SELLERS OR SIGNERS?
The Ottawa Senators need a win. And no, we’re not talking about on the ice.
With the team stuck in last place in the overall standings, it looks like the nightmare scenario of finishing dead last and winning the draft lottery, only to have Colorado use Ottawa’s pick and then select Jack Hughes, could come true.
The Senators knew this was a possibility when they began the season. But they also knew that if they could convince pending free agents Matt Duchene, who was acquired in the deal that sent Ottawa’s first-round pick to Colorado, and Mark Stone to re-sign then losing on a player like Hughes wouldn’t look so bad.
That process, if it hasn’t already started, begins now.
With six weeks to go before the Feb. 25 trade deadline, the Senators have to know where they stand on Duchene and Stone. If they can’t get them re-signed, then the team has to move them for assets that will help the team in the future.
The challenge in signing them is that both players are making the most of their contract years.
Stone, who finished last year with 62 points in 58 games, is amongst the NHL’s top-20 with 47 points in 42 games. If not for time missed because of an injury, Duchene (42 points in 37 points), would be up there with him.
In other words, it’s going to be expensive to keep them both in Ottawa.
Working in Ottawa’s favour is that Stone and Duchene seem to want to stay with the Senators, where the future seems brighter with defenceman Thomas Chabot producing at a point per game level, rookie forward Brady Tkachuk scoring at a 25-goal pace, and the cupboard suddenly full of NHL-quality prospects, such as Alex Formenton, Drake Batherson, Shane Bowers and Josh Norris.
The other factor in all of this is that there is a shortage of talented forwards heading to free agency. With Artemi Panarin, Wayne Simmonds, Jeff Skinner, Joe Pavelski, Anders Lee and Jordan Eberle potentially available on July 1, the money Stone and Duchene get in Ottawa might be better than anything they receive on the open market.