Right, but COL traded Byram for a young #2C in Mittelstadt, who's on pace for a 20G-40A season, and is an impending RFA making just $2.5M. The closest thing the Senators could have offered would be something like Pinto plus a major prospect (e.g. Kleven), and I'm not sure that's a trade most Senators fans would make... especially given that Byran is a LHD, and RHD is where they need to invest.
- khawk

Interestingly, this loads buffalo at LHD with Dahlin, Power and now Byram.

They seem to have higher hopes for this. Although it should be said that these three have much higher potential than Chabot, Chychrun and Sanderson.

First, and perhaps most important, Florida does not have the cap space next year to resign Tarasenko as well as all of their own UFA's and RFA's. Let's see if there is going to be a second half to a deal between the Sens and Panthers.

Remember the Sens signed Tarasenko as a UFA. So, they really have not lost anything.

If nothing else Staios is setting up to have around $10m in free cap after paying out a $7m bumb to Sanderson and perhaps another $4m bump for Pinto.
- spatso

I do believe floroda has 50 mill cap space next season

I do believe floroda has 50 mill cap space next season
- spazzbot

Florida will have 11 UFA's and 3 RFA's come this summer.

They have very few draft picks.

They are going to need friends to help them transition off of what has been a great season for them so far.

I think we need to watch and take a more patient perspective. Staios and the guys he has brought together on his team are smart guys. We need to give them a chance to let their longer plan unfold.

I don't believe for a second that they are looking at any deal at the deadline as a single transaction. I think they are looking towards the summer and trying to pencil in the talent and costs($000) they would like to chase.

It is always amusing to me when the arm chair GMs have such strong responses to an equation for which they do not have all of the information.

Curious amount of griping over the return for Tarasenko. His family is in Florida and he has a full No Move Clause. Under the circumstances I think Ottawa did pretty well.

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) March 6, 2024

So 91 was moved to a team where his family lives for a legitimate chance to chase a Cup. It surprises me that so may take issue here.

I am little stunned by the return, if you want to call it that.
Staois hands were tied, but that is
all we ever seem to get in deals involving ottawa. Overpay,hands were tied....bla bla bla.

All i heard from them for the last few months. They want to go out a find good veterans that can produce, to help the young guys and team............ so what do they do?

On the bright side um ....seasons almost over. Its funny, thats been the only bright side of the Sens for the last 7 years.looking forward to the end of the current misery season.
- spazzbot

I've come off the ledge a bit. I thought Tarasenko was worth more than Mantha, who got a 2nd and 4th. And I thought the 50% retention was worth more. The reality is FLA was his destination and that lowered the price.

Right, but COL traded Byram for a young #2C in Mittelstadt, who's on pace for a 20G-40A season, and is an impending RFA making just $2.5M. The closest thing the Senators could have offered would be something like Pinto plus a major prospect (e.g. Kleven), and I'm not sure that's a trade most Senators fans would make... especially given that Byran is a LHD, and RHD is where they need to invest. In fact, COL had the same need, and had to invest a 1st round pick to bring in a RHD in the form of Sean Walker (and take away Johansen's AAV).
- khawk

I hear you. I understand what you are saying as well.

Bowen Byram was a 4th overall pick just 4 drafts ago (coming up on 5). He has a stanley cup and had to play behind Toews, MAKAR, and Girard - not to mention the other D. COL got an EXCELLENT defensive minded D-man in Walker, but the upside of BB is huge. Also while I agree Mittlestadt has proven himself more than Pinto, I'm not how far the gap is there. Mittlestadt has never hit more than 15 goals and is on his way to about 18 or 19 (assuming he plays a full season and keeps scoring at this pace. Pinto has a 20g season in his rookie season and shows signs of being a strong #2 center or one of the best third line centers in the NHL. With that said, it could be bias in my opinion. Taking Pinto's current scoring rate, he would score 27 goals and over 70 points in a season.

