The last year has been a wild one for Pierre Dorion and the Ottawa Senators. Fans have seen the team trade away just about all of its top end talent, including the likes of Mike Hoffman, Ryan Dzingel, Matt Duchene, Mark Stone and of course, Erik Karlsson. This offseason hasn’t been as heart wrenching for Sens fans, but the organization has still made some significant moves. Let’s talk about it.
The Senators lost a number of players to free agency. Thankfully for the team, only depth players. From the NHL roster, they moved on from Magnus Paajarvi, Oscar Lindberg and Brian Gibbons, who recently signed with the New Jersey Devils. On the AHL squad, Belleville parted ways with forwards Darren Archibald, Chase Balisy and Adam Tambellini. On the defensive end, the team lost veterans Erik Burgdoerfer, Justin Falk and Stefan Elliott.
Although the organization lost a few solid veterans in Belleville, they have signed a good array of players to fill the void. Olle Alsing, a 23 year old defenceman from Sweden was signed to a 2 year entry level deal. The B-Sens also brought in defencemen Nick Ebert, Jack Dougherty and Hubert Labrie on 1 year deals. In addition, they also re-signed Andreas Englund and Cody Goloubef at 1 year each. On the forward end, they picked up Jordan Szwarz on a 1 year free agent deal and re-signed Nick Paul for another year (Although I believe he could be up in the NHL this season). More help is also coming with Alex Formenton and Josh Norris being ready to make the jump to the pros. Both of them have the potential to start the year with the big club, but Belleville is a safer bet.
Belleville, also looks to be set in the cage for the 2019-20 season, as the Sens were able to lock up goaltender Marcus Hogberg for 2 more years at $700k per. The first year of the contract will be a 2 way deal, then it will turn into a 1 way in the second year. A solid signing for the team.
Dorion also made a few good re-signings for the NHL squad. Goaltender Anders Nilsson was re-signed for 2 years at $2.6 million per. This signing seems to show that the writing may be on the wall for Mike Condon. Along with Nilsson, the Senators also signed skilled forward Anthony Duclair for another year on a $1.65 million “show me” deal. I like what Duclair brings to the table and it is a good injection of skill into a rebuilding Sens lineup. With a good season, Duclair could get a big pay raise next summer. I’m rooting for him. While I am a fan of these 2 signings, the one I like most is the re-signing of defenceman Christian Wolanin. Dorion was able to get him signed for 2 years at $900k per with the first year being a 2 way deal and the second year becoming a 1 way. Similar to the Hogberg signing. In my opinion, this is a fantastic signing because from what I have seen from Wolanin during his short stint with the Senators, I believe he will be a top 4 defenceman by mid-season. If all goes well for Christian, this could be a bargain signing by the Sens.
As far as free agent signings go, Dorion made 2 signings for the big club acquiring veterans Ron Hainsey and Tyler Ennis on 1 year deals. Ennis will be making $800k and should fit in on the 3rd or 4th line with some power play time and possibly even time on the PK. His defensive numbers are solid and he is a good veteran to help out the young players. Ennis is a hardworking player who gives it his all every shift and that’s good to have with such a young team to teach the players about work ethic. Good signing in my books. Now on to Ron Hainsey. Ron was signed for $3.5 million and is a veteran left shot defenceman. I like what Hainsey brings to the table as a stabilizer on the point to give players like Erik Brannstrom the time they need to develop properly and not just get thrown right in to the lineup. I don’t like the value of this signing. Hainsey is far from a $3.5 million dollar player in my opinion. But, this is only a one year deal and Ottawa needs to hit the cap floor so I am okay with it. Worst case scenario, Hainsey just ends up being a great locker room leader and a solid warm body on the back end.
