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Senators Gauging Trade Market For Jakob Chychrun

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Elliotte Friedman noted on the 32 Thoughts podcast that Pittsburgh Penguins netminder Tristan Jarry is likely available via trade this summer. The 29-year-old signed a five-year $26.875MM contract last summer with the Penguins and put up pedestrian numbers in another inconsistent season and eventually lost the starter role to recently re-signed Alex Nedeljkovic.

Jarry’s contract might have looked unmovable just a few months ago, but given the goalie market and the fact that he is a two-time All-Star, a move seems very possible. Whether the Penguins want to make that move or not is another story, but the fact that they didn’t start him in the final 13 games of the regular season is certainly not a vote of confidence. Jarry went 19-25-5 last season with a .903 save percentage and a 2.91 goals-against average. His underlying numbers were a tick better as he posted 2.6 goals saved above expected (as per MoneyPuck).

In other Eastern Conference notes:

  • Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia is reporting that the Ottawa Senators are gauging what the trade market looks like for defenceman Jakob Chychrun. The 26-year-old has one year left on his contract at $4.6MM and will be a prime trade target for many teams looking to improve their backend. Ottawa is reportedly looking for a first-round pick, as well as a second-round pick or a high-end prospect in exchange for Chychrun, a steep price for what could be a one-year rental. Chychrun had a good offensive season last year with 14 goals and 27 assists in 82 games; however, he was -30. Chychrun turned the puck over with alarming frequency last season, committing 73 turnovers, however, his possession numbers were very good with a CF% of 51.2% at even-strength.
  • Aaron Portzline of The Athletic lists Ivan Provorov as a potential trade chip for the Columbus Blue Jackets this summer as newly hired general manager Don Waddell tries to improve the struggling team. The 27-year-old Provorov has one season left on his contract with a cap hit of $4.75MM ($2MM retained by Los Angeles) and should receive interest if Columbus decides to move him. Portzline says he would be surprised if Provorov spends the year with the Blue Jackets, given his contractual status and the fact that the Blue Jackets have defenseman Denton Mateychuk turning pro. Mateychuk could be ready to tackle the top four minutes very shortly which could facilitate Provorov’s trade, however, it is important to note that Waddell has a history of being patient with young players and might opt to keep Mateychuk in the AHL for extra seasoning.

Senators Sign Wyatt Bongiovanni To One-Year Extension

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The Ottawa Senators have signed centerman Wyatt Bongiovanni to a one-year, two-way contract extension (Twitter link). The deal will carry a league-minimum NHL salary of $775K and an AHL salary of $92.5K.

Ottawa acquired Bongiovanni ahead of the 2024 Trade Deadline, sending future considerations back to the Winnipeg Jets. He now earns a new deal after playing through a two-year, $1.6MM entry-level contract signed with the Jets in 2022 – a deal Bongiovanni earned after signing an amateur try-out with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, joining the team as an undrafted free agent.

Bongiovanni got hot after his move to the Senators organization, recording eight goals and 10 points in 14 regular season games with the Belleville Senators, then adding four points in seven postseson appearances. The scoring brought his season totals up to 25 points in 48 games, a new career-high for the 24-year-old forward. With this season, Bongiovanni brought his AHL career totals up to 43 points across 107 games.

This deal likely doesn’t push Bongiovanni up Ottawa’s depth chart, though it will give him a full season to solidify his prominent role in Belleville. After a meager start to his career in Manitoba, the former Quinnipiac standout seems to be in a good position to push into the AHL top-six. Should his strong scoring continues, Bongiovanni’s new contract will make him eligible for an NHL call-up.

Senators Hoping To Extend Ullmark, Not Done Making Moves

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Ottawa Senators general manager Steve Staios went on Ottawa radio show TSN 1200 on Tuesday morning to discuss the aftermath of his first big move with the team – the acquisition of former Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins. The Senators gave up this year’s 25th-overall pick and players Joonas Korprisalo and Mark Kastelic for Ullmark, and don’t plan on letting their new star walk soon – with Staios sharing the team is already focused on an extension, captured by Sportsnet’s Wayne Scanlan (Twitter link). Staios added that an extension is all part of the process and thus may not come quickly, though it is a priority.

