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Ottawa Senators Pursuit Of Defenseman Could Intensify; Chabot's Status Not Yet Known

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Rumors that the Ottawa Senators were interested in adding a defenseman to bolster their blueline have persisted since the beginning of this offseason. Over that time, the team has brought in a few exciting forwards like Claude Giroux and Alex DeBrincat, acquired goaltender in Cam Talbot and saw forward Shane Pinto start to break out. Still, the team hasn’t been able to find the defenseman they were looking for. Recent struggles from the team have ignited those rumors even more, with the waiving of Nikita Zaitsev this week seeming to be the ’cherry on top.’ However, today’s Thomas Chabot injury has managed to heat things up even more.

On this evening’s 32 Thoughts segment of Hockey Night In Canada, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Chabot’s status in relation to the injury was unknown, but that it could certainly accelerate Ottawa’s process to find another defenseman. Friedman adds that other executives around the league have confirmed that Senators GM Pierre Dorion has been “looking under every rock” when it comes to a defenseman. Still, Dorion may be hesitant, given the team’s situation, he could easily be handcuffed into a pricey move he may not truly want to make. On top of this, another reason Friedman mentions that could hold up a trade is the number of players who have no-trade clauses excluding most, if not all Canadian cities.

Ottawa Senators To Retire Chris Neil’s Number

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According to a team release during their game Tuesday night against the Vancouver Canucks, the Ottawa Senators are retiring forward Chris Neil’s number 25 on February 17, 2023, in a game against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Neil shattered expectations as a sixth-round pick, dressing in over 1,000 games – all with the Senators. His career totals of 112 goals, 138 assists, and 250 points aren’t really retired number material, but that was never the focal point of Neil’s game. His 2,522 career penalty minutes mark his enforcing playstyle, and only he and former New Jersey Devil Ken Daneyko have over 1,000 games played and 2,500 penalty minutes while spending their entire career with a single franchise.

Number 25 will join three other numbers in the Canadian Tire Centre rafters: original Senator Frank Finnigan’s number 8, Daniel Alfredsson’s number 11, and Chris Phillips’ number 4.

Admittedly, it’s a rare occurrence to see an enforcer gifted with the honor of a retired number. Careers with Neil’s resume are usually destined for accolades such as an organizational Hall of Fame or ring of honor. But Neil’s bruising game was a hallmark of the team’s most successful stretch in franchise history throughout the 2000s, providing energy on and off the ice every night. He remains a notable off-ice presence in the Ottawa community since retiring in 2017.

General manager Pierre Dorion released a statement on Neil’s number retirement:

Chris was a team-first player, a physical presence who never backed down from a challenge. He earned his place every single day through hard work and dedication; he was the ultimate character player and wore the Senators sweater with as much or more pride than any other player in this team’s history.

Latest On Ottawa Senators Ownership Interest

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Since nearly the moment the Ottawa Senators initiated a process of sale, actor Ryan Reynolds has been linked to the team. What began as a playful emoji response on Twitter grew some legs, and last night on The Tonight Show, Reynolds directly addressed the speculation. Admitting that he is trying to get involved, he noted that he would need financial partners with “deep pockets” to put a bid together.

The 46-year-old Hollywood star purchased Wrexham AFC, a low-level professional football club in Wales last year and has a stake in FuboTV, a sports streaming service that includes the NHL in certain regions.

Another potential buyer is Jeff York, brother of former NHL player Jason York and Farm Boy executive. Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reported a few days ago that while York is also trying to put together a group to make the purchase, the NHL would prefer a single owner with a large majority stake. York was part of a group with a rival bid on the LeBreton Flats development project in 2016 when former Senators owner Eugene Melnyk appeared to be close to a downtown arena before lawsuits derailed the process.

The Senators have hired Galatioto Sports Partners to assist in the transaction and there is no risk of relocation at this time.

Ottawa Senators Not Considering Coaching Change

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There were a lot of expectations for the Ottawa Senators coming into this year. They had a young core of exciting forwards, and added star power like Alex DeBrincat and Claude Giroux to the mix. Top pick Jake Sanderson was supposed to give the defense corps a huge boost, while Cam Talbot was brought in to solidify the goaltending. Things got off to an okay start, with four wins in the first six games, but have since gone downhill.

The Senators now sit at 4-7 on the year after losing their last five and speculation has started to percolate about the safety of head coach D.J. Smith. Today, when speaking with reporters, general manager Pierre Dorion wanted to make it clear that Smith wasn’t going anywhere. “D.J. is our coach and he’s going to be our coach,” he told the gathered media including Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia.

This is Smith’s fourth season behind the bench in Ottawa and despite having an overall record of 85-111-24, things have generally been considered a success. The team was not expected to be competitive, was open about their rebuilding process, and yet still played hard every night under the rookie head coach. Young players like Brady Tkachuk, Josh Norris, Tim Stutzle, and Drake Batherson all took huge leaps in production, and the team was in the top half of the league on the penalty kill, something that is often attributed to the coaching staff.

Still, it’s time to start winning.

One thing that Smith has in his favor is Talbot, who looks sharp since coming back from an injury that kept him out the first month of the season. In two appearances he has stopped 39 of 41 shots and should soon become that stabilizing presence he was brought in as. Whether they can actually turn that strong goaltending into wins is another story, especially with the state of their defense.

