Hammond would ‘love to stay’ in Ottawa
Now that it’s all over, The Hamburglar’s contract situation has left the Ottawa Senators in a bit of a pickle this barbecue season.
Goaltender Andrew Hammond is to become an unrestricted free agent July 1, while Craig Anderson and Robin Lehner have guaranteed NHL contracts. Anderson has three years remaining on his deal, while Lehner, still experiencing post-concussion symptoms, is under contract through the end of the 2016-17 season.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Hammond said Tuesday, as Senators players packed up and said goodbye for the year. “I love Ottawa. I love everything about Ottawa: The fans, the organization and everything. I’d obviously love to stay.”
During Hammond’s recordsetting 20-1-2 stretch, his agent, Dan Plante, and Senators general manager Bryan Murray put contract discussions on hold.
Hammond has spent the past few days getting over the disappointment of the first-round playoff loss to Montreal. He recognizes his contract is a big topic but he’s not ready to go there just yet. He hasn’t talked to his agent about the next step.
“Obviously, my contract situation does play into it, but the season is just ending, it’s pretty fresh.”
The Senators will almost certainly entertain trade talks for Anderson and Lehner — the NHL draft could be the trigger for a swap — but Lehner’s health could prevent a team from taking a chance on him. Keep in mind that part of the Senators sales pitch to sign Boston University goaltending prospect Matt O’Connor is that there would not be a long line of netminders ahead of him.
Hammond has also not allowed himself to dwell on his remarkable, improbable rise to become the key piece of the greatest comeback to a playoff spot in NHL history, after spending the first half of the season struggling with Binghamton of the American Hockey League. He says he needs some time to “decompress” after the crazy ride.
“I’m going to try and make a conscientious effort to look back at everything and soak it in. Part of being able to have success at this level is being able to be numb to what’s kind of going on around you. At the same time, it was my dream growing up to play in the NHL and to go through what we’ve gone through, so it’s also important to kind of take a step back and enjoy it as well.”
While Hammond says he’s comfortable in the NHL and is confident that he can “be an asset to an (NHL) team,” he’s also not assuming he’s guaranteed to be in the big leagues next season.
Even though the end of his season came on a bit of a sour note, replaced by Anderson after losing the opening two playoff games against the Canadiens, he understands why the move was made.
“Every goalie wants to play every game, it’s just natural and the decision was made,” he said. “You can look around the league and we’re not unique in that regard that that happened. There are goaltenders (Corey Crawford) who have won Stanley Cups that are sitting on the bench, so for me to be kind of selfish about it and take away from the team wouldn’t be right. I understand the decision and obviously you saw what happened and Craig played extremely well. Part of being a good goaltender is being a good team player.”