’ll link up with the team on Tuesday. The Wings’ first preseason game isn’t until Wednesday in Chicago, so he’ll be technically available to play, but that would be a tight turnaround.

Senators Reach Agreement To Build Downtown Arena

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The Senators have come to an agreement with the National Capital Commission to construct a downtown arena and surrounding entertainment district in Ottawa’s LeBreton Flats neighborhood, Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen reports. The team is expected to hold a press conference Friday afternoon to confirm the agreement.

The news comes hours before a memorandum of understanding between the two parties governing a potential arena deal was set to expire. It’s a major step toward moving the Senators out of the Canadian Tire Centre in the inconveniently located suburb of Kanata, which has been their home since 1996.

But it’s not the final step in the process, Garrioch cautions. There’s still much to be decided about how the project will be funded, a source close to the development told him.

Still, it’s a major sigh of relief for new majority owner Michael Andlauer. The Senators have been working to acquire land in LeBreton Flats since submitting an initial proposal to the NCC. It’s been a long and winding road since then, with negotiations on their current MOU, signed in 2022, heating up in particular over the past few months.

“League sources say the NCC and the Senators made progress on the size of the parcel of land, which would allow for more on-site parking,” Garrioch wrote. “The Senators know they can’t rely solely on the troubled [light rail] system for people to get in or out of the arena.”

Earlier this week, Wayne Scanlan of Sportsnet put together an expansive FAQ about the remaining roadblocks ahead for the Sens to actually put shovels in the ground. There’s no timeline yet for a prospective groundbreaking or opening date.

Senators Sign Dustin Tokarski To PTO

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The Ottawa Senators have signed goaltender Dustin Tokarski to a professional try-out agreement. The move continues Tokarski’s tour around the NHL, after a reunion with the Buffalo Sabres organization last season.

Tokarski has become a noted minor-leaguer, beginning his career with a fifth-round selection in the 2008 NHL Draft. He was selected by the Tampa Bay Lightning, who promoted him to their pro ranks in the 2009-10 season. He managed a daunting 55 starts with the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals that year, but stood tall as a rookie, winning 27 games and posting a .915 save percentage. He’d hang onto Norfolk’s starting role over the next two years, even leading the team to the 2012 Calder Cup Championship with 32 wins and a .913 save percentage.

But for all of his achievements and accolades at the minor league level, Tokarski couldn’t break his way into the NHL. He played in just 10 NHL games through his first five pro seasons, not receiving his first full NHL season until 2014-15, when he spent the year backing up star Carey Price. Tokarski appeared in 17 NHL games that year, posting six wins and a .910 save percentage – but when Price went down with injury in the following year, it was Mike Condon and Ben Scrivens that got the call from Montreal. Tokarski returned to his role of AHL starter, continuing it through 2021 and even winning another Calder Cup Championship with the Charlotte Checkers in 2019.

He earned one more chance at a hardy NHL role in the 2021-22 season, as the Buffalo Sabres scrounged for goaltending support behind an aged Craig Anderson. Tokarski appeared in a career-high 29 games that season, recording 10 wins and a .899 save percentage. But, once again, he lost hold of the role in the following year, and has since spent the last two seasons back in the AHL.

Tokarski, 35, has put together a career to be proud of. He’s recorded 423 games and 14 seasons in the AHL, setting a career save percentage of .910. He’s won two AHL rings along the way – joining a 2008 WHL Championship and Memorial Cup, as well as a 2009 World Juniors Gold Medal, in his trophy cabinet. He’s stood tall in his limited NHL action too, with a career .902 through 80 games in the league, spread between five organizations. It’s hard to think that Tokarski will suddenly earn a prominent NHL role, but his PTO with the Senators will mark valuable goaltending leadership behind a revamped goaltending room.

Chris Wideman Announces Retirement

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Sep. 17: Wideman officially announced his retirement on Tuesday via a statement from the Canadiens.