Ullmark will begin the final year of a four-year, $20MM contract signed with the Bruins in 2021. He’s emerged as a star goaltender on the deal, so far recording 88 wins and a collective .924 save percentage in 130 games on the contract. That stat line includes his Vezina-winning performance in 2023, when Ullmark posted 40 wins and a .938 save percentage in 49 games. The dazzling year not only earned him the Vezina – and he and Jeremy Swayman the William Jennings Trophy – but also ranked Ullmark tenth in Hart Trophy voting.

The 2022-23 season elevated Ullmark into the conversation with goaltenders like Igor Shesterkin and Andrei Vasilevskiy. Naturally, it took a significant amount of time for the Senators to work out a deal for that caliber of player, with Ullmark trade-talks starting at the 2024 Trade Deadline, shares Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia Hockey (Twitter link). Ullmark was a very popular name at the Deadline, using his no-movement clause to reject a move to the Los Angeles Kings and even ending up in discussions of a trade to the Carolina Hurricanes. Boston wasn’t able to find a move that worked, though, and now settles for what many argue is a meager return from the aggressive Senators.

Per Staios, that aggression on the market isn’t set to end any time soon. The team will continue to look at all of their trade options leading up to the draft, including continuing to shop around the seventh-overall pick, shares Scanlan (Twitter link). Ottawa is also poised to test the free agent market after July 1st, with Staios sharing that the team is looking to add pieces to build around their strong core (Twitter link). Staios didn’t specify who these core pieces were, though he did express a lot of hope in their ability to take the next step under new head coach Travis Green. Ottawa has each of Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson, Jake Sanderson, and Thomas Chabot signed through at least the next three seasons. With extensions to Ullmark and Shane Pinto, the Senators would solidify a young cohort of talent that stretches through the bottom of their lineup.

Staios’ faith in his lineup was apparent through his interview, with the rookie GM even heaping praise onto the depth of his coaching staff, which features Daniel Alfredsson, Mike Yeo, Nolan Baumgartner, and Ben Sexton behind Green. The Senators are entering the summer with a measly $11.3MM in cap space – and will need to be smart spenders as they prepare for a hefty Ullmark extension. But it seems the eagerness to build a contender is there – giving Senators fans plenty to be excited about after a year of major turnover.

Senators Acquire Linus Ullmark

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With Jeremy Swayman set to land what’s expected to be a significant contract as a restricted free agent this summer, it has been widely expected that the Bruins would be moving out Linus Ullmark.  That move has now happened as Ullmark has been moved to Ottawa in exchange for the 25th pick in this week’s draft, goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, and forward Mark Kastelic.  Both sides have announced the swap which also sees the Senators retaining 25% of Korpisalo’s contract.

Ullmark has spent the last three seasons with Boston after signing a four-year, $20MM contract with them in free agency back in 2021.  It’s fair to say that the move worked out quite well for both sides.

After struggling with inconsistency throughout his time in Buffalo, the 30-year-old has become one of the top netminders in the NHL.  In 2022-23, he played in a platoon with Swayman but was nothing short of dominant, winning 40 of 48 starts while posting a league-best 1.89 GAA and a .938 SV%.  That helped him earn his first career Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s Goalie of the Year.

Not surprisingly, those numbers dropped this season although coming off the year he had, that was to be expected.  Even so, Ullmark was still above average, putting up a 2.57 GAA with a .915 SV% in 39 starts.  However, he was limited to just two postseason appearances (one start) with Swayman getting the bulk of the workload.

With Swayman set to command a long-term deal and having arbitration eligibility for the second year in a row, it wouldn’t have been feasible for Boston to keep both netminders in the fold.  Doing so would have made them one of the highest-spending teams on goaltenders which would have cut into their flexibility to fill some other needs this summer.

Meanwhile, from Ottawa’s standpoint, a move to shore things up between the pipes has been an annual occurrence recently with middling results at best.  Last summer, Korpisalo was brought in on a five-year, $20MM contract following a strong bounce-back year with Columbus and Los Angeles.  However, instead of turning things around in goal, he struggled considerably, posting a 3.27 GAA and a career-worst .890 SV%.  Boston will assume a $3MM cap charge on Korpisalo for the next four years while Ottawa will carry $1MM of dead cap charges for that time.  They’ll be hoping that in a better-structured system, he could put up similar numbers to the ones he put up with the Kings down the stretch in 2023, another defensive-oriented team.

