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Tampa Bay Stepping Up
The rumours on Erik Karlsson right now are all over the place, because one minute the Islanders are all-in, then the Stars, and now the Lightning again:
Everything at this stage needs to be taken with a grain of salt, although there might be a semi-cryptic message in this tweet because of Brennan using the phrase “great batting average.” Brennan plays on Pierre Dorion’s softball (or it might be slo-pitch) team, so I don’t know if he is getting this message from Dorion himself.
Nevertheless, it makes sense if Tampa Bay is trying to get in on the action at the last second. They saw what Toronto did with John Tavares, and I’m sure Steve Yzerman is desperate to get over the hump.
Just like with Dallas and Miro Heiskanen, if Tampa Bay is willing to give up Mikhail Sergachev, then a deal can’t be
that bad. I do wonder if the Lightning would give up slightly more if Ottawa took Ryan Callahan or Dan Girardi off their hands, as there will have to be some financial maneuvering in a trade. In that case though, perhaps there has to be a third team involved...
Ridiculous Trade Offers
It’s absolutely insane to me that the best defenseman in the NHL is going to be traded and teams (including fans) aren’t willing to give up their top prospects for him. I think the only prospect who has the potential to become as good as Karlsson right now is Rasmus Dahlin, but besides that, I’m sorry.
It baffles me that a team like Dallas doesn’t want to give up Heiskanen because he might become three quarters of what Karlsson is, when they can just
get Karlsson himself. I know it’s rare to see elite prospects traded in the NHL, but you also don’t see the best defenseman in the league getting traded at the age of 28 either.
I know that teams are just trying to lowball Pierre Dorion in the negotiations, but it’s incredibly frustrating to see packages headlined by Julius Honka or Cal Foote, when it’s Ottawa who should be asking for the moon. Clearly the Senators are losing leverage due to his impending free agency, but if a sign and trade can be facilitated, I don’t see why they can’t get a truly elite prospect in return.
I’m prepared to be disappointed with whatever package comes back, but it’s asinine to me that top prospects would be off the table.
Exciting Prospects
Moving on from trade talk, it’s nice to think about the prospect group that the Senators have right now. I still don’t think it is an
elite group per se, but it’s probably above average, and it could get even better depending on the Karlsson trade.
Up front, I think Brady Tkachuk, Logan Brown, and Drake Batherson have the potential to be real difference makers, plus players like Colin White, Alex Formenton, Filip Chlapik, and Aaron Luchuk are decent bets as well. Then on defense they actually have decent prospects besides Thomas Chabot, as Jacob Bernard-Docker, Johnny Tychonick, Christian Wolanin, Christian Jaros, and Max Lajoie make for the most exciting group since David Rundblad, Jared Cowen, and Patrick Wiercioch (fun stuff!)
Even in net, I really like Filip Gustavsson as a potential starter, and I’m not ready to give up on Marcus Hogberg just yet. The point is, they might not have some of the truly elite prospects like a few other teams might have, but every single one of the 14 players I listed are exciting. The organization might be a tire fire right now, but at least there are some good young players to root for.
Duclair Still Out There
EDIT: Aaaand nevermind. Not long after I posted the blog:
I know that Ottawa isn’t going to be acquiring any big names this off-season, and most of the good free agents have already signed with a team. However, one interesting name that would come pretty cheap is LW Anthony Duclair.
I mentioned him as a cheap option last week, and I thought for sure he’d be signed by July 1st. However, the almost 23-year-old is still on the market. His career high in points is 44, and for a team that is going to have a lot of internal competition, he could easily becomes Ottawa’s top left winger:
He has struggled the past two seasons by averaging just 27 points, but it’s still worth giving him a shot. He made only $1.2M last season, and with his market being extremely quiet, I doubt he’d be making more than that. He might want to just take a one-year deal to re-establish his value, but a 1 year/$1M deal would be perfect for the Senators, because if he can bounce back, then the Senators have a solid top-nine winger on their hands. And if it doesn’t work out, there’s still no downside.
Make it happen.
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