Watching the public’s perception of the Senators’ front office develop over the last eight months has been interesting.
I feel comfortable believing the majority of fans have confidence in this group. One that is largely fuelled by the fact the old general manager is gone. Gone are the embarrassing soundbites and an impulsive desire to run a hockey franchise like it is a fantasy team.
Since the moment he arrived on the scene, general manager Steve Staios has brought a welcomed calmness and professionalism to this organization while hiring individuals the hockeyocracy has widely celebrated.
Eventually, front offices are judged by their philosophies and the moves they make. With Staios, we are still in the wait-and-assess phase. In terms of adding personnel, the Senators have done as little as possible. Vladimir Tarasenko was dealt at the deadline for a modest return, but since Staios assumed the general manager duties on September 29th, his only acquisition has been plucking Boris Katchouk off waivers.
The anticipation for the shoe to drop understandably continues to build.
While there has been this sentiment of trust and respecting the professionalism of this group, most voiced public frustrations stem from a belief that new management has been slow to act.
It began with ownership’s willingness to prioritize “stability” and afford Pierre Dorion and D.J. Smith time to prove their worth — even though both individuals had been entrenched within the organization for several seasons — and eventually extended to player personnel.
When an organization is not having success, fans will embrace change.
Significant decisions were made on the coaches and general manager role, but out of fairness to new management, one important distinction to make when it comes to the players is that this front office wanted to use this past season for evaluations. The front office wanted to afford players time and an opportunity to play different coaches to have a fully fleshed out idea of the true talent levels of this group before making critical decisions.
It is a process that Staios reaffirmed at this year’s trade deadline.
“I’m driven to find something, but as far as pressure, I don’t feel pressure to try and do something to do something. If I felt pressure to do something to do something, I would have made a couple of trades at the trade deadline that at the end of the day wouldn’t have made sense. But, at least I would have had something to talk to you about. Just to know how I’m approaching this offseason, I don’t think that there’s… I’m not going to do anything just to do anything. It has to be the right fit. We worked diligently as a staff to identify where we need to get better. We’ve identified the list of players that may be available either via free agency or trade, and that will be our approach.”
This approach has earned the Senators’ new regime a characterization for being patient and diligent with their process. So, it’s no surprise to see the organization be linked to so many players already this offseason.
It’s tire-kicking season.
Within the last week, the Senators have linked to several rumours. Dave Pagnotta indicated that several NHL teams had expressed interest in Trevor Zegras at The Fourth Period. Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch had the Senators linked to seemingly every goaltender who may be available on the market.
In regards to Zegras, rumours have circled regarding the highly skilled winger’s availability since the 2024 trade deadline.
The 23-year-old American is coming off his worst professional season that saw him produce six goals and 15 points in 31 games. Zegras missed 20 games early in the season with osteitis pubis - an “inflammation of the joint between the left and right pubic bones which can cause groin or lower abdominal pain.” Upon his return, Zegras played two weeks worth of games before suffering a broken ankle on January 9th. That injury and a subsequent setback kept him on the shelf for 10 weeks and he never was truly able to rediscover his game.
When he is at his best, Zegras can be one of the most entertaining players in the league - dazzling with stickhandling and desire to create unique highlight reel plays around and behind the opposition’s goal. He has become synonymous with the Michigan-style lacrosse goals.
Looking at his history via HockeyViz, Zegras has driven play at five-on-five on a relatively weak Anaheim club.
Like many young players, the knock on Zegras has been his play away from the puck.
He also has two years left on a deal that carries a cap hit of $5.75 million. Although this deal will take to restricted free agency (RFA) in 2026, any acquiring team will inherit risk in the sense that Zegras will carry a lot of leverage in future negotiations. As Senators fans are quite familiar with, if a player does not want to remain with the organization, this RFA status often limits the trade market and can significantly hamper the prospective return.
There is also an accompanying sense of concern that a young and impressionable team like the Ducks is rebuilding and soliciting interest in a young and talented piece. If they are identifying Zegras as an expendable asset that is not worth being built around, does that mean he would be a fit in Ottawa where they are trying to create a structured young core of their own?
The Senators’ situation is an interesting one because I do believe they could use more secondary scoring. As I outlined in a 2024 NHL Draft piece that pointed out how drafting a forward like Tij Iginla in the seventh overall slot makes sense, there is some some short and medium-term uncertainty in the team’s top-six. As much as I wish he could, Claude Giroux will not play forever. There is also the consideration of what another disappointing campaign could mean to Brady Tkachuk and his future.
Adding Zegras could make sense under the right circumstances, especially if it represented a buy-low opportunity given his injuries last season. That, however, does not appear to be the case. The Ducks reportedly want premium assets in exchange and Ottawa’s not in a great position to accommodate that kind of return. With a poorly ranked farm system and a parent roster that has not been competitive enough to push for a playoff spot, the Senators are ill-equipped to pull the trigger on this kind of deal — especially if there are also concerns that Zegras’ playstyle might exacerbate the forward group’s defensive shortcomings.