April 16: Through a report from Simon-Olivier Lorange of La Presse, Montreal Canadiens defenseman Chris Wideman has announced his retirement from the NHL. Wideman, who is currently suffering from a back injury, has not played in a game since the 2022-23 NHL season, which has likely led to the retirement.

Originally drafted with the 100th overall pick of the 2009 NHL Draft, Wideman would spend the next four seasons with Miami University of Ohio hockey program. Over 195 games spent with the RedHawks, Wideman would score 12 goals and 95 points in total, helping lead his team to two trips to the Frozen Four, and one National Championship appearance.

Once his time in the NCAA came to an end, Wideman joined the Senators’ AHL affiliate at the time, the Binghamton Senators. Over the next three seasons, Wideman would skate in 208 regular season games with the AHL Senators, scoring 30 goals and 130 points overall.

Thanks to his offensive performance in the AHL, Wideman managed to make his debut in Ottawa during the 2015-16 season, putting together a six-goal 13-point rookie performance over 64 games. During his sophomore year, Wideman would reach career highs in nearly every category, scoring five goals and 17 points in 76 games.

The next three years would not be as kind to Wideman, as he was traded three times during the 2018-19 season. After brief stints with the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers, Wideman would finish the season spent in the AHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins organization.

His down 2018-19 season correlated with an off-ice incident that took place in the back of an Uber vehicle. At the time, a video recording was released of Wideman and six of his teammates criticizing other players and members of the coaching staff leading to a public apology from the players.

After receiving limited experience from North American teams, Wideman experienced a career resurgence overseas. Signing a one-year contract with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of the KHL, Wideman scored nine goals and 41 points in only 59 games.

Due to his success in Russia, the Canadiens took a flyer on Wideman’s services, signing the defenseman to a one-year, $750K contract. Both the player and team were well rewarded, as Wideman took off for four goals and 27 points in 63 games.

Unfortunately, both last year and this season have been mired by injuries, with Wideman playing his last game a little over a year ago. Throughout his career, Wideman will finish his career with 20 goals and 78 points over 219 games played.

Leevi Meriläinen Out With Lower-Body Injury

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  • According to a team report, Ottawa Senators prospect Leevi Meriläinen will not participate in this year’s prospect challenge as he’s dealing with a lower-body injury. The Finnish netminder was drafted 71st overall by the Senators in the 2020 NHL Draft and debuted with the organization in the 2022-23 campaign. Meriläinen spent last year split between the AHL’s Belleville Senators and ECHL Allen Americans recording a .906 SV% and .926 SV%, respectively.

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Poll: Which Non-Playoff Team From The East Will Return In 2024-25?

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The 2024 Stanley Cup playoff picture in the Eastern Conference was similar to 2023 aside from a few changes to the seeding of the eight teams. The only team switch was the Washington Capitals and New Jersey Devils with the former making it in as the final wild-card team in the Conference on the last day of the regular season. The 2024-25 season will bring similar hypotheticals as any new season in which teams will ultimately find themselves in the group of 16.

New Jersey may be the early favorite to return to the playoffs after an impressive summer. The team added a salary-retained Jacob Markstrom in an early-summer swap with the Calgary Flames while handing out big-ticket contracts to Brett Pesce and Brenden Dillon. That trio should help the team dramatically improve upon their 3.43 GA/G (28th) from last season with the offense still as staunch as ever. The only concern that may carry over from last season is the organization’s recurring injury concerns. Only four players are returning from last year that played in 75+ games and New Jersey will need to keep a much healthier lineup if they want another shot at the Stanley Cup.

There has been an informal race throughout the last several years as to which of the Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, or Ottawa Senators will return to the playoffs the quickest in the Atlantic Division. Detroit came close last year by tying in points with the Capitals on the final day of the regular season but ultimately losing on the tiebreaker of ’Regulation Wins’. The Sabres made a point to strengthen their bottom six this summer while the Red Wings largely added around the edges. Ottawa made the biggest splash by bringing in goaltender Linus Ullmark in a trade with the Boston Bruins and should have center Joshua Norris around for much of the season.

