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More On Alex DeBrincat, Vladimir Tarasenko

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Ottawa Senators winger Alex DeBrincat was expected to be one of the hottest commodities on the offseason trade front for the second season in a row. After heading over to the Sens by way of Chicago last season, his offensive production took a small step back in 2022-23, and he then informed Ottawa he wasn’t willing to sign a long-term extension with them – or anywhere in Canada. Yesterday, general manager Pierre Dorion admitted to Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch that he’d granted DeBrincat’s camp permission to speak to teams about an extension on “multiple occasions,” but that proposed deals had fallen through at that point.

Garrioch was able to independently confirm that today, saying that DeBrincat’s desired contract extension is what’s holding up a trade going through – not the offers Ottawa is receiving for trade returns.

DeBrincat’s agent, Jeff Jackson, has been granted permission by the Senators to engage in contract extension talks with at least three different teams, Garrioch said. He’s reportedly seeking an eight-year, $70.2MM deal, coming in just under the $70.4MM extension Timo Meier signed with the New Jersey Devils last month. That would be an $8.775MM cap hit for DeBrincat, with Garrioch saying teams are trying to get him signed to a contract closer to the $8MM mark.

Obviously, the ongoing delay in resolving DeBrincat’s contract situation is hampering other important business for the Senators. Clearing his $9MM cap hit for the upcoming season would free up significant cap space, enabling the team to sign other players ahead of a 2023-24 season where the expectation is to unequivocally turn a corner in their rebuild – including, potentially, Vladimir Tarasenko, who The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta says is nearing a decision on where to sign. Ottawa remains in the running for his services, as do the Carolina Hurricanes (who’ve already added Dmitry Orlov and Michael Bunting as UFAs).

The New York Islanders and Anaheim Ducks have shown interest in acquiring DeBrincat, Garrioch reiterates, with offers likely to include a roster player that can contribute immediately.

Latest On Alex DeBrincat

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With Senators winger Alex DeBrincat making it known that he does not intend to sign a long-term deal with Ottawa, there has been an expectation of a trade for several weeks.  However, the draft came and went without any move and after yesterday’s flurry of signings, there aren’t many teams left that can cover the full cost of a long-term agreement.

Speaking with reporters yesterday including Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch, GM Pierre Dorion provided some updates on the status of trade talks.  He noted that on multiple occasions, they seemed to be close on a trade but once his agent (Wasserman’s Jeff Jackson) received permission to speak to the acquiring team about working out a new contract, they weren’t able to come to terms, scuttling the swap.

On Saturday, Dorion provided Jackson with permission to speak to multiple teams about a new contract for DeBrincat but again, nothing to this point has materialized.  The GM attempted to explain the reasoning:

There’s varying degrees of interest. Teams call, we get close to a deal, I give them permission, and sometimes they’re not ready to pay maybe the term that we’re ready to pay.  He’s 25 years old, so he’s looking for something in particular, and I can talk about it because we own his rights, so I think the degrees (of interest) vary.

DeBrincat is coming off a quieter year by his standards but he still put up 27 goals and 39 assists last season in his first year with Ottawa.  But with two 41-goal seasons under his belt from his time with Chicago, it would appear that Jackson is seeking a contract for his client that’s more commensurate with his historical production.  Evidently, teams aren’t giving into that just yet.

The Senators filed for club-elected salary arbitration with DeBrincat in the first window last month, taking the $9MM qualifying offer off the table.  Instead, that allows them to come in with an offer as low as $7.65MM.  Arbitration hearings don’t start until late July and roll into early August so that represents the next hard pressure point, so to speak.

However, it’s still in Ottawa’s best interest to try to get a trade done before then as this situation is likely holding up some of their offseason spending plans.  Until they know who they’re getting back for DeBrincat – it almost certainly won’t just be a futures-based return – they won’t know exactly how much more money they have left to work with.  Right now, there are still several quality players available on the open market.  By the time arbitration hearings being, that’s unlikely to be the case.  But at this point, the hold-up appears to be on DeBrincat’s end in terms of his asking price on a contract, not Ottawa’s asking price in a trade.

Ottawa Senators Sign Five Players

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The Ottawa Senators have announced one-year, two-way contracts for minor-league forwards Rourke Chartier, Josh Currie, and Bokondji Imama. All three players will earn $775K at the NHL level; in the minors, Chartier will earn $300K, Currie will earn $275K, and Imama will earn $325K. The team later announced two more contracts: forward Matthew Highmore at $775K in the NHL and $400K in the AHL, and forward Garrett Pilon at $775K in the NHL and $200K in the AHL.