Now for the trades. Pierre Dorion has made 2 deals involving players this offseason. Let’s start with the deal that happened on July 1st between the Sens and the Toronto Maple Leafs. This deal sent Cody Ceci, Ben Harpur, Aaron Luchuk and Columbus’ 3rd round pick in the 2020 draft to Toronto in exchange for Nikita Zaitsev, Connor Brown and Michael Carcone, who Dorion signed for 2 years at $700k. Sens fans have been waiting for Ceci to be dealt for what seems like and eternity and the same feeling was going on with fans in Toronto about Nikita Zaitsev. This trade seems like it was meant to be. When Dorion was not comfortable paying Ceci what he was asking for on a long term deal, he turned to the trade route. Ceci was overplayed in Ottawa and seemingly overwhelmed by playing against top lines night in and night out. Ceci could be a solid 4/5 defenceman with the right help but he just didn’t have that in Ottawa. Ben Harpur is a good depth guy who could play for the Marlies next season or be a number 7 guy for the Leafs and fill in for injuries. Just too many defenceman in Ottawa and not enough room for him so Dorion decided to let him go. Luchuk should be a depth player for the Marlies next season but I don’t see an NHL future for him. Now what the Sens returned. Nikita Zaitsev is a right handed Russian defenceman who asked to be dealt out of Toronto. Kyle Dubas had no problem facilitating that request as Zaitsev carries a $4.5 million contract for the next 5 seasons and Toronto needs the cap room to sign their star RFA Mitch Marner. Zaitsev is overpayed for what he has brought the the Leafs the past 2 seasons but if he can go back to the player he was in his first year with Toronto, he is well worth his pay. Only time will tell. I see Zaitsev as a #4 defenceman with some offensive ability. I believe he should be paired with more of a defensive defenceman to let Nikita take more chances in the offensive zone. He still has upside. Connor Brown is a player that could be great for this Senators team. He will fit right in. A hardworking, feisty player who gives his all on every shift. He is still only 24 and has some skill. He lit up the OHL while playing for the Erie Otters and had 20 goals in his first year with the Maple Leafs. His offence has struggled a bit more in the past two seasons because he has been mostly played on the 4th line in Toronto because of all their forward depth. He should have a larger role with the Sens this year and could flourish. The final player in the deal, Michael Carcone, is an interesting player. In his first couple seasons in the AHL, he didn’t show much NHL potential. But last season, with the Marlies and the Utica Comets, he really shined. Carcone looks like he has the potential to be a good bottom six forward in the NHL. Only time will tell on Carcone. He should be a great addition to a solid Belleville squad next season and we will see where he goes from there. There are some things I like and also some things I don’t like about this trade. I don’t like the length and AAV of Zaitsevs contract and I also don’t like that Ottawa gave up a 3rd round pick in the deal but I do like Connor Brown and believe he is a great addition. I also like the potential of Michael Carcone and believe he has a good chance to be a bottom 6 forward. This looks like a decent trade on both sides, for Toronto and Ottawa.
The final trade that took place was between the Senators and the Chicago Blackhawks. This trade was a 1 for 1 that sent veteran leader Zack Smith to Chicago in exchange for Russian forward Artem Anisimov. I like this deal for both teams. Zack Smith was a good soldier for the Senators and was the longest tenured Sen before this trade took place. He is a gritty 4th liner who likes to get under players on the opposing teams skin and can chip in a goal here and there. Artem Anisimov is the same age as Smith (31) and is a bit of a different player stylistically. Anisimov is a 6’4″ two way forward who consistently puts up ~40 points. He has had four 20 goal seasons throughout his career and is a good net front presence. This deal is really just about what each team needed. Chicago needed some depth and versatility with someone who can switch between center and wing as well as some grit in the bottom 6 while Ottawa was looking for a little bit more offence. Both teams accomplished what they needed to in this deal. I like it.
If things work out for the Senators and their newly acquired players in the upcoming season, it may be a little more exciting than Sens fans expected. I still believe they finish bottom 3 in the league, but there is a lot to look forward to. Pierre Dorion has made some solid moves this offseason. While there has been no blockbuster moves like an Erik Karlsson trade or an Artemi Panarin signing, the Senators have quietly been boosting their roster with good moves. We will see how the season turns out, I look forward to it.
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