The Ottawa Senators’ off-season will officially kick into high gear.
As the Florida Panthers’ second straight Stanley Cup celebration continued on Wednesday morning at the legendary Elbo Room in Fort Lauderdale, teams across the National Hockey League were gearing up for what will be a frantic couple of weeks between now and July 1.
After watching the Panthers make the league final for the third straight year, Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, has his work cut out for him if the Senators are going to be a Cup contender after making the playoffs for the first time in eight years this spring.
Dave Poulin, the club’s senior vice-president of hockey operations, told season-ticket holders at the second annual summit last week at the Canadian Tire Centre that this time of year, the Senators are trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together.
With the NHL draft set for June 27-28 and then free agency opening days later, the Senators have a lot of decisions to make in the coming days.
League sources say talks are continuing between the Senators and veteran unrestricted free agent winger Claude Giroux. Although there is speculation that the two sides are at a stalemate, they have held discussions every couple of days to see if they can bridge the gap between them.
We’re led to believe that the Senators would like to sign Giroux to a one-year extension and that was the length of their initial offer. This is a contract for an over-35-year-old player, which means it won’t offer any cap relief if Giroux’s game falls off.
Giroux made $6.5 million US last season.
Last month, Postmedia spoke with several league executives, who estimated at that time that Giroux’s next deal should have a base salary in the $3-million range plus achievable bonuses that could allow him to make between $4.5-to-$5 million.
Giroux’s top priority is to re-sign with the Senators, but with only 12 days to free agency, he could decide to test the market. His family has a good situation in Ottawa, but league executives say he might be willing to consider the Montreal Canadiens if they show interest on July 1.
The Senators have $15 million in cap space. Staios has held talks with UFA forwards Adam Gaudette, Nick Cousins and Matthew Highmore as well.
Gaudette had a great year with the Senators and would like to stay, but he may be able to get a longer term elsewhere.
The club has to sign winger Fabian Zetterlund, along with goaltender Leevi Merilainen, who is expected to be the backup. Both are restricted free agents and, in Merilainen’s case, he will be looking for a one-way deal.
Backup goalie Anton Forsberg is a UFA and, though there have been contract talks, he’s expected to test the market.
Zetterlund has the right to file for arbitration, so he’ll be in for a healthy raise. His qualifying offer will be $1.5 million. He had only two goals and five points after being acquired from the San Jose Sharks at the NHL trade deadline, but may have an expanded role next season.
The Senators are looking for more five-on-five scoring in the trade market and free agency, but nobody should rule out the possibility of Zetterlund starting in the top six. He scored 17 goals and posted 36 points in 64 games.
Zetterlund is represented by former NHL forward Claude Lemieux and there were reports out of San Jose after he was dealt to Ottawa that the initial ask on a new deal was $5 million. Zetterlund has a good arbitration case and those are based only on numbers.
The NHL’s buyout window opens 48 hours after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup final. That means teams can begin placing players on unconditional waivers for a buyout beginning on Friday at noon. The last day to make that move is on June 30.
Staios has at least one buyout option he might want to consider.
The organization needs to determine what it wants to do with oft-injured Belleville goalie Mads Sogaard. He’s on a one-way contract at $775,000 and is a candidate for a buyout at one-third of his salary.
According to PuckPedia’s buyout calculator, the Senators could move on from the 24-year-old for a total of $258,333 over two years. That would leave a cap hit of $129,167 on the books through the next two seasons, but he wouldn’t be making an NHL salary in the minors.
League executives say the Senators have also been looking for a right-shot defenceman because there is little chance that Nick Jensen will be ready to start the season after having hip surgery in May. The club did sign blueliner Lassi Thomson for depth on Sunday.