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Senators Shopping Mathieu Joseph

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This time a year ago, there was some speculation about Mathieu Joseph’s future with the Senators.  The team had limited cap room and needed to make some additions to the roster while keeping enough money to re-sign Shane Pinto which made Joseph a potential candidate to be moved.  As it turns out, that didn’t need to happen and they managed to stay cap-compliant throughout the year.

Fast forward to today and not a lot has evidently changed.  The Sens have some cap flexibility but need to re-sign Pinto again to a considerably pricier deal and once that’s done, they might not have enough left to add a key piece to their roster.  Accordingly, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that Ottawa is trying to move Joseph before the draft begins on June 28th.

The 27-year-old is coming off a solid showing this season after struggling mightily in 2022-23, his first full season with the team.  Joseph notched 11 goals and 24 assists in 72 games, setting new career highs in assists and points along the way.  He was rewarded with a boost in playing time, going up to 16:28 per night while seeing action on both special teams units.

On the surface, this doesn’t seem like the type of player Ottawa should be trading.  However, Joseph has two years left on a contract that carries a $2.95MM AAV.  That is on the pricey end for a role player and if they could find a way to move him and have a lower-cost piece take his place, that might give GM Steve Staios enough extra flexibility to try to add an impact free agent.

Of course, the rest of the league knows that Joseph’s contract is a bit on the high side and with many other teams looking to try to make some splashes this summer, quite a few will be looking to save their cap room for those moves later in the offseason so the market for Joseph might not be particularly strong.  That said, Ottawa should have a better chance to move him now coming off a career year compared to the three-goal, 18-point performance he put up in 2022-23.  Will that be enough to find a trade fit by the draft this time around?  We’ll find out the answer to that within the next few weeks.

HockeyAllsvenskan’s Djurgardens IF Signs Jonny Tychonick

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Senators 2018 second-round pick Jonny Tychonick is heading overseas. After seeing his exclusive signing rights with the club expire late last offseason, he’s signing a one-year deal with Djurgårdens IF of the HockeyAllsvenskan, Sweden’s second-tier pro league.

Tychonick, 24, originally had his signing rights entrusted to the Sens indefinitely after they drafted him out of the British Columbia Hockey League, but that changed when he began his freshman season at the University of North Dakota the season following his draft. A fifth year of collegiate play in 2022-23 extended his exclusive signing window with Ottawa until Aug. 15 last year, but he instead opted to sign a minor-league contract with the Maple Leafs’ AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies.

Once a promising offensive talent, Tychonick had only 15 points in 52 games with North Dakota before transferring to Nebraska-Omaha for his junior, senior and graduate seasons. He failed to break out there, either but did have a reasonably successful overage year with 26 points and a +8 rating in 35 games. Still, that wasn’t enough for him to land an NHL deal with the Sens, or anywhere else for that matter.

He also played just four games for the Marlies this season after signing his deal, spending most of the campaign on assignment to the now-defunct Newfoundland Growlers of the ECHL. He had a strong first professional season there, racking up 43 points in 51 games, but it still didn’t draw interest in his services from NHL clubs.

Tychonick now opts to try his hand overseas and help the Stockholm-based Djurgårdens to promotion back to the Swedish Hockey League. They’re gearing up for their third straight season in the second-tier league after being demoted in 2022, losing the promotion series in back-to-back years.

Ottawa Senators Round Out Coaching Staff

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Having already committed to Travis Green as head coach for the next four years, the Ottawa Senators rounded out their coaching staff this morning with a pair of hires. According to a team announcement, the team has hired Mike Yeo and Nolan Baumgartner as assistant coaches for the 2024-25 NHL season.

Coming over from the Vancouver Canucks in a lateral move, Yeo brings over two decades of coaching experience to the Senators’ bench. Yeo started his professional coaching before the 2000-01 AHL season with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins as an assistant coach before taking the same role with the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2005-10. After being a part of a successful run with the Penguins, Yeo spent one season as the head coach of the Houston Aeros in the AHL before taking over the head coach position with the Minnesota Wild after the organization fired head coach Todd Richards after the 2010-11 regular season.

In four and a half seasons with the Wild, Yeo coached the team to a 173-132-44 record over 349 games but failed to take the team beyond the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Minnesota moved on from Yeo during the 2015-16 season which led the coach to an assistant coaching role with the St. Louis Blues for the 2016-17 season. Since then, Yeo briefly served as the head coach of the Blues for two seasons and spent time with the Philadelphia Flyers as an assistant coach before finally landing with the Canucks organization in his most recent role.

