Ottawa Citizen

Sens’ off-season work has begun

Free agents must be signed while club hunts for a top-six forward

- WAYNE SCANLAN wscanlan@ottawaciti­zen.com Twitter: @hockeyscan­ner

What may turn out to be the Senators’ busiest off-season has already begun.

The Senators have reached out to each of their pending unrestrict­ed and restricted free agents to get a sense of where contract negotiatio­ns may go.

Getting these deals done will be no small order. The Senators have five RFAs, all forwards — Mark Stone, Mika Zibanejad, Mike Hoffman, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Alex Chiasson — and two pending UFAs, forward Erik Condra and goaltender Andrew Hammond, the redoubtabl­e ‘Hamburglar.’

Along with their in-house work, Senators general manager Bryan Murray has said he would be trying to acquire a top-six forward via trade or free agency, as well as moving a veteran or two who may be looking for more playing time elsewhere.

In the case of their pending contracts, negotiatio­ns are in the preliminar­y stages. With Hammond, for example, the Senators and Hammond’s agent (Dan Plante, Forward Hockey, Minnesota) are working on comparable­s.

Good luck with that. All they have to do is find another goaltender who was having a mediocre year in the AHL before jumping to the NHL in an emergency and setting NHL records with a 20-1-2 mark, three shutouts, a 1.79 goals-against average and .941 save percentage. Said comparable goalie does not exist.

When Hammond was putting the Senators on his back during a stretch drive to a playoff position, he was most often compared to Steve Penney, who recorded 26 wins with the 1984-85 Montreal Canadiens. But Penney’s save percentage of .876 and goals-against of 3.08 pale in comparison to Hammond’s numbers, even after you factor in the difference in scoring between that era and today’s tighter defensive play.

If the Senators are able to sign Hammond before he tests the free agent market on July 1, Murray had said at his year-end press conference that he would move one of his two regular goaltender­s, Craig Anderson or Robin Lehner. Since Anderson finished the season on a high note, with a strong playoff performanc­e against the Montreal Canadiens, the expectatio­n is that Lehner would be dealt, once he has recovered from a concussion that kept him out of action after Feb. 16. First, the Senators need Lehner to get healthy again, and then there must be a deal with Hammond.

Adding spice to an already interestin­g goaltendin­g situation, the Senators remain in the running for Boston University goalie prospect Matt O’Connor, who could make his decision as early as this week.

It’s expected the Senators will sign all of their RFAs.

Condra, who played well alongside Pageau and rookie Curtis Lazar down the stretch, may have to move on as an unrestrict­ed free agent because the club is squeezed by the pending new deals. Stone, in particular, can command a big raise after establishi­ng himself as one of the team’s best forwards, if not the best, in the second half of the season.

Zibanejad establishe­d himself as the team’s second line centre and Hoffman’s negotiatio­ns will be interestin­g because the club’s leading goal scorer is the lone RFA with arbitratio­n rights.

Pageau, a Gatineau native, said at the end of the season it was his dream to secure a one-way deal with the Senators, ending the turmoil associated with running back and forth between the AHL and NHL. Pageau started this past season with the Binghamton Senators but finished in Ottawa as one of the club’s valued forwards.

“He was one of our better players down the stretch, there was no question.” Murray said, who went on to praise Pageau for his “great character” and heart.

“He’s one of the kids we’re talking about — being a real good person, a character guy that is going to be here, we hope, for a very long time.”

Pageau couldn’t agree more. His agent, Paul Corbeil, said on Wednesday that while there have been no recent talks, he is confident Pageau’s future contract with Ottawa “will reflect the Senators appreciati­on of him.”

As with all of the Senators on the “to-do” list, patience is key. There is a lot to get done, but there is also plenty of time before the freeagency period and the NHL entry draft on the last weekend of June.

 ?? JULIE OLIVER / OTTAWA CITIZEN FILES ?? Goaltender Andrew Hammond is a pending unrestrict­ed free agent.
JULIE OLIVER / OTTAWA CITIZEN FILES Goaltender Andrew Hammond is a pending unrestrict­ed free agent.

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