After making a mad late-season dash and claiming a wild card spot in 2014-15, the Ottawa Senators took a tumble down the standings and missed the playoffs this year. With Pierre Dorion moving up the organizational chain to replace Bryan Murray as GM and former Tampa Bay Lightning coach Guy Boucher taking over behind the bench, the Senators have new voices at the top as the club tries to carve a path back to the postseason.
Ottawa was having a relatively quiet offseason, making some minor additions and retaining internal talent, before trading blossoming forward Mika Zibanejad and a second-round pick in 2018 to the New York Rangers for Derick Brassard this week. The older Brassard is coming off a season that saw him score a career-high 27-goals and brings cost certainty, as he is signed through the end of the 2018-19 season.
The Senators only selected five players at the draft in Buffalo. Ottawa traded their first and a third-round pick to the New Jersey Devils to move up a spot to take Logan Brown in the opening round.
Still left to do on Dorion’s checklist is signing tendered RFAs Cody Ceci and Mike Hoffman to new deals. The Senators need continued success from those two players if a playoff spot is to be had.
New Additions
Mike Blunden signs two-year, $1.475M contract
Chad Nehring signs one-year, $600K contract
Chris Kelly signs one-year, $900K contract
Senators’ Free Agents
Group 2 FAs: Casey Bailey (re-signed), Cody Ceci, Fredrik Claesson (re-signed), Ryan Dzingel (re-signed), Mike Hoffman, Max McCormick (re-signed), Matt Puempel (re-signed)
Grop 3 UFAs: Mark Fraser (signed: EDM), Matt Frattin, Scott Gomez, Michael Kostka (re-signed), Chris Phillips
Group 6 UFAs: Jason Akeson, Dave Dziurzynski, Phil Varone (re-signed)
UFAs: Travis Ewanyk, Jerome Gauthier-Leduc, Michael Keranen, Troy Rutkowski, Patrick Wiercioch (signed: COL)
2016 Draft Class
Round 1 (11) F Logan Brown (Windsor Spitfires)
Round 2 (42) F Jonathan Dahlen (Timra IK)
Round 4 (103) F Todd Burgess (Fairbanks Ice Dogs)
Round 5 (133) D Max Lajoie (Swift Current Broncos)
Round 6 (163) F Markus Nurmi (TPS Jrs)
Salary Cap Space: $14,048,334 (courtesy of General Fanager)