After yet another year where their great amount of star options didn’t yield success for them as they finished 37-41-4 and wound up 14th in the Eastern Conference as their various on-ice issues were their undoing and matters off the ice only made the situation worse, the Ottawa Senators headed into an offseason where there was a lot hanging in the balance. This was fairly new (having been given the job in addition to his role as president of hockey ops, initially on an interim basis upon the termination of Pierre Dorion on November 1st in the wake of the punishment for the Evgenii Dadonov trade situation before eventually having the interim tag removed) GM Steve Staios’ first summer steering the ship with transactions and he had much to accomplish and confront. The team’s roster construction was suspect, as was their cap situation. How has he confronted the quandary provided to him by his predecessor, as well as years of poor proprietorship by former owners the Melynyk family? I would actually say a lot better than you’d expect, given the circumstances. Let’s break it down:

Ottawa had to confront their coaching situation alongside any roster matters, with D.J. Smith having been terminated due to poor performance in December. Their attempted resolution is Travis Green, who spent four full seasons and part of one with the Vancouver Canucks and is just coming off an interim stint as Lindy Ruff’s replacement in New Jersey. All told, he has compiled a record of 141-159-31 in his career, with just one playoff appearance that yielded a second round exit to the Vegas Golden Knights in the COVID affected 2019–20 season. These underwhelming results (wherein he has just one playoff berth to his name, in a year where the regular season was truncated and the format was drastically altered) are not incidental, they are specifically a product of Green’s limitations coaching creativity. I can point towards a specific example I cited in something of a tract on this topic I crafted after the Devils brought him on last season [ergo, stats as of March 5th, 2024]: “Elias Pettersson played under Green for the first 191 games of his career. His point totals in those 191 amounted to 166. A 0.86 PPG is great, mind you – Above star production levels for an NHLer. However, consider his 0.50 PPG in the 26 games under Green (save for the last of that bunch, which was under Bruce Boudreau) at the start of the 2021-22 season as Green’s usefulness to that franchise because to wind down. Hat is very underwhelming for a player of his caliber. That production level jumped to 55 points in 54 games the rest of the way under Boudreau. All accounted for, in a combined 197 GP under Boudreau and Rick Tocchet, Pettersson has 232 points to his name. That’s a 1.17 PPG, all told. Green serves to stifle player creativity, not cultivate it, which is a detriment to a team with great young talents. Any further progress will be made with the permanent coaching hire, and even then, that transition won’t be phenomenal.” The same very much applies here, which is disappointing considering the skill and dynamism in the Ottawa forward group. This does not set the tone very well; but thankfully, the roster moves are better, for the most part.

The biggest trade of the offseason for the Sens was acquiring G Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins in exchange for G Joonas Korpisalo (25% retained), C Mark Kastelic, and a 2024 first round pick which had originally belonged to Boston to begin with (used on Dean Letourneau – Read my thoughts on that pick here). I can’t emphasize how much of an improvement this is at the position for the Senators. Both Korpisalo and Anton Forsberg were among the bottom dwellers in GSAE last year, whereas Ullmark is fifth in the league over the last five seasons and has a Vezina Trophy to his name. Even with $1M retained, it also was worth it for them to get Korpisalo’s contract mostly out the door, and the upgrade at the position is apparent and very much worth a low first rounder and a fourth line grinder to go alongside a netminder who had put in a very disappointing season.

Next, there is the trade that sent D Jakob Chychrun from Canada’s capital city to that of the United States, with the Sens receiving D Nick Jensen and a third-round pick in 2026 from Washington in return. Despite great offensive productivity last season, Chychrun was suffering from odd-man out syndrome, with two strong left side D’s on the roster in Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot being emphasized over him. This was a necessary move to pull in a solid RHD and clear out the log jam. As Clutchpoints notes, Jensen is a very dependable top four D in the now and can probably do a lot for their blue line core alongside either Sanderson or Chabot. However, you kind of have to lament the return considering Jensen’s age and cap hit. It was a necessary evil and has some strong payoff in the immediate future, but the longterm implications are not great. It’s something of a mixed bag here for Staios and the Sens. On a note pertaining to that situation but from an angle of free agency departures, D Erik Brannstrom endured a somewhat similar fate, being allowed to hit the market and sign with Colorado. Despite his promise in his dev years both before and after his selection at 15th overall by VGK in 2017, Brannstrom suffered from an inability to find sustained success or even receive favorable deployments. He just wasn’t going to stick on that roster, so it just simply had to be this way. For one last trade of note, the Sens set out RW Mathieu Joseph and a 2025 3rd round pick in exchange for future considerations. Joseph’s strong depth production (35 points in 72 games) last season and versatility in deployment makes it disappointing that he could not return anything for the Sens but cash. I can’t chalk this one up as anything other than an L, but this is the reality of their cap situation.

Signing forwards David Perron and Michael Amadio was an excellent call to shore up the depth side of the forward group. As noted by Colin Gallant of Clutchpoints, Perron demonstrated last year in Detroit that, even on the “wrong” side of his mid-30’s, he still has gas in the tank via his respectable offensive totals (17g+30a) and is coming in with veteran poise and a taste of Stanley Cup glory. Amadio is a solid defensive forward with some offensive upside for the bottom six and has also won a Stanley Cup. These players are definitely solid glue guys who may help the competitive energy in the dressing room. F Nick Cousins was also added on a one-year deal worth $800k to add some grit, teeth, and well… zest to the bottom-six. G Mads Sogaard was also kept in the org on a two-year deal at the league minimum. With his strong performance in the AHL and him far along in his dev path, I won’t be surprised if he threatens to usurp the struggling Forsberg as Ullmark’s backup/tandem partner as early as this season. D Noah Gregor was signed to a one-year deal worth $850k. His year after being picked up by the Leafs initially upon a PTO didn’t go quite as hoped, hence his lack of a tendering of a QO, but perhaps a change of scenery will benefit him if not necessarily bring him back to his peak San Jose form. D Carter Yakemchuk was also notably signed to his ELC after being taken in the first round, but more on him very momentarily.

Ottawa elected to go in on size with the 2024 class, not drafting a player shorter than 6’2″. That said, there was some skill with their first round selection of D Carter Yakemchuk (CHL: WHL – Calgary Hitmen) at 7th overall. However, I also stand by my original assessment: As much talent and grit as he brings with results to show for it, his lack of mobility and defensive positioning are going to be things to work on, at minimum. D Gabriel Eliasson (J20 Nationell – HV71) was their only other pick in the top 100; as Chris Peters notes, his hockey IQ isn’t quite what you want it to be at large, but his skating prowess for someone his size is something to marvel at. Overall, with this not being a great class in terms of depth in the skill area, I can understand Ottawa’s approach here, despite possible reaches, blindspots, and omissions.

Overall, Steve Staios and the brain trust faltered at times, but did well with what they had to work with. In fact, I think this team is more equipped to be competitive and are just generally better constructed than they have been in years since their postseason drought that began after their ultimately just falling short of a dream run in 2017. Their draft was also one that made sense in the context of what the class was like. The one situation I am monitoring is 2020 3rd overall selection C Tim Stützle’s agent change so early into his deal. It might not mean anything of significance to the org and I won’t speculate upon whether or not it does, nor pretend to be plugged in, but I wonder if it will force the organization into any sort of action in the near future and if they were any sort of factor. I can’t weigh hypotheticals in, though, so I will give Steve Staios and Ottawa a B+ for this summer.