It’s a day of reflection Wednesday for members of the Senators organization. The management team, led by general manager Pierre Dorion and owner Eugene Melnyk, and its players gather for their annual team photo.
Each year the photo acts as a gentle reminder of a club’s purveying successes or failures. In the case of the Senators, a season which opened with such optimism will likely culminate in a bottom-five finish, with the team currently sitting 29th overall in league standings.
Derick Brassard (traded), Logan Brown (returned to juniors), Alex Formenton (returned to Junior), Johnny Oduya (waived), Dion Phaneuf (traded), Nate Thompson (traded), Chris Wideman (injured) are among players gone from the opening night roster.
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Thomas Chabot (promoted from AHL), Matt Duchene (trade acquisition), Marian Gaborik (trade acquisition), Ben Harpur (promoted from AHL), Max McCormick (promoted from AHL), Jim O’Brien (promoted from AHL), Magnus Paarjarvi (waiver claim) were added throughout the 2017-18 campaign.
In between, Chris DiDomenico (waived twice, traded), Gabriel Dumont (waived) and Nick Shore (traded) came and went.
While there are pressing questions surrounding many of the remaining Senators, fans won’t receive answers until this June’s draft or shortly thereafter.
The future of no player will be speculated about more than Erik Karlsson, the Senators captain whom a number of teams engaged in trade talks with Ottawa about at the deadline.
Will the Golden Knights, who nearly swooped in to acquire the all-world defenseman, take another run at Karlsson? The Tampa Bay Lightning, who were also in on Karlsson but ended up acquiring the Rangers Ryan McDonagh, would likely be 'out' on Karlsson this round, potentially helping to clear the path for Vegas.
Karlsson, who has a year left on his current contract, is eligible to sign an extension beginning July 1, like teammates Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel.
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Playing three hours from his Haliburton, ON summer residence and birthplace, Duchene recently told the Sporting News, he wanted to be “part of the solution,” and doesn’t plan to go anywhere.
As for Karlsson, the answer isn’t that easy.
In his letter to season ticket holders, Melnyk wrote, “We are not looking to just tweak our lineup nor mortgage our future for stop-gap solutions. The kind of change required to reclaim our standing needs a change in approach, requires difficult decisions and commitment to a plan.”
Does this commitment include a long-term deal for Karlsson? Does the 27-year old even want to remain a Senator? Both questions need forthright responses from each side of the negotiating table.
In the meantime, Dorion isn’t doing his job if he doesn’t entertain offers on Karlsson starting at the draft. A player of this much star power can bring the Senators multiple pieces, but it comes with a cost. No matter how many valued assets Dorion can procure, the inevitable loss of merchandise sales and ticket revenue has to be broached.
RUMOR ROUNDUP: What's next for Erik Karlsson and the Senators?
Defencemen Cody Ceci, Freddy Claesson and star right wing Mark Stone are all restricted free agents.
Averaging 1.08 points per game, Stone has already surpassed his career high in assists (41), and is three points off his career plateau of 64 points, despite missing nine games due a leg injury. At only 25-years old, Stone’s offensive numbers draw similarities to Sean Couturier, Leon Draisaitl, Patrick Kane, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Radulov. This lends the question, how much will the Winnipeg native get paid? And, more pertinently, will Ottawa be willing to pay it?
Dorion has indicated he’d like to ink Ceci long term. However, it’s still unclear where the 24-year old fits on the blue line. Is the Ottawa native a puck-mover, a shutdown d-man or a hybrid of both? Ceci’s 22:52 time-on-ice ranks second on the team to Karlsson. However, his 44.36 Corsi rating mark ranks 101st out of 103 defencemen who’ve played 900 or more minutes this season.
Claesson will garner a qualifying offer, but he’s been a healthy scratch on 15 occasions. It remains to be seen if the affable Swede remains a fixture on the team roster next season.
Will Alex Burrows or Marian Gaborik be bought out? The same can be asked of Bobby Ryan. The hard luck forward has four years outstanding on his deal with a lofty $30m payable. A buyout would cost $14,666,667 plus additional $8m in signing bonuses, leaving a cap hit of $1,833,333 dead on the books for the club for eight seasons.
Rumors swirled at the trade deadline, Dorion was attempting to include Ryan in a deal with Karlsson. However, this would’ve diminished any return. The Senators GM may revisit a Ryan salary-dump type swap in the offseason, especially when Karlsson's name is discussed.