Unfortunately for Ottawa, Anton Forsberg didn’t fare much better; while his GAA was a little better at a still-below-average 3.21, his save percentage also checked in at .890.  Meanwhile, their potential goalie of the future Mads Sogaard also struggled, coming up with a 4.05 GAA and a .859 SV% in his six NHL appearances.  Knowing that, many expected that they would be making another attempt to upgrade in goal this summer; Ullmark certainly represents one.  The Sens were believed to be interested in acquiring Ullmark during the season although that never came to fruition with Ottawa believed to be on Ullmark’s partial no-trade list.  Evidently, he had a change of heart to help facilitate the move.

Once July 1st comes around, Ullmark will become extension-eligible as he’ll officially be in the final year of his contract.  No informal agreement is in place yet although Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports (Twitter link) that the two sides are working on getting an extension in place.  If that happens, he’d become their long-term starter with Sogaard likely getting the full-time promotion to the NHL to serve as his backup starting in 2025-26 after Forsberg’s contract comes to an end.

Meanwhile, Boston is also adding a rugged fourth liner in Kastelic.  The 25-year-old played in 63 games with the Sens this season, collecting five goals, five assists, 63 penalty minutes, and 126 hits while averaging a little less than eight minutes a night.  For his NHL career, Kastelic has 25 points and 331 hits in 144 games with Ottawa.  He’s signed through the upcoming season at a $835K cap charge and will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights at that time so he could be in their plans for a couple of years at least.  The Bruins have several pending unrestricted free agents up front so Kastelic will be taking the place of one of those players.

Boston will also get to do something they haven’t been able to do lately and that’s draft in the first round.  Assuming they hold onto the pick, this will be the first time that they picked on the opening day of the draft since 2021 when they took Fabian Lysell 21st overall.  Interestingly enough, that pick has been well-traveled.  It’s Boston’s own selection but they originally moved it for Tyler Bertuzzi at the 2023 trade deadline.  Detroit then sent it to Ottawa as part of the Alex DeBrincat trade last offseason and now it has returned to the Bruins.

The move winds up being relatively cap-neutral for both sides.  In the end, Boston saves $1.165MM with the swap, bringing their cap space for this coming summer to just under $21.6MM, per CapFriendly.  Meanwhile, the Sens are now down to $11.3MM in room, per CapFriendly.  We’ll find out in the coming days how the teams plan to spend the bulk of those funds.

Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald was the first to report that Ullmark was heading to Ottawa.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Senators Notes: Hamonic, Brannstrom, Bernard-Docker

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Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia is reporting that the Ottawa Senators are likely to buy out veteran defenseman Travis Hamonic when the buyout window opens after the Stanley Cup is awarded. The 33-year-old was brought back last summer by former Senators general manager Pierre Dorion and was largely a disaster registering just six points in 48 games.

On top of his poor offensive output, Hamonic was a liability on the ice, posting dreadful possession numbers with a CF% of 43.2% and an xGF% of 41.5%. The Senators don’t have many effective right-shot defensemen but can ill-afford to roll Hamonic back out next season for nearly 15 minutes per game. Hamonic is owed $1.1MM next year meaning a buyout would cost Ottawa $366,667 in each of the next two seasons. Ottawa would save $733,333 next year which would certainly help as they look to address their goaltending.

In other Ottawa Senators notes:

  • Garrioch also reported that Ottawa is trying to move Erik Brannstrom prior to the deadline for issuing a qualifying offer. The 24-year-old was a central piece of the Mark Stone trade and has never lived up to the billing of being a 15th overall pick. Brannstrom is owed a $2MM qualifying offer if the Senators want to retain his rights, otherwise, he will become an unrestricted free agent. The Eksjö, Sweden native posted three goals and 17 assists in 76 games last year, which were all career-highs, however, despite the improved numbers it’s hard to imagine that teams are lining up to give up an asset to take on that cap hit.
  • The Senators are also reportedly trying to trade right-shot defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker (as per Bruce Garrioch).  The Canmore, Alberta native is also a former first-round pick who has failed to live up to expectations. The 23-year-old is no analytics darling as he struggled to an even strength CF% of 47.5% last season but did find career highs in goals with four and assists with 10 as he played in 72 NHL games. Bernard-Docker will carry a cap hit of $805K next season and could be moved for a late-round pick or a lower-end prospect.

