When the Senators announced Dave Poulin as their senior vice president of hockey operations, a pattern emerged from the front office’s media appearances.
A need for experience and more veteran presence has permeated the conversations about the Senators’ roster. It is an avenue the organization believes it should explore to insulate its young core.
During Poulin’s introductory press conference, he emphasized this possibility.
“We’ve got to better equip this group with how to handle those wild swings. Some of it is physical, some of it is mental and some of it is flat-out experience. We ask a lot of a 20 or 21-year-old that we look at and take for granted. We’d like to accelerate that. Some of it does take time, but some of it can also be shared experience.”
In the Pierre Dorion era, it was remarkable how much veteran turnover there was. It was a rare occurrence when an acquisition lasted more than a year on the parent roster. One explanation for this could have been the state of the franchise. The organization may have looked at these veterans as disposable placeholders who offered character and leadership while absorbing the realities of playing for a franchise that was purposefully trying to procure as many high-draft selections as it could. An unproven and cynical suspicion of mine explaining the veteran turnover is that Dorion did not want to keep many around for too long. The less time they were here and exposed to the turmoil, the less time these veterans could develop informed opinions of management and ownership — thereby making them less impressionable on the kids this organization depended on to establish its foundation.
Provided the Senators find a way to create cap flexibility, adding experience in the Michael Andlauer era should be easier. Professionalism and organizational stability at the highest level to go with their young talent will make it much easier for this organization to attract veteran talent.
Winning some games would help too, but it’s been a difficult and frustrating recent stretch of games. Following last night’s 6-3 loss to Calgary, the Senators have lost four straight and seven of the 10 games since Jacques Martin was installed as the interim head coach on December 18th.
It was probably naive to assume that any coach could come in immediately and undo five years of bad habits and a lack of accountability. An incredibly condensed schedule in which the team plays every second night to make up for the slow first two months of the season is not conducive to facilitating productive change.
Ten games is a small enough sample size of games anyway, but without enough time between games for proper practices, at least there are some explanations in place for why progress has been slow.
The more the losses mount, the more it reflects poorly on the players. Given their struggles, it is hardly surprising to learn that general manager Steve Staios is aggressively kicking tires.
He is in an unenviable position right now.
There is no question that he is looking to make a hockey deal to improve the on-ice product, but at this juncture of the season, making a hockey deal is difficult.
That has not stopped general manager Steve Staios from being aggressive on the trade front.
If the organization is hesitant to move any of its young roster pieces, it is going to be difficult to pull off a trade. The roster is not exactly laden with expendable talent that will fetch a noteworthy return. The Senators will inevitably listen to offers on impending free agents like Vladimir Tarasenko and Dominik Kubalik. Still, neither player will likely fetch a significant return — even if the Senators retain salary to sweeten a deal.
Another wrinkle is that their farm system has been depleted through trades, prospect attrition and the graduation of its most talented prospects to the parent roster in recent seasons. Given their current position in the standings and their lack of prospect capital, they are not in a comfortable position to be trading more of it away.
Staios recently joined the Jason Gregor Show in Edmonton where he acknowledged that the organization would like to add “a veteran player if we could.”
Getting Mathieu Joseph back from a lower-body injury last night will be huge for the team’s depth up front and the imminent return of Shane Pinto from his suspension will further bolster the quality of depth at the forward position. Even with their respective returns, it’s hard to blame management for wanting to add an experienced hand given how much collective
Considering all the collective sulking and visible self-pitying going on, no one could blame management for targeting an experienced hand who can help improve this team’s culture and maturity level. Finding that player could be difficult. It’s not like teams in the playoff hunt are looking to move those kinds of players and if a team near the bottom has one, they are looking to maximize their return.
The Senators may have to wait for the offseason to make the kind of impactful change that they are looking for.
Teams calling on Jakob Chychrun
As the Senators have emerged as an active trade partner on the market, the Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli noted that teams have been calling on defenceman Jakob Chychrun.
“The Sens have been one of the most active teams in the league in recent weeks as they examine who will be part of their core for the long haul. Multiple teams have inquired about Chychrun, acquired from Arizona just 10 months ago, and they haven’t been told that Chychrun is unavailable.”
Chychrun is having a great year for the Senators. The 25-year-old has played in every one of the Senators’ 36 games this season compiling seven goals and 26 points.
