After fire sale, Senators have little hope for near future

OTTAWA — The recent past, present and immediate future are all bleak for the Ottawa Senators.

They are on their way to missing the playoffs for the fourth time in six years, just sold off their top three forwards in a trade-deadline fire sale and, despite being dead last in the NHL, have no chance at a top-three pick in the draft because they included that in a deal last season. Gone in the past eight months are Erik Karlsson, Mike Hoffman, Mark Stone, Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel, and what’s left is uncertainty about how long the Senators’ long-term rebuild will take.

For those left in the aftermath of the recent trades of Stone to Vegas and Duchene and Dzingel to Columbus, there will be lots of losing and plenty of hoping against hope someday things will turn around.

“I knew there were going to be some aches and pains at some points and growing pains here,” said Chris Tierney, who was part of the return for Karlsson in September and is now Ottawa’s top-scoring forward with 40 points. “In years to come — I’m not sure, obviously, how long I’m going to be here — but it’s going to be fun watching this team grow and develop and being a part of it right now.”

Right now isn’t a whole lot of fun for the Senators, who scored just one goal in three games since Stone, Duchene, Dzingel and some other players were held out to keep them from being injured before Monday’s deadline. Aside from defenceman Thomas Chabot, whose play has been a bright spot in an otherwise lost season, even coach Guy Boucher is concerned about where the goals are going to come from in the final 20 games.

There isn’t any real incentive to lose in hopes of landing potential top draft pick Jack Hughes. The Senators traded away a firstround pick to get Duchene in a three-team deal in November 2017, decided to keep the No. 4 pick last summer and now the Colorado Avalanche could reap the benefits of those decisions.