The Ottawa Senators can’t be accused of racking up a lot of goals. Senators’ president of hockey operations and general manager (GM) Steve Staios needs to find players in the free agency market opening on July 1 who can score more of them.
Related: Top 30 2025 NHL Unrestricted Free Agents
So just how bad is the Senators’ goal scoring quandary and what pending unrestricted free agents (UFA) should Staios be targeting to solve the problem?
Senators’ Scoring Troubles
This season, the Senators ranked 18th in the league as measured by goals scored. Their 243 goals put them ahead of only the Detroit Red Wings and the Boston Bruins in the Atlantic Division. It’s true that the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers averaged 3.1 goals per game this season – just slightly ahead of the Senators. Yet nobody is making a serious argument that the Senators are the equal of the Panthers now battling the Edmonton Oilers in pursuit of their second consecutive Stanley Cup. The Panthers pack a punch that’s much more than just offence.
Many Ottawa pundits speak glowingly of the Senators’ young talent and the dangerous offensive threat they pose to any opponent they face. Yet this just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Nobody skating in a Senators’ sweater this season cracked the league’s list of top 20 goal scorers. Captain Brady Tkachuk led the Senators in goals scored at 29, but that’s only good enough for 50th in the NHL. As for overall points, Tim Stutzle’s 79 topped the team, but only earned him the rank of 34th in the league overall.
The Senators’ weakness on offence was on full display in their first round series this spring against the Toronto Maple Leafs. In the first three games of that series, they managed just two goals per game. While they finished the series averaging 2.6 goals per game, that was significantly below their season average. Up against Toronto’s solid goaltending and better defence, the Senators’ firepower was found wanting.
Simply put, if the Senators want to take the next step toward a Stanley Cup, they need more goals. The easiest way to do that is to add a top-six skater. Sure, some will argue the team needs a right-shot blueliner or a backup for starting goalie Linus Ullmark. I say the Senators’ blue line is good enough with a respectable third pairing emerging in Tyler Kleven and Nikolas Mantinpalo. So too is the Senators’ goaltending with Leevi Merilainen having demonstrated last season he can backstop Ullmark reliably.
Senators Face Challenges in Free Agent Market
Everybody has an opinion about which UFAs Staios needs to bring to Ottawa this summer. Offering up opinions and clever insights about who to go out and get is the easy part – it’s the stuff of fantasy hockey. In the real world, though, every NHL GM faces constraints on what they can actually do. Staios probably faces more than most.
The first constraint is available cap space. It’s true that the Senators now have $15 million with which to work. Yet a good chunk of that will disappear quickly if the club signs UFAs Claude Giroux and netminder Anton Forsberg to extensions. Restricted free agent (RFA) Fabian Zetterlund (who Staios considers part of his team’s core) also needs a new contract. The Senators will probably also want to lock down Shane Pinto who becomes an RFA at the end of next season. They’ll also need to round out their bottom-six and add a spare defenceman to bring their roster up to a full 23-player squad.
The second constraint is Ottawa itself. It’s no secret that the city isn’t a popular destination for many top NHLers and is featured on many a no-trade list in league contracts. Just because a player becomes a UFA doesn’t mean “Dullsville on the Rideau” becomes any more attractive. Still, if Staios is able to sell his team as an up-and-coming Stanley Cup contender he may be able to convince a top-tier UFA to sign on.
All fans dream of adding a star to their team’s roster once free agency opens. Ottawa is full of dreamers, but one hallucination they need to get over quickly is signing the Maple Leafs’ pending UFA Mitch Marner. Though an intriguing potential addition to the team, the 28-year-old’s asking price is rumoured to be north of $13.5 million per year. For Ottawa, that would probably mean moving a few core players to make cap space available. He’s just not worth that price.
So, who then should Staios be targeting? Here are three suggestions.
Sam Bennett – Florida Panthers
At this point, the gritty Panthers forward is expected to be up for grabs on July 1. He’s a veteran of 11 NHL campaigns and a Stanley Cup winner with Florida last season. Not only that, but he’s affordable, earning $4.425 million this season. Even so, there’s no guarantee he won’t fetch more should a bidding war for his services erupt this summer.
As I’ve argued in a previous piece, the Senators have a window on a Stanley Cup over the next three seasons, and Bennett could play a big part in achieving that goal. Perhaps his Panthers teammate Carter Verhaeghe put it best, explaining, “he’s everything you want in a player. When it’s the most important time for your team, when you’re chasing a championship, that’s when you want to be at your best and be able to perform at your best. He’s one of those guys.”
Sam Bennett, Florida Panthers (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)
Bennett has earned this high praise in the postseason this year, scoring 10 goals in his 17 games so far. With 16 points, he’s second among all Panthers this postseason. He also has a mean streak in his game, and with 85 hits so far this season ranks second in the league.
While Bennett would be another centreman in a Senators roster that arguably has too many of them, he is versatile and has proven himself on the wing. Over the last four seasons with the Panthers, he has delivered 40 to 50 points per season and is as close to the ideal two-way player as they come.
Pius Suter – Vancouver Canucks
Skating with the Vancouver Canucks this season, the pending UFA centreman/winger recorded a career high 25 goals and 21 assists. What makes him interesting is that, for now, he’s underpaid with a salary this season of just $1.6 million.
He’s known for being excellent defensively, and that would fit with the Senators’ style of play, emphasizing as it does a balance between offence and defence. Not only that, but he’s proven on the penalty kill and would bring some much-needed additional speed to the roster.
Pius Suter, Vancouver Canucks (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)
Whether Staios can snag the 28-year-old Swiss will depend in part on how badly the Canucks feel they need him. In January, they sent forward J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers, and as part of that package, Filip Chytil was sent back the other way. There are questions concerning the longevity of the concussion-prone Chytil making Suter more valuable than he’s ever been to the Canucks.
In a league short of good centres, Suter may decide to test the free agency market to see how much he’d fetch. If that’s the case, Staios may need to budget a sum well north of $1.6 million to secure his services next season.
Nikolaj Ehlers – Winnipeg Jets
The Jets let this season run out without re-signing the 29-year-old Ehlers. Could this be the end of the road for the winger who Winnipeg fans have known as “the Great Dane” over the 10 years he has skated in a Jets sweater?
In 69 regular season games this season, Ehlers notched 25 goals and 38 assists. Had he not been injured for part of this season, it’s all but certain he would have surpassed his NHL average of 63 points per season. Ehlers went on to record a career-high five goals in eight playoff games this postseason.
Nikolaj Ehlers, Winnipeg Jets (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)
The fact that Ehlers and the Jets have come this far without either expressing interest in renewing a contract suggests neither side is interested in extending their relationship. Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff is probably looking for cap space to handle several big contract extensions this year and next. For his part, Ehlers may want to see what his services are worth on the open market.
He’s sure to attract offers beyond the $6 million he earned in Winnipeg this season in a free agency market short of sure-bet 25-goal scorers. The Senators need those goals, and if Staios needs to give Ehlers a raise to get them, he should.
Senators Must Prioritize Offence in 2025 Free Agent Market
In the last few seasons, Senators fans have complained about their team’s poor goaltending and the holes in its D-corps. While many say both could and should be improved this summer in free agency, Staios can’t do everything. He needs to focus on his team’s biggest need, and that’s more offensive firepower. Ehlers, Suter and Bennett could surely bring more of it.