East Notes: Senators, Flyers, Capitals

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Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia wrote today that the Ottawa Senators have been linked to Anaheim Ducks netminder John Gibson. He didn’t go into much detail about the link, but it’s not the first time there has been mention of a link between Gibson and the Senators. Ottawa has been pushing hard to improve their netminding and has held talks on Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark since before the NHL trade deadline.

The Senators are desperate to improve their goaltending which has been a disaster since Craig Anderson left town in 2020. The 30-year-old Gibson hasn’t been a strong netminder for years but has been paid like one and still has three years left on his deal at an AAV of $6.4MM. It seems unlikely Ottawa will pursue Gibson at his current price point; however, they could entertain him if they can’t make a deal with the Bruins for Ullmark or if Anaheim is willing to retain some of Gibson’s cap hit.

In other Eastern Conference notes:

  • Anthony Di Marco of The Fourth Period tweeted that he believes that forward Matvei Michkov’s arrival to the Philadelphia Flyers will give the team a bit of leverage in their contract negotiations with right winger Travis Konecny. The Flyers have a difficult decision looming with Konecny, as the 27-year-old is just a year out from unrestricted free agency and there have been rumblings that he is seeking $10MM annually on his next deal. With Michkov likely on his way to Philadelphia, the Flyers could see him as a Konecny replacement, and possibly pivot to an exploration of the trade market for Konecny.
  • The Washington Capitals recently swapped goaltender Darcy Kuemper for forward Pierre-Luc Dubois but are apparently not close to done re-shaping their roster (per Elliotte Friedman on 32 Thoughts). The Capitals have some in-house free agents to take care of but will be able to bring everyone back if they want to. The team badly needs to address their offense, and while Dubois should help in that regard, he can’t be the only piece they add if they hope to improve upfront. Washington scored just 220 goals last season, good enough for 28 out of 32 teams and can no longer rely on their power play to carry them.

Senators Sign Jamieson Rees To Two-Way Extension

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The Senators announced a one-year, two-way contract extension for center prospect Jamieson Rees today. Per the team, the deal pays him $775K in the NHL and $85K in the AHL.

It’s a good sign for Rees’ future in the Sens organization for him to avoid being non-tendered and reaching unrestricted free agency at the end of the month. The 23-year-old is coming off an incredibly trying season split between three AHL clubs, going without a goal and registering only eight assists in 51 appearances.

A second-round pick of the Hurricanes in 2019, Rees was on an upward trajectory as recently as last season when he recorded a career-high 14 goals and 42 points in 65 games for the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. However, his development was derailed by Carolina’s lack of an AHL affiliate this season. He began the campaign on loan to AHL Springfield, the primary affiliate of the Blues, where he received little ice time and was limited to three assists in 30 games with a -3 rating.

The Canes briefly found a new home for him on the Panthers’ farm club in Charlotte, but he played only seven games there before he was traded to Ottawa for a sixth-round pick in March. He finished the season on a slightly higher note, posting four assists in 14 games with AHL Bellville, his best rate of production all season long.

Rees will be back with the B-Sens next season as he looks to rebound to a level of production more representative of a top-six minor league forward. The Ontario native will be a restricted free agent upon expiry.

Senators Sign Nikolas Matinpalo To Two-Way Extension

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The Senators have signed Nikolas Matinpalo to a one-year, two-way extension worth $775K in the NHL and $200K in the AHL, per a team release. The defenseman will return for his second Sens training camp in the fall.

Matinpalo, 26 in October, had a respectable first campaign in North America in 2023-24. An undrafted free agent signing out of Liiga’s Ässät last summer, he made only four appearances for Ottawa but had a great season with AHL Belleville. A 6’3″ right-shot defensive defenseman, Matinpalo led the B-Sens with a +15 rating and added four goals and 10 assists for 14 points in 67 games.

