NHL DRAFT NOT A PRIORITY FOR SENATORS’ DORION
Franchise-defining moment ahead as GM tries to get top value for tainted Hoffman
Considering the craziness surrounding the Ottawa Senators for the past few weeks, and given the potential fireworks of the week to come, the 2019 NHL draft isn’t the priority for general manager Pierre Dorion.
To be sure, trying to get the best possible return for Mike Hoffman and/or Erik Karlsson now, along with making the most of the club’s fourth and 22nd overall selections, could be franchise-defining moments.
But maybe Dorion can accomplish all of the above, as well as recouping the first-round draft pick the team lost to the Colorado Avalanche in the trade for Matt Duchene last November.
To refresh memories, the Senators hold the option of giving the Avalanche either the fourth overall pick Friday or their firstround selection in the 2019 draft sweepstakes.
Barring a shocking move, though, the Senators are expected to keep the 2018 pick. Forwards Filip Zadina and Brady Tkachuk are among the possibilities to be selected by Ottawa, which hasn’t had a top-five selection since drafting Jason Spezza with the second overall choice in 2001.
It’s rare for such a high pick to move. The last time a top-five pick was traded on draft day was in 2008, when the Toronto Maple Leafs acquired the fifth choice from the New York Islanders, choosing Luke Schenn, in exchange for conditional secondand third-round choices.
Whatever route the Senators take, Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic is sitting pretty. Should the Senators fully adopt a rebuilding approach for next season — a likely direction if Karlsson and Hoffman are both gone — they will most likely be a bottom-rung squad. The worse the Senators do, the better the Avalanche’s odds are at securing the first overall pick. At this point, Jack Hughes is the consensus first overall selection in 2019.
That’s one of the many issues in the background for Senators management as they make their way to Texas this week.
We’re assuming Dorion hasn’t slept much since assistant general manager Randy Lee was arrested on harassment charges May 30 in Buffalo, leaving the already thin staff even more short-handed for the most pivotal weekend of the year.
Without his right-hand man at the draft table — Lee was suspended indefinitely by the Senators Friday pending the outcome of his next court hearing on July 6 — Dorion will do his best to find a deal that brings back a firstround selection from somewhere else in 2019.
It won’t come, of course, from dealing Hoffman, whose value has plummeted amid the cyberbullying allegations Karlsson’s wife has made against Hoffman’s girlfriend. Picking up much more than a late-round pick would be a surprise.
However, a 2019 first-round pick could certainly be involved in a package deal for Karlsson. The Senators, currently without a second- or third-round pick this weekend, could also add to their draft haul by dealing their captain.
While it’s highly unlikely any team acquiring Karlsson would miss the playoffs, there are no guarantees of success. At least there would be the possibility of the Senators having a shot at the draft lottery in 2019.
As for potential trade partners, the New York Rangers are in position to go big on a marquee attraction. They own three first-round picks and have seven selections in the opening three rounds this weekend. Come 2019, they have three picks in the first two rounds. On top of that, they’re in the type of situation the Rangers rarely find themselves in — they have salary-cap room and then some. At this point, they have only $37.85 million in salaries for the 2019-20 season, plenty of space to sign Karlsson to a lucrative extension as early as July 1.
Dorion has earlier said he would not trade his captain at the draft and the club would offer him an extension on Canada Day. That may still happen, but typically the best opportunity to make a blockbuster deal is at the draft.
Once July 1 hits, most teams have their eyes set on re-stocking through free agency rather than a trade.
If, as expected, the Senators are not in the race for a playoff spot when the 2018-19 trade deadline arrives, they would be sellers. But any team in position to give up a first-round pick at that point would almost assuredly be a playoff-bound squad, meaning they wouldn’t be included in the draft lottery, and selection would come in the latter half of the first round.
Add that all up, and the best chance to restore the lost firstround asset could very well come during the next few days.