This team needs to play as a team, play with structure, develop an identity, and play with defensive structure to support the goaltending. They did not do that in the past years. I believe this team with the additions so far can start to deliver on the above issues. There is some more depth and quality of leadership.
I am particularly impressed on the help they are bringing into Belleville. Some of these guys can easily play in Ottawa as back-up help in a pinch should injuries occur. It will also provide some leadership to the younger prospects in Belleville.

Andlauer, Staios, Poulin, Bowness etc ..... are slowly building out this whole organization the right way.

Let's face facts ...... for Ottawa to improve, it is absolutely necessary that the play of our core improves ...... Tkachuk, Norris, Stutzle, Batherson, Pinto, Greig, Sanderson, Chabot, Zub (I assume Giroux will just continue on) .... all these guys need to continue their growth. Perron, Jensen, Amadio, Gregor .... all are pieces to complement and show a steady work ethic and desire. These 4 are not meant to be flashy difference makers ... just good honest hockey players.

I expect to see more push and excitement from Belleville with Klevin, Guenette, Crookshank, Ostapchuk, and maybe Halliday pushing hard for spots on the big team. And when I see efforts like Donovan gave at the latest prospect development camp, there are guys also slowly reaching a point where they will push for icetime in Belleville. This will shortly become a much better organization for prospects (not the #31 under current ranking).

This team needs to play as a team, play with structure, develop an identity, and play with defensive structure to support the goaltending. They did not do that in the past years. I believe this team with the additions so far can start to deliver on the above issues. There is some more depth and quality of leadership.
I am particularly impressed on the help they are bringing into Belleville. Some of these guys can easily play in Ottawa as back-up help in a pinch should injuries occur. It will also provide some leadership to the younger prospects in Belleville.

Andlauer, Staios, Poulin, Bowness etc ..... are slowly building out this whole organization the right way.

Let's face facts ...... for Ottawa to improve, it is absolutely necessary that the play of our core improves ...... Tkachuk, Norris, Stutzle, Batherson, Pinto, Greig, Sanderson, Chabot, Zub (I assume Giroux will just continue on) .... all these guys need to continue their growth. Perron, Jensen, Amadio, Gregor .... all are pieces to complement and show a steady work ethic and desire. These 4 are not meant to be flashy difference makers ... just good honest hockey players.

I expect to see more push and excitement from Belleville with Klevin, Guenette, Crookshank, Ostapchuk, and maybe Halliday pushing hard for spots on the big team. And when I see efforts like Donovan gave at the latest prospect development camp, there are guys also slowly reaching a point where they will push for icetime in Belleville. This will shortly become a much better organization for prospects (not the #31 under current ranking).
- OttawaB

I agree with it all 100%

To be rated this low in terms of prospects is very alarming and disheartening. Even our young core has to be better than a lot of the other cores the next few years in the East. Put the big boys in FLA, TBL, CAR, TOR, NYR aside, there's plenty of talent now

BUF - Thompson, Cozens, Dahlin, Power, Byram, Peterka
CBJ - Johnson, Silinger, Jiricek, Fantilli, Lindstrom, Marchenko
DET - Larkin, DeBrincat, Raymond, Seider, Edvinsson, Danielson
MTL - Caufield, Slafkovsky, Reinbacher, Demidov, Guhle
NJD - Hughes, Bratt, Hischier, Mercer, Hughes, Nemec

But look at what the main difference between the playoff teams and contenders are ....


Florida, Boston, Tampa .... all have legit #1 goalies.
Rangers, Devils (this season), Islanders (might have 2 legit #1's , but rest of team is questionable especially for scoring)

Proven but questionable .... Toronto (I think the team is better equipped, but goaltending , if it can stay healthy, is questionable), Carolina, Washington.

Contenders .... Ottawa (is Ullmark and better team defence enough), Buffalo (if Levi is ready)

Did they do enough (needs a goalie to get hot) .... Detroit, Pittsburgh, Philly, Columbus

Young ... could they improve enough .... Montreal


No matter, in the end, the team needs capable to great goaltending to compete. Goaltending matters if you want to be a serious competitor.

oh...our prospect pool is considered terrible?
Oh good.

Then other fan bases can stop with the ridiculous Brady trade proposals then. He must be terrible.

these moves by Staois have a 2019/20 Ron Hainsey, Ennis, and other crappola feel about them

Still think we need to make some moves. We are at least two forwards short (depending on how we feel about MacEwen) and one bottom pairing RHD. And after Kleven comes up, we only have 2.6 million to do that.

The two forwards can come from B Sens - gotta give them a shot at some point. And they are cheap.