Focusing primarily on Vancouver’s penalty kill throughout his tenure with the organization, Yeo helped raise the team’s success percentage from 71.60% in the 2022-23 season to 79.13% this past year. For the Senators, after finishing last year with the 29th-ranked penalty kill across the league, Yeo will likely once again be tasked with elevating the team’s play during a man disadvantage.

On the other hand, Baumgartner’s only coaching experience at the NHL level came during a five-season run as an assistant coach in Vancouver from 2017-22. In a fascinating twist, once Baumgartner was eventually let go by the Canucks, the opening created a vacancy that Yeo would ultimately fill. In a short gap, Baumgartner spent two years as an assistant coach for the Manitoba Moose, the top affiliate of the Winnipeg Jets.

In the same announcement, Ottawa also relayed the team would be retaining franchise legend Daniel Alfredsson while also bringing back Ben Sexton as an assistant coach, Justin Peters as the goaltending coach, Mike King as the video coach, as well as keeping Jacques Martin as a Senior Advisor to the coaching staff.

Atlantic Notes: Senators Coaching Staff, Canadiens, Forbort

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On his 32 Thoughts podcast, Elliotte Friedman confirmed earlier reports about the Ottawa Senators coaching staff. Friedman said that former Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson is expected to remain as an assistant coach behind Ottawa’s bench, as will Ben Sexton. Friedman also went on to say that former head coach Mike Yeo and former NHLer Nolan Baumgartner are also expected to join the Senators staff.

Friedman’s confirmation follows several previous reports about the Senators and likely signals that Ottawa is close to finalizing new head coach Travis Green’s coaching staff. The group will have their work cut out for them as the Senators have struggled to play with much structure in recent seasons despite boasting some very talented young players. Ottawa hasn’t made the playoffs since 2017 and has been mired in a rebuild for the better part of the past decade.

In other Atlantic Division notes:

  • David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period is reporting that the Montreal Canadiens could be buyers once again at this year’s NHL entry draft. Montreal has been a buyer at the two previous drafts and has reportedly made the draft a priority over making trades. Montreal is currently holding the fifth-overall pick as well as the 26th overall pick and Pagnotta wonders if the Canadiens may look to move the later pick as part of a package to acquire a young proven scorer. The Canadiens have several good young scorers in their lineup but would do well to add another scoring forward to their ranks to better balance their offensive attack.
  • Boston Bruins defenseman Derek Forbort is reportedly headed to the free agent market on July 1st (as per David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period). The former 15th overall pick spent a great deal of the season on long-term injured reserve and was limited to just 35 games. The 32-year-old has never offered much offense from the backend, topping out at 18 points with the Los Angeles Kings in 2017 and 2018, but he is a big body and can still skate. Forbort will have suitors in free agency, particularly from teams that are looking for a depth defenseman who isn’t afraid to engage the opponent physically.

Daniel Alfredsson Leaning Towards Returning To Coaching Staff

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  • Ottawa Senators great Daniel Alfredsson is leaning towards returning to his assistant coaching role next season under new head coach Travis Green (as per Bruce Garrioch). The franchise’s all-time leading scorer was brought back to the franchise in a player-development role, but that role was changed when the Senators relieved previous head coach D.J. Smith of his duties. The Senators will have to fill out their coaching staff and have been linked to former NHL head coach Mike Yeo as well as former NHLer and current Manitoba Moose assistant coach Nolan Baumgartner.

Senators Undecided On Qualifying Erik Brannstrom

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Back in 2019, the Senators thought they were adding a core piece of the future when they picked up defenseman Erik Brannstrom from Vegas as part of the Mark Stone trade.  While he has worked his way into a regular role, he hasn’t been anywhere near as impactful as they were hoping for.

With the team looking to shake things up in Steve Staios’ first summer as GM, it appears as if Brannstrom is one of the players whose future with the team is in some question.  Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the Sens aren’t sure if they will tender him his required qualifying offer this summer.

It’s a similar situation to the one they found themselves in a year ago, albeit with a higher price tag this time around.  At that time, the qualifying offer was tendered with an agreement pretty much done in principle, finalized on July 1st with a contract that more than doubled his salary to $2MM for 2023-24.  That figure is now the qualifying offer while he will have arbitration rights as well.

Brannstrom played in a career-best 76 games this season, picking up three goals and 17 assists.  He was primarily limited to playing on the third pairing while interim head coach Jacques Martin elected to deploy him as a winger on the fourth line briefly as well.  Those numbers alone might not look great for arbitration purposes but with 69 points in 266 career NHL contests, the longer track record would bolster his case in a hearing.

