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Free agency begins in three days, and for a lot of teams, it can be an exciting day. Not for the Senators though, because it never is.
Their list of quality free agent signings is incredibly small, and it’s not as if they’ve even tried to sign undervalued cheap players. Despite that, I wanted to point out some free agents that are intriguing and won’t break the bank. You never know if they’ll actually look at these players though.
I’d love for Ottawa to go get John Tavares or Calvin de Haan, but I know those aren’t realistic targets. Instead, here are five forwards that the Senators should be looking to sign. Next time I’ll go over some targets at defense and goaltender.
Tobias Rieder, LW
I was pretty shocked to see Rieder not get a qualifying offer. The German-born winger is only 25 years old, and has averaged 30.1 points per season since he came in the league in 2014-15. This past season he had 25 points in 78 games, but it’s not as if he became some unplayable forward. There’s still a chance that Los Angeles will look to re-sign him, but I hope not.
His last contract had a cap hit of $2.25M, so he would be on the more “expensive” side amongst players on this list, but a contract in the range of $1.5M-$2.5M would definitely be worth it. As of now, Ottawa has just over $19M in cap space with Mark Stone and Cody Ceci to re-sign, and with the internal budget, getting Rieder might be a bit of a squeeze.
Then again, if Erik Karlsson (and maybe Bobby Ryan) is moved, it won’t be an issue at all. Let’s just say, I hope it’s hard for the Senators to sign Rieder.
Nick Shore, C
Remember him? He was on the Senators for 6 games. Shore has had pretty underwhelming point totals throughout his career, but he’s been deployed exclusively as a defense-first fourth-line centre, and has done an excellent job at that.
I feel like signing Shore would be perfect if Ottawa was looking for one extra depth piece before going on a cup run, but I’d still like to have him right now anyway. He’s only going to provide about 20 points in a full season, but his shot suppression numbers are great, and that can be a useful weapon to have compared to most teams 4th line centres who spend most of the night in their own zone:
He was making only $925k last season, so a contract for about $1M seems fair value.
Anthony Duclair, LW
Duclair is even more of a surprise UFA, because when he first came to Arizona, he was part of the new “young core” that the Coyotes were assembling. He put up 44 points in his first full season, but has struggled mightily since then.
In the two seasons since, he has just 38 points in 114 games between Arizona and Chicago. Despite those struggles, he’s still worth taking a gamble on considering his skillset and previous success. This is a player who scored 50 goals in 59 games in the OHL in his draft +1 season, so that’s at least something to hang onto.
Duclair made just $1.2M last season, and I’m curious to see what he’ll receive on the open market. Even with his struggles, it may end up being more than $2M just because I can imagine lots of teams being interested. Considering where Ottawa is competitively right now, I don’t think he’d want to sign there, although he may view it as a good opportunity to get a chance to play on the top line with Mike Hoffman not being here anymore.
It’s a long shot that Ottawa would seriously consider him and that Duclair would be interested, but I have to mention him as a possibility.
Kenny Agostino, LW
Agostino is already 26 but has only gotten a chance to play in 22 NHL games, and I don’t get it. He only has six points in those games, but that is spread across four seasons and it’s not nearly a big enough sample to say that he isn’t good enough.
Agostino has been fantastic at the AHL level since 2014, averaging 74 points per 82 games over that time span. I know that some older players dominate at the AHL level just because they’re older and more mature, and aren’t really NHL caliber players, but I feel like Agostino hasn’t been given a proper chance.
If the roster exodus is going to continue (or even if it doesn’t), there’s no downside to giving him a chance, even if it means giving him a one-way contract.
Daniel Carr, LW
Carr is a relatively unknown player around the league, but he seems like somebody who can be a quality contributor if given more of an opportunity. Last season in Montreal, he put up 16 points in 38 games which translates to 35 points in a full season, so it’s not as if he wasn’t effective when in the lineup.
His first season in the AHL as a 23-year-old was alright with 39 points in 76 games, but since then he has 51 points in 63 games across three seasons at the level. He’s proven that he can score both in the minors and in College:
He’s definitely a late bloomer since he’s turning 27 in the fall, but he’s worth giving an NHL contract. His previous cap hit was only $725k, so I can’t imagine him asking for very much. For a team that has horrendous depth right now and could benefit from a player contributing sort of out of nowhere, Carr would be a fantastic cheap addition.
Austin Czarnik, RW
I figured that if Czarnik was a free agent, he was a restricted one, so I was happily surprised to see his name on the UFA list. He’s another player that hasn’t been given an opportunity in Boston, as he’s been in the organization since the end of the 2014-2015 season, but has played in just 59 games.
His 17 points in that time is nothing to write home about, but much like Agostino and Carr, his AHL numbers are phenomenal. In 157 career games in Providence, he has 155 points, which is astoundingly good. At the age of 25, it’s doubtful that he would become an elite scorer at the
NHL level, but I think it’s reasonable to expect that he could at least put up 40 points if given the right deployment.
Ottawa looks incredibly thin at right wing, and Czarnik could easily slot into the lineup right now. Due to his lack of NHL experience, he won’t be getting that much on his next contract, and he could become quite a steal.
I’m not expecting any of these players to sign with Ottawa, but they’re all solid options.
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