Are there any RHD D bargains out there? Or that we can trade JBD and a draft pick for that have a salary of $2.2 million or less?

Still think we need to make some moves. We are at least two forwards short (depending on how we feel about MacEwen) and one bottom pairing RHD. And after Kleven comes up, we only have 2.6 million to do that.

The two forwards can come from B Sens - gotta give them a shot at some point. And they are cheap.

Are there any RHD D bargains out there? Or that we can trade JBD and a draft pick for that have a salary of $2.2 million or less?
- GrimmdaGoalie

They'll likely leave one spot open at camp to be earned. Some people mentioned ostapachuk, but Halliday has gotten some attention too after a strong showing in the playoffs in Belleville this year.

Was thinking of a potential trade with Winnipeg.

The Jets can't really take on a lot of salary so I was mindful of that in the suggestions.

1) Straight up .... Norris (conditional on full medical) for Ehlers. Both have had injury issues.
Norris at $7.95 million
Ehlers at $6 million but for only 1 more year and then a UFA. Could probably re-sign for $7-ish million for some term.

2) Ottawa gets McGroarty conditional on if he will sign in Ottawa for his entry level contract. Which means he will leave Michigan.
Winnipeg gets Crookshank, Jarventie, JBD and a 2nd round draft pick.


How would this look on Ottawa.

Tkachuk/Stutzle/Batherson
Giroux/Pinto/Ehlers
McGroarty/Greig/Perron
Amadio/Gregor/Ostapchuk

Sanderson/Zub
Chabot/Jensen
Klevin/Guenette/Hamonic

Was thinking of a potential trade with Winnipeg.

The Jets can't really take on a lot of salary so I was mindful of that in the suggestions.

1) Straight up .... Norris (conditional on full medical) for Ehlers. Both have had injury issues.
Norris at $7.95 million
Ehlers at $6 million but for only 1 more year and then a UFA. Could probably re-sign for $7-ish million for some term.

2) Ottawa gets McGroarty conditional on if he will sign in Ottawa for his entry level contract. Which means he will leave Michigan.
Winnipeg gets Crookshank, Jarventie, JBD and a 2nd round draft pick.


How would this look on Ottawa.

Tkachuk/Stutzle/Batherson
Giroux/Pinto/Ehlers
McGroarty/Greig/Perron
Amadio/Gregor/Ostapchuk

Sanderson/Zub
Chabot/Jensen
Klevin/Guenette/Hamonic
- OttawaB

I'm okay with both deals, but I think Jets fans might not be.

I'd get rid of one player on the second deal...don't care which.

I'd like if we could get Sprong (jokes) and JVR on 1.5 million dollar salaries but don't think that is going to happen. Same thing goes for a RD - justin Shultz? Shattenkirk? Not much out there. And we can only afford to do one of those moves.

I think a trade involving one of MacEwen or JBD (or both) to get a forward or last pair RHD might be the only way to go.

Or they stay put and see what happens in camp.

The other deals I listed were just what if "dreaming".

But I would wonder what it would take to get Nick Cousins for the 4rth line so we can ditch Zack MacEwen.

All that would be left is to fix the right side of the 3rd defensive pairing. I am not liking JBD/Hamonic with Klevin. But I don't have any ideas who to bring in at this point unless we promote from Belleville.
I think that JBD is probably not tradeable and will have to go on waivers to be demoted to Belleville. And Hamonic has a NMC so we can't put him on waivers, we can't trade him, and we can't shuffle him to Belleville. The last "thank you Dorion" contract to deal with. Why did Dorion need to give Hamonic a 2 year deal with a NMC to boot? Who were we possibly bidding against to keep Hamonic. A one year contract would have been sufficient. If he didn't want that then fine, let him walk.

Why is Capfriendly still available ?


Trade idea with Toronto who needs to free up some space.

To Toronto ..... Jarventie ... could give them bottom 6 scoring. But cheap at this point.

To Ottawa ... David Kampf , 3 years left at $2.4 million. More of a defensive style forward.

Nick Jensen's numbers aren't terrible.

Why is Capfriendly still available ?


Trade idea with Toronto who needs to free up some space.

To Toronto ..... Jarventie ... could give them bottom 6 scoring. But cheap at this point.

To Ottawa ... David Kampf , 3 years left at $2.4 million. More of a defensive style forward.
- OttawaB

No cap space. Kampf plus Klevin contract leaves no other space for a forward.

I really hope the only reason the Sens are waiting to make additional moves is because they want better deals or sweetners to be included. There are a lot of teams over the cap already and need to shed salary. I'm assuming EDM pulls a Vegas and "Mark Stone" Evander Kane.

