Last season, it came as a bit of a surprise that the Senators acquired Travis Hamonic from Vancouver. They wanted him to be a reliable veteran to work with a younger group of defensemen and it’s a role that has suited him well. Earlier this year, it seemed like there was a chance that the veteran would be on the move but he wound up staying put with Ottawa.
While Hamonic is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, he’s hoping it doesn’t come to that point, telling Ian Mendes of The Athletic (subscription link) that he wants to re-sign with the Sens before getting to the open market. To that end, he indicated that preliminary discussions on an extension have started but not to the point where talks could be considered as serious.
The 32-year-old is having one of his stronger seasons in recent years. Offensively, he has his highest point total (21) since 2015-16 while defensively, he leads the team in blocks with 143 in 75 games although those numbers won’t be going up for now as he will miss the next few games at least due to a lower-body injury. Hamonic also leads the Senators in shorthanded ice time, logging 3:16 per contest. All in all, he has been a steady and stable defensive presence which is exactly what he was brought in for.
However, it’s fair to wonder if they’ll be able to afford Hamonic at a similar price to what he’s making this season. A $3MM AAV for a fourth or fifth defender is fair market value but the Sens already have over $69MM in commitments for next season to just 16 players, per CapFriendly. Alex DeBrincat is a high-profile restricted free agent who will eat up most of that cap room as he’s owed a $9MM qualifying offer if they can’t reach an agreement on a long-term pact before then. Between that deal and filling out the rest of the roster, will there be room for Hamonic on a market-value contract?
Of the five blueliners on Ottawa’s current roster that are signed beyond this season, Artem Zub is the oldest at 27 so there is definitely room for someone like Hamonic to stay on the roster in his current role. But if he’s going to get his wish to stay in Canada’s capital, he’s either heading for a sizable cut in pay or GM Pierre Dorion is going to have to find a way to trim some salary first to try to make that happen.