At the moment, Ottawa already has over $27MM committed to six defensemen for next season, per CapFriendly, with Jake Sanderson’s new contract kicking in this summer.  Should they be allocating at least another $2MM (and likely more to avoid a hearing) to that position or would they be better off using that money elsewhere?  Having said that, if they elect to move a blueliner – Jakob Chychrun has been in trade speculation dating back to the trade deadline – then it might be more justifiable to try to give Brannstrom one more chance.

As things stand, they have a little over $12MM in room for next season with a handful of roster spots to fill.  Pending RFA center Shane Pinto figures to take a good chunk of that so if Staios wants to try to add an impact piece to his roster, it would be difficult to do so and keep Brannstrom on the roster without making some sort of other change first.  Accordingly, this is a decision that could come down to the wire on the June 30th qualifying offer deadline.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Dillon Heatherington Looking Into Signing Overseas

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  • The Senators have already lost Lassi Thomson and Jacob Larsson to overseas contracts and a third blueliner might be joining them as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that Dillon Heatherington is examining his international options. The 29-year-old played in a dozen games with Ottawa between 2021-22 and 2022-23 but didn’t see any NHL action this season.  Instead, Heatherington skated in 60 games with AHL Belleville and was briefly loaned out to play for Canada at the Spengler Cup back in December.

Senators UFA Jacob Larsson Signs In Switzerland

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Rather than see what a trip through unrestricted free agency in July would yield, defenseman Jacob Larsson has opted to head overseas.  The Senators’ depth defender has signed a two-year contract with Rapperswil-Jona in Switzerland, per a team announcement.

The 27-year-old was a first-round pick by Anaheim back in 2015, going 25th overall but hasn’t been able to carve out a full-time NHL role just yet.  He spent five years in their system, getting into 165 NHL games during that span.  However, in 2022, the Ducks elected not to tender a $1.3MM qualifying offer with arbitration rights, making Larsson an unrestricted free agent.

Unable to secure a one-way deal on the open market, Larsson accepted a one-year, two-way deal with Ottawa that summer.  While he got into seven games with the Sens, he spent the bulk of that year with AHL Belleville.  This season, he only saw game action in the minors despite a pair of recalls in the first half of the season.  With Belleville, Larsson played in 61 games, notching a career-best 33 points while adding five assists in seven playoff contests.

Considering the year he had in the minors, Larsson likely would have had strong interest on the open market from teams looking to make him a key defender in the AHL while being a serviceable recall if necessary.  However, he instead will try his hand different where he’s likely to play a big role for the Lakers for the next two years.  A good showing there could get him back on the NHL radar in 2026 if he decides to try his hand at playing in North America again.

Mike Yeo Interviewed For Assistant Coach Job

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  • After parting ways with Vancouver yesterday, veteran coach Mike Yeo might not be out of a job for long. Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the Senators have interviewed Yeo for an assistant’s job on Travis Green’s bench while suggesting that he could be on the Maple Leafs’ radar as well having worked with Craig Berube before.  Yeo spent the last couple of years in that role with Vancouver and also has head coaching experience with Minnesota, St. Louis, and Philadelphia.

Ottawa Senators Not Shopping Brady Tkachuk

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For the Tkachuk family, things could not be more different between the brother duo in the National Hockey League. Matthew Tkachuk, a member of the Florida Panthers, is competing for his second appearance in the Stanley Cup Final in as many seasons, while his brother Brady Tkachuk of the Ottawa Senators is once again enjoying a long offseason; a reality familiar to him for the last six seasons.

Even though the Senators have failed to make the playoffs since the 2016-17 season, they still have a flare for the dramatics. Less than one month into the 2023-24 NHL season, Ottawa fired then-General Manager Pierre Dorion, leading to a complete overhaul of the front office. With that change coming to an organization intent on contending in the next couple of seasons, many pundits wondered whether or not the Senators would look to re-engage in their rebuilding efforts.

One name that has begun to surface in the rumor mill lately is the aforementioned Tkachuk brother, Brady. Tkachuk, who has served as the team’s captain for the last three years, has been one of the league’s best competitors since his rookie campaign. Over the last three seasons as the team’s captain, Tkachuk has accrued 102 goals and 224 points in 242 games while throwing a whopping 806 hits against opposing teams.

Nevertheless, do not expect Ottawa to move their captain this offseason, as General Manager Steve Staios recently shut down those rumors while speaking to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (Subscription Article). In the article from LeBrun, Staios was asked about the rumors and bluntly said, “Complete B.S. We are building this team around Brady. His leadership and unique skill set are rare. There is absolutely no validity to it“.

Things could certainly change over the offseason, especially if Ottawa is approached with an offer they cannot refuse. However, judging by Staios’ remarks to LeBrun, it does not appear that any team will be able to reach a hypothetical asking price for Tkachuk.

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