The Pittsburgh Penguins will be another team to look out for as they’ve missed each of the last two postseasons by a combined four points. None of the other teams in the Eastern Conference have the benefit of deploying Sidney Crosby making Pittsburgh an immediate threat to qualify for the postseason. The Metropolitan Division is arguably the toughest in the NHL but the Penguins could capitalize should other divisional opponents get off to slow starts.

Other teams in the Eastern Conference could make a surprise run to the postseason but the abovementioned group serves as the favorite candidates at this point. Which one of these teams do you think has the best chance of returning in 2025?

Mobile users, click here to vote

Senators Sign Calen Addison, Nikolai Kulemin To PTOs

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The Senators are bringing in defenseman Calen Addison and veteran winger Nikolai Kulemin into training camp on professional tryout agreements, the team announced Thursday.

Addison, 24, will look to catch on in Ottawa after a difficult 2023-24 campaign. The right-shot defender broke into a full-time role with the Wild in 2022-23, playing minimally at even strength but posting 29 points in 62 games while logging significant time on the Minnesota power play.

Defensive concerns have always been paramount with Addison’s game, though. A second-round pick of the Penguins back in 2018, he arrived in Minnesota’s prospect pool two years later via the trade that sent Jason Zucker to Pittsburgh. In his limited usage in 2022-23, averaging 16:07 per game, he still managed to log a team-worst -17 rating.

An RFA last offseason, Addison held out for much of the summer before agreeing to a one-year, $825K deal shortly after training camp began in September. He played just 12 games for the Wild, posting five assists and a -3 rating, before he was traded to the league-worst Sharks in early November.

Even as the top offensive and power-play option on a paper-thin San Jose defense, Addison couldn’t reclaim his offensive production from the year before. He posted a more conservative 12 points in 60 games after the trade, averaging 17:21 per game and supplementing it with a -35 rating, although that figure doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb on a Sharks team that finished the season with a -150 goal differential.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t particularly surprising when the Sharks non-tendered Addison in June, letting him hit the unrestricted free-agent market three years before he’d otherwise be eligible for UFA status. With no interest in a guaranteed deal, he’ll look to land a likely league-minimum pact in camp with the Sens.

While Ottawa’s top four on defense are set to enter the season with Thomas Chabot, Nick Jensen, Jake Sanderson, and Artem Zub, there will be a fair amount of competition for bottom-pairing jobs. Veteran Travis Hamonic is still under contract, and he’ll be competing with the younger Jacob Bernard-Docker and Tyler Kleven for minutes out of the gate. There’s more than enough room for Addison to squeeze himself into the conversation, especially as a much more skilled puck-mover than any member of that trio.

Meanwhile, Kulemin is an immediate contender for the most eye-popping PTO of the offseason. The 38-year-old winger was a second-round pick of the Maple Leafs back in 2006, playing in over 400 games for the club (including a 30-goal campaign in 2010-11). He then signed a four-year deal with the Islanders in free agency in 2014, recording 37 goals and 79 points in 248 games there.

But after falling to a fourth-line role amid a rash of injuries in 2017-18, the final season of his contract in New York, Kulemin opted to return to his native Russia the following summer. He’s spent the last six years in the Kontinental Hockey League playing for Metallurg Magnitogorsk and Salavat Yulaev Ufa.

Kulemin is still an effective secondary scorer in a top professional league, though, even in the final stages of his career. He had 13 goals and 25 points in 46 games for Ufa last season, finishing sixth on the team in scoring while serving as an alternate captain.

It’s a puzzling career move for Kulemin, but it appears he’s intent on getting another shot in North America. There is an outside chance he could land a fourth-line role and make the opening night roster, competing with players like Angus Crookshank and Zack MacEwen. But if he’s intent on adding to his 669 career NHL games, he’ll likely need to do it by starting with the Sens’ AHL affiliate in Belleville and working his way back up.

