TSN is reporting that the Ottawa Senators have signed free agent defenseman Johnny Oduya to a 1 year, $1M contract (with a potential of $1.25M in performance bonuses). Oduya is a 35 year old veteran who brings a couple of Stanley Cup rings from his time with the Blackhawks. He had 9 points in 52 games split between the Stars and Blackhawks last season.

He will provide some depth to the Senators blue line, and add insurance should they decide not to rush Thomas Chabot to the NHL. His days as a legitimate top 4 are probably behind him though.

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The Boston Bruins were eliminated by the Ottawa Senators in the first round of the playoff, but many outside of Ottawa contend it would have been a different series had the injury bug not bitten the Bruins so deeply.

Such contention is fine, but the games that were played on the ice saw Ottawa win four of the six games, all 6 were decided by 1 goal and four of the 6 required overtime (with Ottawa winning 3 of those 4). Maybe having the likes of Torey Krug would have made a difference, but his presence arguably would have seen the Bruins hold off on bringing in Charlie McAvoy, who ended up being probably the Bruins' best defenseman in the series. It wasn't just Krug, but Boston had other injuries as well.

But that is in the past, and the purpose of this series is to look ahead to the immediate future of each of the Senators' division rivals. When I look at what the Bruins have done so far this off-season, it makes Ottawa GM Pierre Dorion look like a wheeler and dealer.

Don Sweeney has been very quiet on the free agent front, with the only notable name being Paul Postma as a depth 6/7 defenseman. The Bruins used a lot of depth in the playoffs, and they have seen the departure of Colin Miller via expansion draft, Joe Morrow, who was one of those depth defensemen used in the playoffs signed with the Habs, with Jimmy Hayes (bought out), Drew Stafford and John-Michael Liles all unsigned UFA's.

At the top end of the forward ranks, the Bruins remain strong with a solid top 6. After that is where the questions arise, as there is a lot of youth that will have to prove itself. The likes of Tim Schaller and Sean Kuraly made solid impressions in the playoffs and will be in the mix to be contributors this season, as will Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, who made his debut last season and will be given a chance to crack the roster early on.

On the blue line, while Krug and McAvoy are going to provide an nice 1-2 offensive punch going forward, Zdeno Chara is a shell of his former self and showed signs of slowing down in the season during which he cracked the big 4-0 in terms of age. He is in the final year of his contract and it could be his swan song.

The Bruins' net is still in the capable hands of Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin.


The Bruins have a lot of cap space and room for contracts, so it wouldn't surprise me if they bring in a veteran presence either up front or on the blue line on a short term deal. They still have to sign both of their RFA's in Ryan Spooner and David Pastrnak, which will eat some of the almost $13M remaining, but they will have room for one or two more, who might be cheaper as the season draws closer and the pool of UFA's are playing their game of musical chairs and look to not be left without a contract when the music stops.

Still, even with the injection of youth, other than McAvoy, who should be a good foil for Thomas Chabot for years to come, and will be a dominant defenseman in this league in the next couple of years, I am not sure if there is much top end talent on the horizon. Will they be better this coming season? I can't point to an area where they will be much better, and they certainly aren't as deep as they were with the losses and unsigned players. I look as the Bruins as one of the teams who made the playoffs in 2017 that could be on the outside looking in come April 2018.

Boston has a big eye to the future, with 22 of their current 42 signed players on their entry level contracts.

POTENTIAL LINEUP

FORWARDS

Marchand - Bergeron - Pastrnak
Spooner - Krejci - Backes
Vatrano - Acciari - Nash
Beleskey - Schaller - Forsbacka Karlsson

Kuraly/Agostino

DEFENSE

Chara - McAvoy
Krug - McQuaid
Carlo - Miller

Postma

GOALIES

Rask
Khudobin
Subban/McIntyre

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