Free agency is now just a month away and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Senators.
Key Restricted Free Agents
F Shane Pinto – After a contract holdout over the summer and a 41-game suspension from the NHL for violating the league’s gambling policies, Pinto settled for a one-year, $775K contract with
the Senators when everything was said and done. Pinto rewarded Ottawa’s loyalty, proving that his 2022-23 NHL season was not a fluke. In 41 games, Pinto scored nine goals and 27 points, finishing 11th on the team in scoring despite playing in half as many games as his peers. The Senators organization has much more financial flexibility, unlike last year. Infamously, the Senators former front office signed free agent Vladimir Tarasenko to a one-year, $5MM contract, eliminating any room to retain Pinto. As a legitimate top-six forward, Ottawa should be able to give Pinto a four- to five-year deal between $4MM-$5MM annually this summer.
D Erik Brannstrom – As the headlining prospect in the deal that landed Mark Stone with the Vegas Golden Knights, Brannstrom had high expectations attached to him in the Senators organization. At the AHL level with the Chicago Wolves and the Belleville Senators, Brannstrom showed flashes of being a top-four puck-moving defensive prospect. Unfortunately, Brannstrom has been able to sustain any offensive production at the NHL level, topping out with 20 points achieved this past year. A few days ago, it had been reported that Ottawa is undecided about issuing Brannstrom a qualifying offer this offseason, which would allow the young defenseman to sign with any team in the league.
Other RFAs: F Parker Kelly, F Boris Katchouk, F Angus Crookshank, D Lassi Thomson, G Kevin Mandolese, G Mads Sogaard
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
F Dominik Kubalik – Included in the return package in the trade that sent Alex DeBrincat to the Detroit Red Wings, Kubalik primarily served as a middle-six scoring option for the Senators this season. Kubalik finished the 2023-24 NHL season with 11 goals and four assists in 74 games while posting some of his career-worst defensive and possession metrics. Now that Ottawa has some flexibility to improve upon Kubalik in the middle-six of their forward core, he will most likely head for a different organization this summer. Kubalik could look for an open role with any of the Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks, or Chicago Blackhawks organizations — as each will be scouring the market for any goal-scoring talent they can find.
Other UFAs: F Rourke Chartier, F Josh Currie, F Matthew Highmore, F Bokondji Imama, F Jiri Smejkal, D Dillon Heatherington
Projected Cap Space
Now that the upper limit of the 2024-25 NHL salary has officially been set at $88MM, we now have a clear picture of what each team will be working with this summer. The Senators organization owns just under $12.5MM in cap space this summer without any relatively pricey restricted or unrestricted free agents to worry about.
With this being the first offseason for Steve Staios at the helm of Ottawa’s front office, he should have the flexibility to bring in two to three NHL-caliber talents to round out the team’s depth. Furthermore, if Staios can move out the contracts of Jakob Chychrun or Mathieu Joseph before free agency opens up on July 1st, the Senators could acquire a top-level goaltender for the organization via trade.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Is their ownership still a mess or did they finally get some stability there? I thought they were going to be sold but the guy backed out or something else happened. I admit I kind of lost track of the situation so I don’t know. They might be able to afford a top level Goalie but where do you find one? And if you do how do you get him to stay? I was going to say call the Hawks about Chychrun, I think he’s even got some kind of connection to Luke Richardson, But if the Hawks draft Levshunov they’re kind of stacked on Defense with All the guys I mentioned and Rinzel and Levshunov would still be in college.
Michael Andlauer Is the new owner. I don’t know where you read that he backed out. He used to be part owner of the Canadians, so he knows a little about hockey. He replaced the GM so things could change.
That goalie they signed is a dud!
Which wouldn’t be much of a problem if he hadn’t been signed to an awful contract, both in terms of length and salary. I really want to like the Sens because of Brady Tkachuk and Stutzle but they are making it so hard.