Chartier, now 27, stays in the organization after a pair of strong seasons with the AHL’s Belleville Senators. The 2014 fifth-round pick of the San Jose Sharks appeared in six NHL games for Ottawa last season, his first since he scored a goal in 13 games with the Sharks in 2019. Currie, 30, is making his return to North America after spending two seasons with the KHL’s Metallurg Magnitogorsk, where he recorded 13 goals and 38 points in 96 games. Imama, 26, was a fan favorite in the Arizona Coyotes organization for the past two seasons and replaces Scott Sabourin’s role in the Ottawa organization as their minor-league enforcer with NHL experience (Sabourin signed with the Sharks today).

As for the team’s subsequent signings, Highmore, 27, finished second on the AHL’s Springfield Thunder in scoring last season with 61 points in 68 games but was a full-time NHLer as recently as 2021-22 with the Vancouver Canucks. The 25-year-old Pilon is coming off a Calder Cup win with the AHL’s Hershey Bears and has 156 points in 259 career AHL games.

Ottawa Senators Sign Joonas Korpisalo

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The Ottawa Senators have given netminder Joonas Korpisalo a huge payday, signing him to a five-year, $20MM contract worth $4MM per season, per the team.

This is a major investment for the Senators, who lock up Korpisalo until he’s 33 years old. The 29-year-old had quite the bounce-back season, as in 2021-22 he was backing up Elvis Merzlikins in Columbus and posting a .877 save percentage.

In 2022-23, the script flipped. Merzlikins was the one posting the grisly save percentage, while Korpisalo had an extremely strong .913 save percentage on a Blue Jackets team facing significant defensive losses.

He had an even better run of success after a trade to the Los Angeles Kings, posting a .921 save percentage in 11 games.

Korpisalo faltered a bit in the playoffs, but overall he had an encouraging bounce-back campaign.

The Senators have clearly bet on that bounce-back being more indicative of Korpisalo’s true talent level, and seeing as he had some earlier flashes of talent in Columbus there is reason to believe that bet will pay off.

But after their disastrous signing of Matt Murray, one wonders if committing term to a talented but inconsistent netminder is the best option for Ottawa. They already have Anton Forsberg and the young Mads Sogaard in the NHL mix for their goalie spots, but now one of those players might be squeezed out by this signing.

Should Korpisalo play like he did in Los Angeles with the Senators, this deal will turn out to be quite the bargain. But that’s a big “if” given the volatility Korpisalo has shown throughout his career.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Senators Will Have Interest In Frederik Andersen

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Goaltender Frederik Andersen’s future with the Carolina Hurricanes remains uncertain, as Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic suggests the Danish netminder is likely to test the UFA market today. While the door isn’t entirely closed on a return to the Hurricanes, speculations have surfaced about potential landing spots for the experienced netminder, including the Ottawa Senators, who Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch says will be calling when the market opens at 11 am CT.

As Garrioch notes, Andersen played under Senators head coach D.J. Smith when he was with the Toronto Maple Leafs, where Smith was an assistant for part of Andersen’s tenure. The team is looking for a veteran to supplement Anton Forsberg in the crease after deciding not to re-sign Cam Talbot, as well as providing insurance for young third-string netminder Mads Sogaard – another Dane to whom Andersen would provide invaluable mentorship.

Per LeBrun, the Pittsburgh Penguins could also attempt to sign Andersen if re-signing Tristan Jarry falls through. The Senators, on the other hand, are also still holding discussions with Travis Hamonic, but Garrioch says it’s unclear in which direction negotiations are headed.

Ottawa Senators Re-Sign Jacob Bernard-Docker

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The Ottawa Senators have made a second defenseman signing today after extending Erik Brannstrom just minutes ago. They’ve locked in Jacob Bernard-Docker to a two-year, $1.61MM contract carrying an average annual value of $850K. Per the team, the 23-year-old will earn a $785K salary in 2023-24 and a $825K salary in 2024-25.

Bernard-Docker just wrapped up his three-year entry-level contract, which saw him make NHL appearances in every season of the deal. Now with 32 NHL games under his belt, the 2018 first-round has struggled to make an impact offensively at both the NHL and AHL levels but looks to be developing into a solid defensive player. He didn’t look entirely out of place in 19 NHL appearances this season, holding his own defensively in a limited role.

He does have just two points to his name in his NHL career, though, and he had just six points in 41 AHL contests with the Belleville Senators in 2022-23. While still providing some bottom-four upside at this point, you’d like to see a little more production from a first-round pick who had no issue getting on the scoresheet in college.

He could get more of a chance next season, as the contract is a one-way deal. He would also require waivers to be sent to the minors next season, which the Sens likely aren’t willing to expose him to.

Senators Re-Sign Erik Brannstrom

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Saturday: The Senators announced that they’ve signed Brannstrom to a one-year, $2MM contract.  GM Pierre Dorion released the following statement:

Erik took a big step forward last season. Over the year’s second half of games especially, he demonstrated a strong ability to raise his game to the level where he’s using his confidence as an asset. We’re happy to have him under contract for another year.

