Can you imagine being a fly on the wall in Ottawa Senators GM Steve Staios’ office these days? The NHL trade deadline is less than a week away and his team is knee-deep in a playoff race as it aims to reach the postseason for the first time since 2017.
Staios is working the phones and considering his options ahead of the March 7 deadline. But don’t expect the Senators to be a big player on the trade market; for example, it would be surprising for them to land a player such as Vancouver’s Brock Boeser or for any of Ottawa’s future first-round picks to be in play. The Senators are too close to the salary cap to accommodate big salaries and top-end trade targets without moving established players off their roster to make it happen. They’re also still expected to forfeit a first-round pick in either 2025 or 2026 for their mishandling of former forward Evgenii Dadonov’s no-trade list.
However, if the Senators don’t make a move and then fail to make the playoffs, we’ll look back at the deadline as a missed opportunity, especially if the other Eastern Conference teams vying for the same spots got better through their own trades.
The Senators might not be able to afford to do anything of significance, but can they afford to do nothing?
If Ottawa can manage to swing a trade over the next week, it would like to add a veteran winger to increase the team’s depth up front. The Senators aren’t above adding a defenceman, too, but they’ll likely prioritize acquiring a forward. Considering their salary-cap limitations — they only have $1,655,000 in space as of this writing, per PuckPedia — Ottawa might have to swap a player off its roster to accommodate incoming salary.
Some forward trade targets that make sense include Seattle’s Brandon Tanev, Chicago’s Ryan Donato, Nashville’s Gustav Nyquist and Boston’s Trent Frederic. They’re all middle-of-the-lineup players who are versatile enough to play on either wing. Donato can also play centre. The four players are on relatively inexpensive contracts that expire at the end of the season.
The Senators being open to acquiring defencemen isn’t new considering their need at the position for most of the year. But what’s interesting at the moment is that Jacob Bernard-Docker is on the outside looking in and is now competing for playing time with Nikolas Matinpalo.
As for defencemen who could be on the move, Chris Johnston’s seventh edition of his trade board for The Athletic lists options like Anaheim’s Brian Dumoulin, Montreal’s David Savard or San Jose’s Mario Ferraro. There are cheaper, less heralded options available as well.
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The Senators standing pat at the trade deadline wouldn’t be a complete stunner. Staios has consistently stood by his core throughout the season and they’ve improved defensively despite offensive struggles (the Senators ranked 26th in goals in the league entering Friday’s games).
“I feel like we have that internally when we’re playing with confidence,” Staios said in January when asked if adding to his offence would be a priority.
“You could see when we’re playing with confidence and playing with the puck, we can really create offence.”
The Senators will have internal reinforcements once captain Brady Tkachuk returns Saturday against San Jose — he told the media on Friday he’d be back. Shane Pinto and Josh Norris were full participants at practice on Friday and it wouldn’t be a shock to see either of them, or both, return against the Sharks, too.
As Johnston noted on Friday, trade activity has been quiet for most teams ahead of the deadline. It only takes one fallen domino for things to change. But it doesn’t appear that the Senators will be that big domino.
(Top photo of Tim Stützle and Brandon Tanev: Christopher Mast / NHLI via Getty Images)