On the goaltending front, it is no surprise to see the organization kicking tires wherever it can to see whether it can upgrade the position. The Senators had the league’s second-worst all strengths save percentage (88.45) and were tied with the San Jose Sharks for having the league’s second-worst five-on-five save percentage (89.95) according to NaturalStatTrick.
Of course, there is no certainty in how much interest the Senators have or whether the organization even has the assets or the comfort to make assets available. Inquiring to learn what the asking price on Linus Ullmark, Jakob Markstrom and Juuse Saros are is just basic due diligence and reflects a general manager who is doing their job.
If the reported asking price of a high first-round pick and a valuable prospect is what it will take to pry Markstrom out of Calgary, it is probably a price the Senators would be uncomfortable rolling the dice on. Even though the Swedish goaltender posted a career-best 28.93 goals saved above expected (GSAx) this past season, he is a 34-year-old goaltender who offers only two years of team control before becoming an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2026.
There is also something to be said about the source of the leaks. Since inheriting his roles, Steve Staios has done an excellent job of keeping the team’s cards close to his vest and stifling the rumours that permeated out of the organization regularly during the Dorion era.
It isn’t surprising to see leaked interest stories originating from sources outside the Senators’ organization. Whether it is trading information, trying to create leverage and spur trade interest and return value, these sources presumably have something to gain by adding Ottawa to the list of teams who are interested in a player — even that interest may just be cursory.
The Capitals Buy CapFriendly
Yesterday it was announced by Elliotte Friedman that the Washington Capitals bought the excellent public NHL contract resource, CapFriendly.
It represents a significant short-term blow to the hockey community that has come to rely on this invaluable resource for timely and accurate contract, salary and team information.
No one should begrudge the Capitals for buying it or Jamie Davis and Dominik Zrim for cashing in on their offer at a time when it is increasingly challenging to make money off of the sport online.
Buying CapFriendly represents an interesting strategic decision by the Caps to gain a competitive advantage on their peers. Friedman mentioned on today’s ‘32 Thoughts Podcast’ that a source told him the news caught several organizations off-guard.
It makes sense. As a publicly available resource, the Capitals are taking advantage of the fact that every NHL organization could rely on the accessible and user-friendly site without having to invest any capital or time into developing their own internal database of information.
There is significant value in adding its creators to their fold. Their database already exists and with the opportunity to add more money, contributors and time into their product, it could create additional avenues for them to improve its value.
On the other hand, however. I wonder how long this competitive advantage will last.
As we have seen before, useful hockey resources have been lost before. Prominent websites like ExtraSkater, Corsica, Hockey Analysis, and the tragic CapGeek were exceptional websites where fans could quench their thirst for analytic data or salary cap information. When they disappeared, other sites eventually took their place and with CapFriendly now, it is only a matter of time before some alternative replaces it as the go-to source for salary cap information. For the public, it is just short-term pain.
In an industry where franchise valuations are in the hundreds of millions or billions, it is incredible that organizations do not have their own set of internal databases for this information. As Friedman, again, mentioned on his podcast, several franchises already have their own internal databases of contract information.
Many, however, do not.
After the failure to disclose the accuracy of whether Evgenii Dadonov’s no-trade clause was still in effect, I would have assumed Pierre Dorion’s negligence would have been the spark to inspire organizations to get their own internal processes in check.
Perhaps that would not be necessary if the NHL had its own private central registry that teams could access, but yesterday’s news will drive every organization to develop their own version of CapFriendly.
The most disappointing piece of news is Friedman’s acknowledgement that the NHL frowns upon websites like CapFriendly.
For a league that locked out the players and canceled the entirety of the 2004-05 season, we all know how important the creation of the salary cap was for the league. To disapprove of these sites when it drives considerable fan interest and helps grow the game is such a disservice. It just speaks to how tone deaf Gary Bettman and his cronies are.
Excellent points on CapFriendly. One thought I had while reading is, will CapFriendly's sources dry up now that they are affiliated with one particular team. I don't know where their information came from, but if any of it was from other teams I have to assume that info sharing is going to end. Nonetheless, the Capitals did get their hands on a nice software interface even if they may have to search out new data sources for populating some of that information.
Specifically regarding the Sens, I think they have a member of the staff (maybe Bowness) who does some work on the cap, but I'd love to see them have a full time capologist on staff.
I agree with your assessment that most of the rumours out there about their intentions are being made up by outside sources. Staios and co seem to run a tight ship. On the plus side, this should build trust with other organizations around the league and with players. On the minus side, talking heads short on material make up baloney like the Brady rumours. That second part is probably unavoidable and ia an acceptable tradeoff for the greater degree of professionalism the organization is exhibiting.
Regarding Zegras, if Dorion was still the Sens GM it would not surprise me at all to see him in Ottawa come this fall. With Staios and (especially) Green in the fold I don't expect the Sens to pursue the player unless it was at some kind of heavy discount they couldn't refuse.