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With the Ottawa Senators training camp set to begin in a week, one has to wonder why it took management almost two months to make a long term offer to Brady Tkachuk, that his camp would consider. If reports are correct that Tkachuk was offered 8 years for 64 million on Tuesday, then you would think it wouldn’t take long for Brady to sign it as other mainstream media outlets have been saying for weeks now that Tkachuk isn’t happy that Ottawa hasn’t made any serious offers to him. This offer would remove that feeling he supposedly has in contract negotiations, if it’s indeed correct. Or, is the structure of the contract a problem? Is it back loaded with no bonus money up front? This would be due to the flat cap the NHL will have in place for the next few seasons. There are many questions but no answers as these contract negotiations have already gone on far too long, considering the importance Tkachuk has with this franchise.

Personally I think Tkachuk would prefer a 5-6 year deal, worth 42-44 million. I realize that it’s a larger AAV than most would want, but a deal of this length would be beneficial to both sides. Tkachuk would be giving up one or two years of free agency, hence the ask for the larger AAV, while Ottawa isn’t tied up on an 8 year deal. The fact we are still talking about this has many fans frustrated that it has gone on this long.

The same goes for Logan Brown in regards to trading him. Any team wanting to acquire him will want Brown for an entire training camp/pre-season games. If Sens GM Pierre Dorion hasn’t moved Brown by the weekend, then you can pretty much assume Brown will be heading overseas for the season. At that point, the little value Brown has will be out the door. As I wrote in my last column, it absolutely amazes me that Dorion is driven to making it a “hockey deal” as he says, rather than acquiring draft picks from teams who have called on Logan.

When looking at the Sens development camp that started on Saturday, many reports suggest Egor Sokolov has been by far and away the best player on the ice and will get a long look at the main training camp. With Dorion not acquiring a top six forward that ownership said they needed in the off-season, I am sure management hopes Sokolov can help fill that void. That might be a lot to ask of a player who has yet to play in an NHL game and only played 35 games at the AHL level last year.

Personally, I am curious to see if Shane Pinto and Jacob Bernard-Docker stand out in the two rookie games. These are two players that the organization has very high hopes for this coming season. Will either of them start the season in the NHL, or be sent down to the AHL? Getting off to a strong start during the “rookie” games, will not only help their confidence but give fans an idea if either player might get substantial time with the big club this season.

What will be more telling are the two games where Ottawa will play the Montreal Canadiens in what is being billed as the “rookie matchup” to see some of the other Sens prospects that aren’t talked about as much, to get an idea of how they’ve developed in the last year. Due to Covid, we didn’t get a chance to see the usual rookie tournament games last year that Ottawa has always participated in. With so many draft picks from the past three seasons during the rebuild, I for one want to see what kind of depth this organization has built up. TSN 1200 will be doing the radio broadcast on Saturday, Sept. 18th at 4pm EST.

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