Friday: Earlier today, the Senators tendered defenseman Erik Brannstrom a qualifying offer to retain his rights.  While that makes him a restricted free agent, he might not be one for long as Chris Johnston of NorthStar Bets and TSN reports (Twitter link) that the two sides are making progress on a new deal.

The 23-year-old was acquired by Ottawa as one of the centerpieces of the Mark Stone trade back in 2019 with the hopes that he’d be able to become an impact offensive defender in the NHL.  That hasn’t exactly played out as planned, however, as Brannstrom had just two goals and 21 points over his first 116 career games as of the end of 2021-22.  Unsurprisingly, that yielded a low-cost one-year bridge deal worth $900K back in September.

However, things went a little better for Brannstrom this past season.  He played in a career-high 74 games with the Sens, picking up a career-best 18 points along the way while averaging just over 16 minutes a night.  Clearly, it’s not the type of production they were hoping for when they got him a few years ago but he has at least now shown he can handle a full-time workload which is an important step for a young blueliner to take.

Brannstrom’s qualifier checked in at $945K but he should be able to land more than that this summer.  He’s eligible for arbitration for the first time and the fact that he has nearly 200 NHL appearances under his belt now along with 49 points should be enough to get at least a small raise from an arbitrator if it was to come to that.  Based on this report, however, it’s unlikely to get to that point.

Senators Linked To Josh Bailey

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Veteran Josh Bailey is a late entrant into the upcoming free agent market after the Blackhawks officially bought out the final year of his contract earlier today, basically accepting a 2026 second-round pick from the Islanders to execute that move and carry the nearly $4MM combined in dead cap charges over the next two years.  However, that doesn’t mean that he won’t have suitors in free agency; Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the Senators are linked to the winger.

The 33-year-old surpassed the 1,000 games played mark early this past season but things didn’t go particularly well for him.  Bailey managed just eight goals and 17 assists in 64 games.  By the end of the season, he was a frequent healthy scratch and didn’t suit up at all in their first-round loss to Carolina, basically cementing that he’d be on the way out at some point.

That said, Bailey is only a year removed from a 14-goal, 44-point campaign and would be an intriguing addition if a team believes that he’s capable of having a bounce-back season.  With the year he had and the fact he’s receiving nearly $2.7MM from Chicago, there’s a good chance that Bailey will be signing a relatively cheap deal, limiting the risk.  If he does indeed wind up in Ottawa, the hope would be that he’d add some offensive depth to a bottom-six group that struggled to produce at times in 2022-23.

There are some ties between Bailey and the Senators.  In his junior days, he played in Windsor for two seasons where Ottawa head coach D.J. Smith was a part of the staff.  Meanwhile, current Sens associate coach Jack Capuano coached Bailey for parts of seven seasons with the Islanders so if Bailey chooses to go there, he’ll have plenty of familiarity with at least two of his new coaches.

Sens Looking For Proven Players, Not Futures, In DeBrincat Trade

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While many expected that the Senators would try to move pending RFA winger Alex DeBrincat at the draft with the hopes of getting a first-round pick, that clearly didn’t come to fruition with nary a single trade involving a first-round selection occurring.  However, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that Ottawa is trying to get someone that can help the team win now instead of a futures-based package.  The 25-year-old had 27 goals and 66 points in his first season with the Sens in 2022-23 and was owed a qualifying offer of $9MM.  However, the team got around that by filing for club-elected arbitration earlier this month, allowing them to offer just 85% of that amount ($7.65MM).  DeBrincat is not believed to have asked for a trade from Ottawa but has indicated that he is not interested in signing a long-term agreement to remain with the team.

Ottawa Senators Re-Sign Jacob Larsson

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The Ottawa Senators have announced that defenseman Jacob Larsson has been signed to a one-year, two-way contract extension. Per the announcement, the deal carries a league minimum $775k cap hit, as well as an AHL salary of $325k.

Larsson, 26, was a first-round pick at the 2015 draft who joined the Senators organization a year ago after being let go by the Anaheim Ducks. Larsson got extensive NHL time across three seasons with the Ducks but between 2020-21 and 2021-22 he went from playing in 46 NHL games to just six. It became clear that the Ducks organization had moved beyond hoping for Larsson to finally break out, so he left in the offseason for Ottawa.

In Ottawa, Larsson didn’t manage to re-establish himself in the NHL and played just seven games for the Senators. He spent most of the year with the AHL’s Belleville Senators, scoring 17 points in 55 games playing generally in a top-four role.

By locking up Larsson for another season, the Senators have locked in a top-four defenseman, minute-munching defenseman for their AHL affiliate who also can step in and play on their NHL lineup in a pinch.

The Senators already have Thomas Chabot, Jake Sanderson, Tyler Kleven, and Erik Brannstrom likely to occupy NHL roles on the left side of their defense, meaning it’ll be an extremely long shot Larsson makes the Senators out of training camp, although in the case of injuries this contract could ensure he’s among GM Pierre Dorion’s first call-up options.

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