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The Ottawa Senators haven't made it a secret that they're going to be active players this summer. With so many names attached to the organization of late through the trading block and unrestricted free agency, it certainly feels -- at the very least -- that Bryan Murray's going to make a serious splash or two in the coming weeks.
One name that had been discussed by the fan base, but avoided by the front office for a variety of obvious reasons, was the potential acquisition of one P.A. Parenteau. See, front offices don't normally talk freely about their desires to target various free agents -- although, in some cases, such as F Zach Parise, it's either (a) inevitable; or (b) obvious.
Today, Pierre Dorion opened up a bit with respect to Ottawa's approach for this summer in unrestricted free agency, and specifically noted that P.A. Parenteau would be a player the Ottawa Senators would seriously consider at the right price. The question was initially prompted by a fan at business luncheon, and
James Gordon was right there to deliver the scoop.
Marginally-related side note: If you aren't following James Gordon of the Ottawa Citizen, you're missing the boat. Gordon -- unlike the majority of Ottawa's mainstream media, which includes
professional strawman Erin Nicks and
sensationalist-for-the-sake-of-sensationalism Don Brennan -- simply understands the game, and does absolutely exceptional work covering the team.
Back to P.A. Parenteau: He's coming off his best season at the professional level, scoring eighteen goals and adding forty-nine assists with the New York Islanders. While there's a legitimate argument against his numbers due to his over-expanded role with one of the league's worst offenses, there's an equal argument that suggests his numbers are quite high for a player that skated in a far inferior system with sub-level talent.
Truthfully, it may be a bit hard to gauge Parenteau's projected splits considering his youth and such, but one has to own that jumping from the twenty-eighth best offense in the National Hockey League to the fourth-best offense in the National Hockey League is going to pay serious dividends -- especially if he's logging comparable top-six minutes.
His peripheral numbers are pretty strong for the environment he played in, too. His Corsi Relative QualComp was third amongst Islanders forwards at 0.710, and that was largely a product of positive ice-driving. Along with John Tavares and Matt Moulson, Parenteau was apart of a small segment of forwards who actually moved the puck up ice and sustained offensive zone pressure. On the downside, Parenteau's offensive numbers did have the benefit of some strong offensive zone start splits, as he began 56% of his shifts up top. Comparatively, that's almost identical to Erik Karlsson and Daniel Alfredsson.
One element worth noting is that Parenteau's a bit more of a creator than a finisher. Aside from one small twenty-eight game sample with the Portland Pirates in 2007-2008, he's always had higher assist totals than goal totals, and career-wise, it's not even close. At the NHL level, Parenteau has 41G/87A in 163 games played -- perhaps not L1 quality; probably more suitable on an NHL L2.
At any rate, Parenteau is exactly the kind of player the Ottawa Senators front office has talked about getting in more general terms -- a twenty-five goal guy that can draw into a top-six. Parenteau did score twenty-two one season ago, and really only has two full seasons at the NHL level. Most importantly, he's still on the right side of thirty, which means a multi-year deal could prove beneficial to both parties.
It's expected that Parenteau's going to see Mikhail Grabovski money -- pricy, but considering the market, expected.
Would you entertain this angle?
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