The Ottawa Senators hit the pivotal 20-game mark of the National Hockey League season on Thursday night.
After stumbling out of the gate, the Senators have righted the ship and are in the thick of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference as they begin a pivotal seven-game trip against the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center.
With the Senators in contention to make the post-season for the second straight year, the talk has already started surrounding what Steve Staios — the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager — needs to add before the NHL trade deadline on March 6.
As noted in this space, Staios has been looking to find another top-six winger since this past May. When the Senators weren’t able to make anything happen in free agency in July, the club opted to see if the answers could come from within and, 20 games into the year, this group has found ways to win.
The talk around the league is that Staios has been looking for help up front. The Senators went into Thursday night’s action ranked eighth in NHL scoring, but they could use another pure scorer who isn’t afraid to finish checks and win battles for loose pucks.
There also is a belief that an upgrade on the right side of the club’s defence wouldn’t hurt either.
They’ve been able to make do so with questionable goaltending from Linus Ullmark, who is inching towards getting his save percentage back to a respectable .900 mark.
After Staios signed third-line centre Shane Pinto to a four-year, $30-million US contract extension last week, many were left with the feeling that this group is now entering the window of opportunity to be a contender for a Stanley Cup in the next two or three years.
The club’s top three centres — Tim Stutzle, Dylan Cozens and Pinto — are now signed through the end of the 2029-30 campaign. Captain Brady Tkachuk has two years left after this season, along with defenceman Thomas Chabot.
Unless Staios can get deals done with both Tkachuk and Chabot, they’ll be in the same unrestricted free-agent class as Edmonton captain Connor McDavid and Toronto’s Auston Matthews on July 1, 2028.
Winger Drake Batherson, who is making $4.975 million this season, and blueliner Artem Zub both are scheduled to be unrestricted free agents after the 2026-27 campaign.
Yes, top defenceman Jake Sanderson, Stutzle, Cozens, and Pinto are going to be around for the long-term, but the Senators need to take the next step by not only getting into the playoffs, but it would be nice to win a round or two.
He already has made a lot of changes since taking over the full-time GM duties in Nov. 2023. He acquired Jordan Spence from Los Angeles through a trade last summer and signed centre Lars Eller as a UFA.
Winger Fabian Zetterlund was brought in at last year’s trade deadline from the San Jose Sharks, along with the blockbuster the club made with Buffalo by sending centre Josh Norris to the Sabres for Cozens.
Acquiring Ullmark from the Boston Bruins is the biggest deal Staios has made and the success of that one is still to be determined. Ullmark led this club to the playoffs down the stretch last spring and he needs to get back to that form immediately.
A league executive told Postmedia on Thursday that the trade market currently is “pretty quiet.”
The St. Louis Blues have struggled out of the gate and the belief is that Doug Armstrong, the club’s president of hockey operations and GM, is open for business.
The executive also said the Nashville Predators and Calgary Flames are both fielding calls to see what they might be able to fetch in return. If that’s the case, could a forward like Blake Coleman, who is making $4.9 million on a contract that expires in 2027, be a fit for the Senators?
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“His name is definitely out there,” the executive said of the 33-year-old Coleman, who has seven goals and eight points in 22 games this season with the Flames.
The concern for the Senators is whether they have the assets to make a big splash. The club has to surrender its first-round pick next spring as punishment for the botched Evgenii Dadonov deal with the Vegas Golden Knights and the top selection is usually sought after by the sellers.
The prospect cupboard isn’t overflowing, so the answer to adding to this group may mean subtracting from the current roster. The club’s chemistry is strong, which is something that Staios will have to weigh when he makes a final decision on what this roster needs.
The salary cap is on the rise and keeping this group together will be tough.
That’s why many believe that it’s time for Staios to make a bold move or two.