Evolving-Hockey’s ‘Wins Above Replacement’ (WAR) model creates and uses a single number to estimate the value provided by an individual player over a “replacement level player”. Using their metric, Chychrun has provided a ton of value to the Senators. In fact, of all the NHL’s qualified defencemen, Chychrun has accrued 1.6 WAR over his 36 games - which is tied for the league’s sixth-highest mark.
It makes sense for teams to call and inquire. Chychrun’s having a strong campaign in what has been an otherwise pretty difficult season in Ottawa. With an inexpensive cap hit of $4.6 million, it is obvious why teams are doing their due diligence and inquiring to see if he could be made available.
So, why is he possibly available?
It is no secret that the Senators have a glut on the left side. Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot have inked long-term deals which will count $16.5 million against the cap. The year and a half remaining on his contract represents a bargain now, but if Chychrun continues to play well, his next contract will come with a significant raise.
Even with expectations that the NHL’s salary cap ceiling will continue to rise and offer the Senators more opportunity to spend, the hockey operations department will be tasked with determining whether this blue line can be successful with three left-shot defencemen playing in their top four. If they can’t, the next question they will have to ask is whether it is smart to allocate so much spending on the left defence position. If they are uncomfortable with that idea, it makes sense to at least consider the possibility of moving Chychrun.
At the very least, it represents a manager doing his due diligence to see if there is an opportunity out there that makes sense. Perhaps there are reservations about extending him because of his injury history. The combination of his age, injury history, performance this season and the fact that he offers teams another season of team control before unrestricted free agency may represent an opportunity to maximize the return on a player.
Conversely, the Senators should probably be having the same internal conversations about Thomas Chabot. He is a year older than Chychrun, but he does offer the team four more years of team control beyond the 2023-24 season. It does come at an average annual value of $8.0 million.
Like many puck-moving defencemen whose defensive aptitude lags behind their offence, Chabot’s often been a scapegoat for the team’s lack of success. He’s an example of recency bias affecting the opinions of a vocal set of fans who’d like to see the veteran be shipped out of town. On a team of underachievers, Chabot has had a miserable season. His defensive miscues and performance have left something to be desired. In saying that, only 13 defencemen have accrued more value (WAR) over the last four seasons than Chabot per Evolving-Hockey.
Most of Chabot’s value is tied to his puck-moving ability, but it is easy to wonder how much he has been adversely affected by his usage over the past five seasons. Without quality alternatives and a tendency for the coaching staff to pair him with an anchor for a partner, his game suffered. Big minutes on bad teams did not help his development, but like with many of the other players, I’d like to see a larger sample size of games under the new regime before dismissing Chabot as the one who should go.
Other News and Notes:
Josh Norris has been ruled out of tonight’s game in Buffalo. The centre fell hard and hit the back of his head on the ice during Tuesday night’s game against Calgary. Ridly Greig will slide up to the team’s top line between Brady Tkachuk and Claude Giroux. As I mentioned on ‘X’, it will be intriguing to see how this trio fares. To this point, the defensive struggles of Tkachuk and Norris have been incredibly disappointing. If Greig, who has been the team’s best defensive centre, can bring more out of Tkachuk at five-on-five, it will be a huge boost.
Although he needs a contract and will not be eligible to play in a game until the Senators’ January 21st game against the Flyers, Shane Pinto is now eligible to resume skating with the Senators. The expectation is that he will join his teammates once they return from this five-game road trip.
With the departure of Nikita Zaitsev, the way is clear for Pinto to ditch his familiar number 57 for 22, the number that he wore in North Dakota.
Bruce Garrioch reported that teams have called inquiring about Pinto’s availability, but they have been rebuffed. The Senators did not have an interest in moving him.
I just rolled my eyes I hear people say you have to break up the core and make dramatic changes changes and trades but, by the way, don’t trade players we all like who are outplaying their contracts like Batherson and chychrun. AS IF teams would offer real value for Norris and Chabot right now. I suspect the only way either happens is if we take a dubious contract back. I have the stock market, background, and few things from a herd mentality perspective. If we are done particular player, collectively, you can bet the broader Publix sees the same thing. My view the only logical move is to trade chychrun along with of course, tarasenko. Kubalik goes for free if we r lucky.