Interestingly, this loads buffalo at LHD with Dahlin, Power and now Byram.

They seem to have higher hopes for this. Although it should be said that these three have much higher potential than Chabot, Chychrun and Sanderson.
- david22

I don't remember a team that has 3 high draft selections D-men

Dahlin - #1 in 2018, Byram - #4 in 2019, Power - #1 in 2021

It is always amusing to me when the arm chair GMs have such strong responses to an equation for which they do not have all of the information.

Curious amount of griping over the return for Tarasenko. His family is in Florida and he has a full No Move Clause. Under the circumstances I think Ottawa did pretty well.

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) March 6, 2024

So 91 was moved to a team where his family lives for a legitimate chance to chase a Cup. It surprises me that so may take issue here.
- HoweHatrick

Fans have every right to be upset. I won't be a dead horse but Staios could've played his hand a bit better, but who knows. The reality is the team has let far too many f'ing assets go and us fans are the ones suffering becaues of it

Very underwhelming trade return. A 3rd and 4rth will probably never play in Ottawa and if they do, it will be 3-5 years away. PLUS we still retain half of Tarasenko's salary. Seriously, I'd have considered telling Florida and Tarasenko to screw it and for Tarasenko to get ready to play the last part of the season in Ottawa. Nobody has ever done Ottawa a favour, so why do we keep doing the favours to let Florida have a better cup chance. Great, now we can watch Brady drink and yuk it up for the Florida run again.

I hope this trade is not a sign of what the new management team is bringing.

As for further trades, I'm not sure if there are anymore. Ottawa did not call up any d-men for this trip (they made sure they had 12 forwards though, knowing Tarasenko was gone). Which means neither Chychrun nor Brannstrom or any other d-man can be sat out for a game because they might be traded. Sitting a d-man out would leave us short a defenceman.


Oh, wait. According to capfriendly, Ottawa has 3 goalies. Sogaard is listed as an emergency callup. Is Beavis or Butthead still injured or can we hope against all hope that one of them is getting traded away?

Fans have every right to be upset. I won't be a dead horse but Staios could've played his hand a bit better, but who knows. The reality is the team has let far too many f'ing assets go and us fans are the ones suffering becaues of it
- AlfieisKing

Understand. And, you could be right.

But, you know the new ownership and managment group want to do it differently and do not want to be seen continuing in the tradition of Melnyk and Dorion.

My guess is they will try and hit their own home run this summer.

They could strike out. But, new ownership paid a lot to buy this team and they are entitled to a huge swing.

A goaltender? A physical Dman(R)? A solid veteran 3rd line forward?

It is always amusing to me when the arm chair GMs have such strong responses to an equation for which they do not have all of the information.

Curious amount of griping over the return for Tarasenko. His family is in Florida and he has a full No Move Clause. Under the circumstances I think Ottawa did pretty well.

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) March 6, 2024

So 91 was moved to a team where his family lives for a legitimate chance to chase a Cup. It surprises me that so may take issue here.
- HoweHatrick

I can understand the sticker shock... the apparent benchmark rate for a 2nd line forward at this year's deadline has been established by the likes of Mantha/Wennberg as a 2nd round pick + lesser asset (pick/prospect). Tarasenko is better than either yet returned slightly less with a 3rd round pick + lesser asset, but I think it's really underestimated how difficult a full NTC makes time-sensitive negotiations. All you need is 2 GM to create a bidding war and up the offers, but with potentially just 1 team involved you have virtually no leverage. Instead of blaming Staios, I'd say it's more accurately aimed at Dorion for not at least getting some kind of modified 'no-trade' list included in Tarasenko's UFA contract.

Then again, the last time Dorion did that when signing a Russian UFA forward it cost them a 1st round pick a year after the trade...