Senators Waiting To Begin Extension Negotiations With Ullmark

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According to the team’s general manager, Steve Staios, rumors of extension negotiations between Linus Ullmark and the Ottawa Senators may have been overblown. TSN’s Bruce Garrioch reported that Staios prefers Ullmark get comfortable with the organization before beginning any discussions.

The Senators are hoping to avoid a contract similar to that of Joonas Korpisalo whom the team signed to a five-year agreement last offseason after one solid year split between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Los Angeles Kings. Ullmark has certainly generated more credibility than Korpisalo but the Senators would still do well by taking their time. The 2022-23 Vezina Trophy winner has all season to determine if he is willing to commit to the Senators organization long-term in what might be his last big payday.

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  • Garrioch reported in a recent article that talks are heating up between the Senators organization and the National Capital Commission for an arena deal at the LeBreton Flats location. Chief executive officer and team president Cyril Leeder recently spoke to season ticket holders saying, “We did meet with the NCC this week and we made a little bit of progress so we’ll see. We’re still talking. As I said last week, we’re hopeful we’ll find common ground, but we’ve got less than three weeks now to get there“. The Senators are certain to be more aggressive leading up to the arbitrary September 20th deadline as they look to build an arena for the first time since 1996.

Norris Will Be Fully Healthy For Training Camp

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After undergoing shoulder surgery back in March, Senators center Josh Norris is expected to be a full participant when training camp gets underway next month, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch.  The 25-year-old has had three separate shoulder procedures done and he has yet to play more than 66 games in a single season.  Last season, Norris played in 50 games for Ottawa, recording 16 goals and 14 assists.  He has six years remaining on his contract with a $7.95MM cap charge and the Sens will be counting on him to stay healthy and play a prominent role in 2024-25.

Senators Sign Nick Cousins

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3:30 P.M.: Ottawa has made the one-year signing of Cousins official.

2:30 P.M.: The Senators are signing free agent forward Nick Cousins to a one-year deal worth $800K, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports.

Cousins, 31, is a 10-year NHL veteran and reached UFA status this summer after completing a two-year, $2.2MM deal he signed with the Panthers in 2022. He played in 33 of Florida’s 45 playoff games over the last two years as they captured the Eastern Conference championship in 2023 before winning the Stanley Cup this year for the first time in franchise history. This was Cousins’ fifth go-around on the UFA market, going unqualified three times earlier in his career.

Overall, the forward has appeared in 592 regular-season games with Philadelphia, Arizona, Montreal, Vegas, Nashville, and Florida, averaging 10 goals, 16 assists, 26 points, and 127 shots on goal per 82 games while seeing 12:25 on the ice per contest. Cousins, who can play both center and left wing, fell out of the Panthers’ regular lineup last postseason and only appeared in 12 of 24 games, posting a lone assist and a -1 rating with 20 PIMs while averaging 8:42 per game.

Known mainly as a physical presence with some offensive upside, Cousins recorded 16 goals and 42 points in 148 regular-season games during his two years with the Panthers. His 130 hits in 69 games last season were a career-high, finishing sixth on the club. After over six weeks into free agency without landing a deal, Cousins changed his representation earlier this month. He’s now represented by Newport’s Craig Oster, who also landed Noah Gregor a one-year, $850K deal with the Sens earlier in free agency.

The Sens have $1.1MM in projected cap space with an open roster spot after the signing, per PuckPedia. With no notable RFAs needing new deals, they’re in an excellent place to add another depth piece on the open market before training camp.

With Ottawa’s top nine largely set after the signings of Michael Amadio and David Perron in July, Cousins will compete for fourth-line duties with Gregor, Angus Crookshank and Zack MacEwen as his principal competition. Other depth pieces like Matthew Highmore and Zack Ostapchuk are likely ticketed for AHL Belleville to begin the season but will likely be given a long look in camp.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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