Will the Ottawa Senators make any moves? It’s going to be a weird year when it comes to trades
The Chris Johnston Show: Chris Johnston, when asked about the Ottawa Senators, and if they are going to make any moves.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Julian McKenzie: “I’ve had a few people just asking, ‘Hey, so are the Ottawa Senators gonna do anything?’ Of course, because it’s me putting up that question. There’s gonna be said stuff, so.”
Johnston: “Why don’t you answer it? What do you think?”
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McKenzie: “Are they, I mean, I think they’ll do something by the deadline. But you know, they want to know from you, CJ, of course.”
Johnston: “Well, I mean, it’s no secret they’d like to. It’s just, you know, I guess that’s where we’re getting at is, and I understand the impatience. Like, if you’re a fan and maybe you’re focused on one part of lineup, you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s a hole. We got to address that.’
But at least I’d say to you this, if you’re specifically a Senator’s fan, in this case, it’s not as though every other team’s out there trading for the players you’d like to see your management group, you know, add. It’s tough to make trades.
It’s going to be a weird year. They’ve made some changes to the CBA with things like the, you know, even having a playoff salary cap might affect the kind of moves teams make, because they’re worried about what that might look like. You know, not having the double retention on salaries, which isn’t necessarily something that would impact the Senators as much as, you know, some other teams out there. But, you know, I think it’s going to be a difficult year for any team to make trades.
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Now, there’s still going to be trades. There’s going to be incentive to do it. You know, look at some of the teams that are having success right now. How are they doing it? They’ve stockpiled draft picks and made a lot of picks and gotten prospects and taken the time it takes and shifted things around. I mean, there’s the obvious teams like Utah, who we’ve mentioned on the pod, or, you know, even the California teams. Obviously, San Jose has been kind of in that mode for a few years, and they’re getting some more wins. Chicago, even the Columbus Blue Jackets, right, who had a really nice year last season, got, got to the last weekend of the season with a chance to make the playoffs, and they’re putting some wins in the bank so far this year. Although they had a painful loss Sunday on Long Island, giving up two late goals. But you know, they did it by and large by trading players away and stockpiling picks.
So that that is always going to be tempting for teams, especially in a world where the free agent market doesn’t look like it’s going to be bearing much fruit. But also, there’s a lot of teams still in it. You know, look at the standings. How many, how many teams are we confident are totally out of it? There’s a very small list. So I guess all those things are being balanced at once.
You know, in Ottawa, you know, they’re motivated to grow on what that team was last season. And, you know, I think that they’re looking at a bigger type of trade. I mean, if, look at the guys they brought in last year, right? I think of the (Fabian) Zetterland deal. Obviously, Dylan Cozens.
You know, those trades are made, they were meant to help the Senators of last season, but those are longer, longer-term types of moves. Younger players you’re bringing in. You know, they traded away, you know, Josh Norris. Like they, that was that’s a big decision for an organization. You’ve developed a player, and you have to give up something to get something.
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So I think that they’re still in the market for those types of trades, which those can be exciting ones, but they’re also difficult ones to pull together, and you need a lot of things to line up to make it happen.”
McKenzie: “I still think that, on top of that too, I think Steve Staois has shown that he’ll make some depth moves if needed. I still think they need something on that left side. They don’t have any other NHL defensemen beyond (Thomas) Chabot, (Jake) Sanderson and Tyler Kleven on that left-hand side. I would expect them to make some kind of depth move because they had Donovan Sabrango as an extra who played. Gets put on waivers, the Florida Panthers get him. There’s a hole missing there. They barely have guys with pro experience down in the minors who are able to fill that up. So I think they’re going to make a move in that area before deadline. Absolutely.”
Johnston: “Makes sense. It makes sense. And, you know, sometimes, every team you have to remember is like a work in progress. You know, even, even the Jays made a bunch of deals at the deadline last year. That’s, that’s just kind of sports go. You gotta, there’s like phases of the season. This is the early part. No teams lineup that they’re rolling out right now that makes the playoffs is going to have the same lineup, you know, come whenever it is April 15th, or whenever we get going.
So, you know, it’s, there’s a process at play there. And I think the Senators, they’re at least, look, they’re, they’re in the spot. Remember where you were a year ago or two years ago, they were always trying to take the step. They took the step. I think now they want to even, be even better. So the motivation is high.”
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