The Tara return demonstrates why you shouldn't offer trade protection - especially on short term UFA deals like this one, and that's not Staios and co's fault. But considering Vlad got a first++ just last year from NYR, and Wennberg just got a 2nd/4th (ironically also from NYR) with 25 points in 60 games, compared to Tara's 41 in 57, it's very hard not to dislike this first trade from Staios, who looks a bit the fool with this return compared to other done deals today. Optics are optics, irrespective how tied his hands were.

Glass half full, we added the player for nothing and got something back - it is possible he circles back to Ottawa seeing as Ottawa sent him where he wanted to go and by all accounts he liked it here.

Still, IMO this is a bad look first deal for this front office.

People really feeling all the feels on this trade. It’s not a good return, but they had no leverage.

- Dorion gave him the the NTC, not Staios
- maybe waiting until Friday gets a little more, maybe they said it had to be today
- Sounds like Tarasenko only gave them one option to be with family, so there’s not much opportunity. Probably why he pushed NTC in the first place.
- I don’t understand why people are mad about 50% retained, it’s not your money, who cares?

All that said, I would’ve been okay with them keeping him, even if he walks. I’m not a fan of tanking at this point, I think they should win as much as possible and hit the ground running. I thought he was a good fit, but maybe he made it clear he didn’t want to be here.

So did they call someone up today? Apparently the B Sens played this morning, so whoever they call up is playing two games today.

Highmore and Chartier had been called up to fill out the forwards to 12.

Really looking forward to seeing how our bottom 6 play the year out .....

Greig, Chartier, Kubalik
Highmore, Kelly, Kastelik

A mighty entertaining group. This will be a very messy end to a bad year. No matter how poorly we play we will not be surpassed by Chicago or San Jose. Not even much hope of seeing promising prospects (Chartier and Highmore ..... really, that is the best they can do with a call-up??). Won't be wasting my money or time to watch this mess on TV or at the arena.

Highmore and Chartier had been called up to fill out the forwards to 12.

Really looking forward to seeing how our bottom 6 play the year out .....

Greig, Chartier, Kubalik
Highmore, Kelly, Kastelik

A mighty entertaining group. This will be a very messy end to a bad year. No matter how poorly we play we will not be surpassed by Chicago or San Jose. Not even much hope of seeing promising prospects (Chartier and Highmore ..... really, that is the best they can do with a call-up??). Won't be wasting my money or time to watch this mess on TV or at the arena.
- OttawaB

wow putting greig with scrubs...ya thats not going to hurt his developement at all...

wow putting greig with scrubs...ya thats not going to hurt his developement at all...
- Mithos

I figured the first 2 lines would be

Tkachuk/Stutzle/Giroux
Joseph/Pinto/Batherson


So where would you put Greig? I put him on the 3rd line to be the centreman. The top 2 centres are Stutzle and Pinto.

My point with the initial comment was that the bottom 6 are as bad as it has been over the past 6 years. We are showing no improvement in this area.

I hear you. I understand what you are saying as well.

Bowen Byram was a 4th overall pick just 4 drafts ago (coming up on 5). He has a stanley cup and had to play behind Toews, MAKAR, and Girard - not to mention the other D. COL got an EXCELLENT defensive minded D-man in Walker, but the upside of BB is huge. Also while I agree Mittlestadt has proven himself more than Pinto, I'm not how far the gap is there. Mittlestadt has never hit more than 15 goals and is on his way to about 18 or 19 (assuming he plays a full season and keeps scoring at this pace. Pinto has a 20g season in his rookie season and shows signs of being a strong #2 center or one of the best third line centers in the NHL. With that said, it could be bias in my opinion. Taking Pinto's current scoring rate, he would score 27 goals and over 70 points in a season.
- AlfieisKing

The irony being that that the 4th overall pick (Byram) was part of the Duschene deal.

Interesting answer from Staios today, when asked in the media scrum whether there might have been an option to get a higher value closer to Friday's deadline - his answer was an "unequivocal no", and that options had been exhausted. He also noted that the move would allow them to explore a couple of other trade options, so they may not be done just yet - including the potential for giving someone on an expiring contract a look to see if there's a potential fit. If that's true, I think you might see them kick the tires on Dumba, just to see if there's a fit beside one of Chabot/Sanderson.

