SENATORS AWAIT DECISION FROM STONE
Ottawa believed to have tabled serious offer to pending unrestricted free agent
The clock is ticking on Mark Stone and the Ottawa Senators.
It’s less than a week to the Feb. 25 NHL trade deadline and the Senators are hopeful they’ll find out in the next 48 hours whether the alternate captain wants to be part of the solution or moved to a Stanley Cup contender.
While the indications are centre Matt Duchene is ready to move on, the Senators tabled a new offer to Stone last week and general manager Pierre Dorion is awaiting a response from his representatives at Newport Sports.
The offer is believed to be serious and comprehensive. That’s why Stone’s camp asked for time to think about it.
If Stone decides to stay, he’ll likely be the club’s next captain and will be the centrepiece in this rebuild. The Senators hope they can have the right pieces in place to be competitive by the 2021-22 campaign and if their best player decides he wants to be here, that’s only going to help matters.
If he doesn’t, then Dorion will add Stone’s name to the list of players he’ll be trying to move for future assets.
One player who is expected to be moved is Duchene. Brought here from the Colorado Avalanche in a massive three-way deal in November 2017 that sent Kyle Turris to Nashville, Duchene isn’t ready to sign an eight-year deal worth in excess of $65 million with the Senators.
The fact he’s on the market became public over the weekend, but a league executive told the Citizen Sunday the Senators started quietly shopping Duchene midway through last week. It’s believed five teams initially showed interest, but that number has grown.
While the Winnipeg Jets have Stone as their top target if he goes to market, they would also be on a list of teams after Duchene. The Columbus Blue Jackets and Nashville Predators have both shown interest in Duchene, too.
Nobody knows exactly what the asking price is for Stone or Duchene, but you’d have to think the club would want a firstround pick, a high-end prospect and another piece in return for each.
The club also has to decide what do with winger Ryan Dzingel. The Senators have held talks with his agents from Newport as well, but it’s not known if any offer has been extended to Dzingel. The asking price for Dzingel on the trade market is a firstround pick.
Dorion joined the team Monday after spending the weekend in Winnipeg watching the Jets and their American Hockey League farm team. He and assistant GM Peter MacTavish also watched the Predators’ farm team
Dorion was spotted by a Winnipeg reporter sitting with Jets executive Mark Chipman and Kevin Cheveldayoff Sunday. That’s because Winnipeg has varying degrees of interest in all three players, but not as a package. Dzingel wouldn’t be high on their list.
All three were in the lineup against the Hawks, but you have to wonder at what point do the Senators start protecting their assets and sitting any of the pending unrestricted free agents who haven’t signed?