And not a lot of wiggle room for the Sens. I'm okay with the two forward positions coming from the B Sens...but they need a bottom pairing D again...if for no other reason than defencemen get hurt.

I really hope the only reason the Sens are waiting to make additional moves is because they want better deals or sweetners to be included. There are a lot of teams over the cap already and need to shed salary. I'm assuming EDM pulls a Vegas and "Mark Stone" Evander Kane.

And not a lot of wiggle room for the Sens. I'm okay with the two forward positions coming from the B Sens...but they need a bottom pairing D again...if for no other reason than defencemen get hurt.
- GrimmdaGoalie

The main issue is the Sens only have $3.6 million in cap space left.

Only 11 forwards (assuming Norris is ready to start).
Only 6 defencemen of which both JBD and Hamonic play the 3rd pairing and are both righties.
2 goalies.


Let's assume they bring in Klevin as the 3rd pair left d-man with JBD (not ideal) or with Hamonic (a pilon). That adds Klevins salary of $916,000

Then let us assume they bring in 2 of the 4 guys listed here ..... (and MacEwen is the 13th forward)
Crookshank $775,000
Jarventie $894,000
Ostapchuk $825,000
Halliday $950,000

We would be left with around $900.000 to $1.4 million left in cap space. Not enough to really go out and sign a bottom 6 forward (Nick Cousins) or a bottom pairing d-man.

We would have to release JBD, Hamonic, MacEwen (isn't he kind of redundant at this point ... a fighter who can't win a fight ..... he is taking up space a younger player could have on the 4rth line to develop). I also argue to trade or waive Forsberg and go get a cheaper back-up. Getting rid of some of these guys would free up more cap space.
I still can't figure out why they didn't buy out Hamonic. MacEwen can just be sent to Belleville to free up space (his cap hit is not relevant).

Tkachuk/Stutzle/Batherson
Giroux/Pinto/Norris
Perron/Greig/Ostapchuk or Halliday or Crookshank
Amadio/Gregor/and sign a guy like Nick Cousins

Sanderson/Zub
Chabot/Jensen
Klevin/ ???
back-up is Guenette

Ullmark/ ???

Assuming we could get a credible back-up goalie, 3rd pairing d-man (to share with Guenette), and Nick Cousins at $1.5 million EACH then we would still have in excess of a million to $1.5 million in cap space (ditch JBD, Hamonic, Forsberg)

The main issue is the Sens only have $3.6 million in cap space left.

Only 11 forwards (assuming Norris is ready to start).
Only 6 defencemen of which both JBD and Hamonic play the 3rd pairing and are both righties.
2 goalies.


Let's assume they bring in Klevin as the 3rd pair left d-man with JBD (not ideal) or with Hamonic (a pilon). That adds Klevins salary of $916,000

Then let us assume they bring in 2 of the 4 guys listed here ..... (and MacEwen is the 13th forward)
Crookshank $775,000
Jarventie $894,000
Ostapchuk $825,000
Halliday $950,000

We would be left with around $900.000 to $1.4 million left in cap space. Not enough to really go out and sign a bottom 6 forward (Nick Cousins) or a bottom pairing d-man.

We would have to release JBD, Hamonic, MacEwen (isn't he kind of redundant at this point ... a fighter who can't win a fight ..... he is taking up space a younger player could have on the 4rth line to develop). I also argue to trade or waive Forsberg and go get a cheaper back-up. Getting rid of some of these guys would free up more cap space.
I still can't figure out why they didn't buy out Hamonic. MacEwen can just be sent to Belleville to free up space (his cap hit is not relevant).

Tkachuk/Stutzle/Batherson
Giroux/Pinto/Norris
Perron/Greig/Ostapchuk or Halliday or Crookshank
Amadio/Gregor/and sign a guy like Nick Cousins

Sanderson/Zub
Chabot/Jensen
Klevin/ ???
back-up is Guenette

Ullmark/ ???

Assuming we could get a credible back-up goalie, 3rd pairing d-man (to share with Guenette), and Nick Cousins at $1.5 million EACH then we would still have in excess of a million to $1.5 million in cap space (ditch JBD, Hamonic, Forsberg)
- OttawaB

OTT has a 1% chance of signing ullmark to a extension, shafting forsberg, ullmark freind brings that down to -100%

R.I.P. CapFriendly

Puckpedia isn't bad...
https://puckpedia.com/team/ottawa-senators

They show $1.9M of cap space remaining, but that's because they moved Kleven ($0.9M AAV)/Crookshank ($0.8M AAV) up to the active roster. The latter and MacEwan are pretty questionable, and could easily be replaced with other AHL options or a training camp waiver pick-up.