While Sanderson has been strong in his rookie season, it’s hard to place much responsibility on a 20-year-old that has just barely started his professional journey. With Artem Zub out, the defense has looked like a jumbled mess, made up of players seeing more ice time than they probably should. Zub is expected back soon but it remains to be seen whether this group will do enough for the team to turn things around. Even with today’s front office support, Smith’s job may depend on it.

Josh Norris Will Not Require Surgery

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After seeing five different doctors and two specialists, it has been determined that Josh Norris will not require shoulder surgery, according to Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion. As Claire Hanna of TSN relays, Dorion noted today that the team will know more in the New Year about a potential return this season.

Norris, 23, has had shoulder injuries before, including one in 2019 that essentially ended his college career. Dorion explained that this is a different injury entirely than the ones he has dealt with before, and for now he will just rehab.

While that technically qualifies as good news, it’s still a brutal outcome for the young center who is coming off an outstanding 35-goal season. He did that in just 66 games, one of the best per-game scoring rates in the NHL, ahead of players like Jake Guentzel, Steven Stamkos, Matthew Tkachuk, and Alex DeBrincat. Building on that was a big part of why so many people were bullish on the Senators this offseason, and his absence has been one of the main reasons why they have disappointed.

Norris managed just five games and two points. With no clear timeline on when he can return, this may end up being a wasted season for the young forward and one that potentially hinders his long-term development. That would be a worst-case scenario for the Senators, who committed eight years and $63.6MM to him in the offseason. That $7.95MM cap hit makes him the 38th most expensive forward in the league this season, only a touch below Senators captain Brady Tkachuk.

Ottawa Senators Recall Jacob Bernard-Docker

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The Ottawa Senators still don’t appear to have Artem Zub returning, as they have recalled Jacob Bernard-Docker from the minor leagues. Bernard-Docker was sent down just yesterday after his most recent call-up.

Ottawa is on a long losing skid after dropping another game on Saturday and now find themselves stuck at the bottom of the Atlantic Division. Bernard-Docker hasn’t played for the club yet this season, bouncing up and down instead of getting into the lineup. In eight games at the minor league level, he has just a single point.

With the losses piling up, it’s hard to imagine that the young defenseman will be held out again. The team is back in action tomorrow night before heading out on the road for two games. Zub, out since the end of October with an upper-body injury, has been skating with the team and is expected back at some point in the next few matches.

Ottawa Senators Re-Assign Jacob Bernard-Docker

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Just two days after he was called up, the Ottawa Senators have re-assigned defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker to their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators.

Bernard-Docker, 22, was a Senators first-round pick at the 2018 draft. The blueliner had a three-year collegiate career at the University of North Dakota before turning pro in the spring of 2021. That year, Bernard-Docker made his NHL debut, playing in five games for the Senators down the stretch of their season.

Last year, Bernard-Docker spent most of his year in the AHL, playing 58 games for Belleville. He didn’t exactly impress, scoring just nine points in those games, but his defensive play was at times strong and he did earn eight games at the NHL level.

This year has been seen by many as a crucial year for Bernard-Docker’s development. He has just one point in eight games at the AHL level so far this year and will head back to Belleville with a clear mandate to improve his overall game so that he can earn another NHL call-up, and perhaps one that even includes some NHL minutes.

Sale Of Senators Expected To Heat Up Around American Thanksgiving

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  • Yesterday, the Ottawa Senators formally initiated the process of being sold, just over seven months after the passing of owner Eugene Melnyk. Though that time might seem a bit longer than expected to some, the Melnyk family was able to oversee a team transition this offseason to lock in some of the organization’s young core talent, become one of the league’s more exciting groups, and of course, grieve Melnyk’s passing. Although the timeline to date has been unclear, the sale process might be a bit more clear, and quick. Also from tonight’s 32 Thoughts, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman expects the process to get seriously moving by American Thanksgiving, which is now 19 days away. No clear front runner(s) for the team have emerged yet, though Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the league would prefer one majority owner over a group of minority shareholders. Even with the Thanksgiving timetable mentioned, when exactly a new owner would be in place with all formalities and transition of power completed, is unclear.

NHL Prefers A Majority Owner To A Group Of Minority Shareholders

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With it being announced yesterday that the Senators are initiating a process to examine selling the team, it’s expected that there will be several expressions of interest and there have been a handful of speculative possibilities so far for people that could be minority partners as part of a group of investors.  However, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch notes (Twitter link) that the NHL’s preference is to find a single buyer that can own at least a majority of the team over a collection of shareholders.  Of course, that doesn’t mean that they’ll be able to find one but on top of finding someone that will commit to keeping the team in Ottawa, they have other preferences in terms of who they’d prefer as the next owner of the team.

Josh Norris Seeking Second Opinion On Shoulder Injury

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While it was recently revealed that Senators center Josh Norris would miss several months due to needing shoulder surgery, that procedure hasn’t happened yet.  Instead, as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports, the 23-year-old is seeking a second opinion in the hopes of avoiding having to go under the knife and miss that much time.  Head coach D.J. Smith indicated that the team is still proceeding with the expectation that Norris won’t be available for the rest of the season while Garrioch notes a final decision from the center is expected in the next couple of days.

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