All was quiet at the Canadian Tire Centre.
The Ottawa Senators’ braintrust spent Friday huddled at an office in the bowels of the rink, but the National Hockey League’s trade deadline passed with all talk and no further action.
It wasn’t for a lack of trying.
Not only did Steve Staios, the Senators’ president of hockey operations and general manager, scour the market for a right-shot defenceman who could play in the top four, but he looked at every aspect of the roster and determined he couldn’t find the right fit.
Sitting four points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference after a 4-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night and with 21 games left in the regular season, the Senators are 7-1-2 in their last 10 games as they prepare to face the Seattle Kraken on Saturday in the fourth stop on a five-game road trip.
“We had plenty of conversations,” Staios said. “We took the approach with this deadline that it was an opportunity, like always, to try and make our team better. So we looked at just about everything.
“At the end of the day, we feel very good about our team, the direction that it’s moving, the way we’ve been playing more recently, particularly.”
Staios didn’t sit completely still.
The Senators acquired winger Warren Foegele from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for a second-round pick on Thursday night. The two teams also swapped conditional third-round selections.
Foegele, 29, has had a down season with only seven goals and two assists for nine points in 47 games with the Kings. He has posted 111 goals and 107 assists for 218 points in 560 career games.
He brings a speed element to the Senators and can also help on penalty kill. The Senators rank No. 30 out of 32 teams in the league at 72.9 per cent, and that’s an area they need to improve.
“There’s some variability with this player on where he can play in a line and what he can bring to a team, but overall we’re pleased with our group and the depth of our group,” Staios said of Foegele.
Senators centre Dylan Cozens spent some time with Foegele last summer in the Muskokas and believes he’ll be a good addition.
“He’s a great guy who can fly on the ice, and he can put the puck in the back of the net,” Cozens said. “It’s pretty exciting to add him to this team, and he’s going to help us in a lot of ways.”
The decision to add to the roster with the Senators sitting outside playoff position resonated in the dressing room. “To see that they believe in us, too, and want to help us make that push is big. It shows a lot of confidence in our group,” centre Dylan Cozens said.
The decision to add to the roster with the Senators sitting outside playoff position resonated in the dressing room.
“We’re not where we want to be in the standings this season, but we know that we’re definitely still in it,” Cozens said. “To see that they believe in us, too, and want to help us make that push is big. It shows a lot of confidence in our group.”
The Senators also dealt veteran winger David Perron to the Detroit Red Wings for a conditional fourth-round pick. He has been out for six weeks since having surgery for a sports hernia in January, and acquiring Foegele meant another forward have to move out.
“We touched on the speed with Warren Foegele,” Staios said. “He’s a big body who can skate, and he’s had back-to-back 20-goal seasons. We like the makeup of the player.
“David was a good player for us, brought a little bit of what we needed at the time with what David brings with his experience and competitiveness at a time when this group was continuing to grow.”
Perron sounded like he welcomed the move, too. Senators head coach Travis Green had moved the veteran up and down the lineup.
“It was a good time,” Perron said. “They have a great thing going here, and I’m not sure if the fit here was ever all that perfect for me. They provided me with a great chance to come and do my thing. I helped out when I could. I had a couple of injuries that derailed things.”
League executives told the Citizen that the Senators expressed interest or checked the asking price of virtually every right-shot defenceman who was available before the deadline.
The No. 1 target had been MacKenzie Weegar, who the Calgary Flames traded to the Utah Mammoth on Wednesday. He would have been a good fit because he’s an Ottawa native and is signed through 2031.
But Staios noted the club already had Nikolas Matinpalo, who has been a regular scratch many nights, anxious to get into the lineup.
“I know a lot’s been made of the right-shot defence,” Staios said. “You’ve asked me this before, but we do have an Olympian that’s not in the lineup right now. So, when you ask about depth and variability as well, with Matinpalo, when he is in the lineup, he can play on the left side.”
Related