People keep assuming they're going to try to upgrade their #3 RHD position, but they have Bernard-Docker/Hamonic signed, and then Guenette/Matinpalo in the AHL. The area they may actually now be thin at is #3 LHD, where Kleven is effectively the only NHL-ready option. It will no doubt irritate a lot of people on here, but in following with the playbook of adding veteran support, it's not impossible they could be courting someone like Marc Staal as a depth LHD to further mentor the young D.

OTT has a 1% chance of signing ullmark to a extension, shafting forsberg, ullmark freind brings that down to -100%
- Mithos

Why do you say that? OTT wasn't even on his no-trade list, apparently so he came here willingly. He also seems to look forward to work with Forsberg.

Why do you say that? OTT wasn't even on his no-trade list, apparently so he came here willingly. He also seems to look forward to work with Forsberg.
- Panzer_IVA

I have no knowledge of the situation but I believe many "partial lists" are constructed very strategically. In this case, could it be that Ullmark looked at the Korpisalo acquisition and surmised (gambled) that the Senators already had their G position solidified and strategically chose to add other teams to this list thinking Ottawa was an unlikely possibility?

All the team can hope for is that Ullmark plays well and likes what he sees.

But the point is still valid about his friend and country man Forsberg being bought out and kicked to the curb----not a good look. Similar to the Charra Hossa situation. Though I don't believe Charra knew, or thought Muckler would call Hossa's bluff. Either way another pair of Sens who played well for us...then went and played better and one cups and awards for other teams.

Lafreniere on team Canada for 4 Nations Tournament.

Nothing wrong with Forsberg. I imagine he gets back to above .900 this season. He was a .909, .917, .902 before the awful last season the team in general had.

I don't think his contract is too big a hit either. Him and Ullmark will be a fine tandem for Ottawa this season and I still think Sogaard will get a decent number of games in to build up confidence.

Coming around on the Jensen deal but I think the main thing I don't like about it was the 3rd round pick. Why not a 2nd, maybe even a 1st? That might be a stretch tho. But meh.

I have no knowledge of the situation but I believe many "partial lists" are constructed very strategically. In this case, could it be that Ullmark looked at the Korpisalo acquisition and surmised (gambled) that the Senators already had their G position solidified and strategically chose to add other teams to this list thinking Ottawa was an unlikely possibility?

All the team can hope for is that Ullmark plays well and likes what he sees.
- HoweHatrick

Saying he'll leave or stay is premature one way or the other. The only safe assumption is the team needs to be competitive. Lets hope the changes are enough.

Maybe he can be our next Anderson.

Re: MacEwen and forwards...

Yes, right now, we have 11 forwards on one way contracts, including MacEwen. I do not believe there is any benefit to having him on the opening night roster nor do I believe there are not two better B-Sen players to take his place. Off hand, anyone know how much we save by sending him down to the minors?

MacEwen is the 2nd to last of the bad Dorion contracts to go.

I say give 4 Baby Sens a legitimate shot to win one of the two open spots at Forward.

Re: Forsberg....yes it would be great to get a backup goalie at 1 to 1.5 million that is somewhat competent. Think your Casey DeSmith's. But Forsberg's play may be a result of the D (the Korpo argument) and there were times last year he played well. Or as equally well as he played bad, lol. So, keep him a backup to keeps some continuity and to keep Ullmark happy. Besides, would anyone take him?

Re: Ullmark...I get the suspicion his camp thought that Ottawa would be stuck with Korpo and Forsberg for next year and that NO ONE would take Korpo off our hands, and that he (like all of us) was stunned when Boston took Korpo back. BTW...if Bob Essesna, the Boston goalie coach, can turn around Korpo, the Sens should hire him immediately for the next 20 yrs.

Re: depth D. There are some bargains to be had. Vets on league minimums. We can also do a deal like...JBD and MacEwen for Cody Ceci with 25% retained....so his actualy cap his $1million. A deal like that, or Marc Staal/Shattenkirk on the league min.

Look...

In a perfect world, the Sens are in a playoff spot come next years TDL. I don't see it - that is why it is perfect world. Other teams in the East got better (WSH and NJ)

In a good world, the Sens are in 9th place in the East, battling for the last Wild Card spot, come TDL. They show improvement. Which is good...but makes things harder come TDL.

In a probable world, they show some improvement but are not in a playoff battle come TDL. At that point, if both are unsigned at a reasonable number, Giroux and Ullmark are traded. We should get good value for both for playoff teams.

In the worst world....same poop different day...they suck to start off with, are out of it by American Thanksgiving, and are battling for top 5 lottery pick by January. At that point...watch out....could be more rumblings about Brady leaving.