According to multiple sources, the Philadelphia Flyers offered Morgan Frost to the Senators a week or two ago in exchange for Shane Pinto. The Flyers were also agreeable to acquiring Mathieu Joseph and his $2.95 million cap hit and three years of remaining contract term. Frost recently signed a $2.1 million cap hit deal on a new two-year contract after being Philly's last unsigned restricted free agent.
However, the Senators have so far declined all offers for Pinto despite the player remaining unsigned and the Sens already being dangerously close to the salary cap ceiling. The Senators are trying to find ways to create some added cap space. Pinto wants to stay in Ottawa -- as a 10.2 (c) restricted free agent, he wasn't eligible for an offer sheet even if he wanted to consider other destinations this offseason, anyway -- and the Senators want to get the deal done and the player in camp ASAP.
Philly and other teams have also expressed interest in acquiring Senators prospect Tyler Boucher. Although the young power forward has been plagued by injury issues in his young career and is currently nursing a groin injury, there are NHL clubs who believe there's a Tom Wilson sort of upside to the power forward. Keep in mind that Wilson broke into the NHL as a fourth-line player and was never a prolific junior scorer despite being a first-round pick by the Capitals. At age 23, Wilson started to blossom and moved up in Washington's lineup. At 24, he became an NHL scoring threat in addition to his physical presence.
Apart from Boucher, there are quite a few NHL clubs that have interest in 21-year-old Ridly Greig.
Bottom line: Despite Pinto remaining unsigned, the Senators have a variety of options here, whether it's as a way to put together deals that free cap space to get the Pinto deal done OR, if the deal still can't be closed, as a way to put something together to bring back value and create cap space for other purposes.
The most likely scenario is the Sens do some juggling to create enough space to get Pinto signed during camp and then worry about longer-term cap planning later.
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