Interesting answer from Staios today, when asked in the media scrum whether there might have been an option to get a higher value closer to Friday's deadline - his answer was an "unequivocal no", and that options had been exhausted. He also noted that the move would allow them to explore a couple of other trade options, so they may not be done just yet - including the potential for giving someone on an expiring contract a look to see if there's a potential fit. If that's true, I think you might see them kick the tires on Dumba, just to see if there's a fit beside one of Chabot/Sanderson.
- khawk

What would you possibly want to trade to get someone like Dumba? We would have to give up something to get him. I would not want to see them trade someone just so we could give a player like Dumba (for example) a spin on defence to see if he wants to stick around.

What would you possibly want to trade to get someone like Dumba? We would have to give up something to get him. I would not want to see them trade someone just so we could give a player like Dumba (for example) a spin on defence to see if he wants to stick around.
- OttawaB

This is where flipping pending UFAs might not be the worst thing - some kind of deal involving a Brannstrom/Dumba flip wouldn't be inconceivable.

someone posted on twitter that Tarasenko deal was the best deal made this deadline in terms of price given up.

Wtf is Staios thinking? Enough of trying to do other GMs a favor - trying to be a "players" GM. No. Try and get the best bang for your buck, squeeze the other teams. Other GMs are not your friends and this team needs to maximize their assets BIG TIME

The irony being that that the 4th overall pick (Byram) was part of the Duschene deal.
- CooCooKaChoo

100%, haven't forgotten. Good point

Mismanagement of 1st round picks beyond top 5

2013 - Curtis Lazar - traded to CAL in 2017 for a 2nd
2014 - NO 1st. Got Bobby Ryan and overpaid him
2015 - Chabot great pick but White over Konency
2016 - Logan Brown - so much hype, became nothing
2017 - Shane Bowers - gone in overpayment for Duchene
2018 - Jacob Bernard Docker - placed on waivers
2019 - Lassi Thomson - complete bust
2020 - Ridly Grieg - excellent pick
2021 - Tyler Boucher - garbage for a 10th overall pick
2022 - 7th overall pick traded for DeBrincat (traded for garbage)
2023 - Pick traded for Chychrun (who is in trade rumors)
2024 - Will they play themselves out of a top 7-8 pick again?

*Dorion cost another 1st due to his stupidity

I hate people that will say - don't look back in history, 2014 was so long ago. Really? Tell that to Edmonton who has Leon Draisaitl, or Toronto who has William Nylander. Well those were top picks, ok, well how about the players the Sens had the opportunity to take if they didn't go after Bobby Ryan --> Dylan Larkin, David Pastrnak, Brayden Point, Devon Toews. Instead we got the hunk Andreas Englund. The next draft in 2015 was a great chance for Ottawa to get a good player in round 2 but right after Aho they take Gabriel Gagne.

Anyways I hope this team doesn't repeat the same mistakes. Getting these 3rd and 4th rounders is so disappointing. They didn't even add a top 100 pick this year - how tf does that happen?

'm not off the ledge.
I'm still on it.
Keep the player. I would not have made that deal. I'm not a GM oh well.

Regarding the Bowen Byram trade. Buyer beware. This guy is the Norris of defense.

" he endured three concussions to begin his NHL career; resulting in Byram missing the majority of his first two Avalanche seasons. The last notable hit — an inadvertent elbow Nov."

He had 0 leverage, but makes you wonder if he could have held out for more. 50% retained too.
- david22

Money-wise, aren't we just paying that 50% for the rest of this season anyway, or did he have many more years with us? If so, I fail to see how that impacts us much.

Picks-wise, yeah. I wish we'd done better but considering the 'trade conditions' I don't think we had much leverage there.

I really hope we don't trade Chychrun, especially if the return's crappy.