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For just the second time this season, the Senators have a winning streak after they defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins in a thrilling 6-4 victory. It was another encouraging effort from many of their top players, and they are now above the "NHL. 500" mark at 9-8-3. Drake Batherson racked up two assists on the night, but the focus from last night should be on Matt Duchene due to his three point game...plus there was something else.
On Hockey Night in Canada, Chris Johnston reported that Duchene's agent, Pat Brisson, met with the Senators front office for the second time this season to discuss a contract extension. The exact details of this face-to-face conversation are unknown, but it has to be a step in the right direction just by communicating as much as possible about what each side wants.
Last season there was essentially zero communication between Erik Karlsson (and his agent) and the team, which made it impossible to imagine a scenario where a new contract was going to be signed. How can you expect both sides to be on the same page? The Senators have a few more months before they will really have to decide what to do with Duchene, as well as Mark Stone and Ryan Dzingel for that matter.
They might decide that trading Duchene is the right option if he is asking for too much, but I think that would be foolish unless he expresses absolutely zero desire to stay here. Considering that Brisson has been willing to meet with the team twice, I feel like Duchene is at least open to staying, so long as he gets what he's worth. Right now he is making $6M, which is a steal for a player of his caliber. With Mark Stone making $7.35M and surely more next season, I'd be shocked if a Duchene cap hit was any lower than $7.5M, and he will probably ask for $8M.
In his last 64 games dating back to last season, he now has a whopping 67 points and is making a strong case for a big raise.
Nobody knows what is being said behind the scenes right now, but it has to be encouraging that the initial steps are at least being taken care of. I think every player has a price they'd be willing to play somewhere, and Pierre Dorion would certainly love to keep him around. It's more about if Eugene Melnyk is willing to open his wallet for a long-term deal. We will have to wait and see in the coming months, but Dorion has some time to figure things out. The only thing is he also has two other top UFAs to deal with...
In last night's panel discussion, there was also an interesting tidbit from Nick Kypreos:
“Whatever the demand is, both [Duchene and Stone] are gonna want a significant signing bonus."
Signing bonuses make contracts harder to buyout, so I don't blame them if that's what they are going to be asking for. With everything negative surrounding the organization that is impossible to ignore, it's nice to have some hope that their best players are going to stay. Perhaps they end up leaving and we all look naive, but there's been nothing but positive news in regards to Duchene so far.
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
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