It’s hard to take much of anything from Matinpalo’s minuscule NHL sample size, though. He played just 28 minutes total across his four contests but managed a +1 rating, two shots on goal, two blocked shots and four hits. With him on the ice at even strength, the Sens controlled 53.6% of shot attempts.

Matinpalo was slated for restricted free agency this summer and was eligible for salary arbitration. Instead, the defensively sound Finn gets a nice minor-league pay bump and should give them solid play as a stopgap third-pairing option if needed in the NHL. He’ll be an RFA again upon expiry next summer.

Sens Upping Efforts To Land Ullmark, Could Have Trade In Place With Flyers

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With Jacob Markstrom now in New Jersey, the Senators have stepped up their efforts to acquire Bruins netminder Linus Ullmark, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch.  Ullmark saw his numbers drop this year compared to his Vezina-winning 2022-23 campaign but he still posted a solid 2.57 GAA with a .915 SV% in 40 games.  Those numbers would represent a significant improvement on the 3.30 and .888 that Ottawa put up as a team in 2023-24.  Ullmark has one year left on his contract with a $5MM price tag and it’s worth noting that he has a 16-team no-trade clause so he does have some say in where he could ultimately be moved.

Meanwhile, Garrioch adds that the Bruins don’t have interest in taking back the final four years of Joonas Korpisalo’s contract as expected.  However, with Anton Forsberg ($2.75MM) set to enter the final year of his deal next season, Boston could be amenable to taking him back, allowing the Senators to reduce the additional salary they’re taking on.  That said, Garrioch notes that there is still work to be done before this possible swap has a chance of reaching the finish line.

  • We’ve had three trades announced today and it appears progress was made on another one. TSN’s Travis Yost suggests (Twitter link) that the Senators and Flyers have the framework of a deal in place although it might not be announced until closer to the trade. No specifics as to who was involved were provided but those teams could be worth keeping an eye on in the coming days.

Snapshots: Pinto, Gomez, Demidov

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The Ottawa Senators and forward Shane Pinto are discussing the possibilities of a two-year bridge contract, shares Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen. Garrioch adds that Ottawa still prefers to sign Pinto to a deal closer to five or six years in length, though they’re off-put by Pinto’s request for $5MM-a-year on a long-term deal. Pinto is coming off the end of a year he’ll want to forget quickly, having been suspended for half the season for violating the league’s gambling policy and only scoring 27 points in the games he did play in.

Pinto scored 20 goals and 35 points as a rookie last season, appearing in all 82 games. The performance stamped him as one of Ottawa’s most promising young players, though his extended absence this year kept him from truly breaking out. The Senators will be hoping for that breakout on the first year of his new deal – and get the dreaded task of putting a number to their faith this summer.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Legendary New Jersey Devils forward Scott Gomez has taken to hockey management, assuming the general manager role and head coach for the BCHL’s Surrey Eagles (Twitter link). Gomez played in one season with the Eagles in 1996-97, posting 124 in 56 games as part of a championship-winning Eagles offense. He spent his next two seasons with the WHL’s Tri-City Americans, before beginning an iconic NHL career, including two years as the assistant coach of the New York Islanders from 2017 to 2019. Gomez took a break from the game after that tenure, returning with an assistant coaching role with Surry this season. He’ll now kick off his managerial career in the same place he started his playing career, certainly looking to achieve the same results.
  • Top 2024 NHL Draft prospect Ivan Demidov was dismissive when asked when he expects to move to North America in an interview with Scott Powers of The Athletic, saying only, “We’ll see what happens.” Demidov has been entrenched in rumors early in his hockey career, with many speculating that he and defenseman Artyom Levshunov are the top options for second overall. One of the few knocks against Demidov’s game has been his limited exposure to the KHL – instead playing nearly all of his hockey in the MHL, Russia’s U21 league. He similarly played off the question of whether he expects more KHL ice time next season, saying he wasn’t sure and likely wouldn’t know until after the draft. While neither answer was an outright no, Demidov’s uncertainty certainly doesn’t elicit excitement. He’ll remain an incredibly skilled player, surrounded by a litany of questions, as June 28th’s First Round draws closer.

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