{"id":500309,"date":"2026-03-12T23:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T23:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/500309\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T23:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T23:00:16","slug":"sens-regain-2026-first-round-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/500309\/","title":{"rendered":"Sens regain 2026 first-round pick"},"content":{"rendered":"

TSN\u2019s Hockey Insiders on Ottawa getting their first-rounder back, the Ducks and John Carlson<\/a>, the struggling Leafs, why Rasmus Andersson<\/a> hasn\u2019t extended yet and a UFA crop thinning with Nick Schmaltz<\/a>\u2019s signing.<\/p>\n

Senators regain first-round pick after NHL modifies penalty<\/p>\n

Duthie: Your two insiders today are Chris Johnston and Pierre LeBrun. <\/p>\n

Gentlemen, the 32nd overall pick in the draft usually goes to the Stanley Cup champion. Maybe that\u2019s a good omen for the Ottawa Senators<\/a> who get their first-round pick back, the one that was taken away by the NHL for their role in an invalidated trade four years ago. Huge relief in Ottawa, CJ?<\/p>\n

Johnston: Yeah, huge relief and really a huge victory for Michael Andlauer, the owner of the Senators. And you may recall when this punishment was levied by the NHL a couple of years ago, Andlauer was pretty outspoken about him not liking that they\u2019d been penalized in that way. Over time, he got a lot less publicly outspoken about it. <\/p>\n

I think really the fact he was able to deal with this behind the scenes led to the NHL coming around and seeing things his way, which is that A) he wasn\u2019t owning the team at the time that this happened, and B) it wasn\u2019t the current management staff in place when this all happened. <\/p>\n

And so as the NHL did 15 years ago with the New Jersey Devils<\/a>, they give Ottawa a pick. Yes, there\u2019s still a penalty, they have to pay a $1 million CAD fine. It\u2019s the 32nd pick rather than a higher one. But it\u2019s better, certainly, than getting nothing.<\/p>\n

Ducks hope John Carlson isn\u2019t a rental<\/p>\n

Duthie: Absolutely. One of the bigger deals in a quiet deadline was 36-year-old John Carlson<\/a> going from Washington to Anaheim. Technically, at the time, it goes into the rental category because he\u2019s a pending UFA. But the Ducks hoping to change that, Pierre?<\/p>\n

LeBrun: That\u2019s exactly right, James. They don\u2019t want to rush into it. I mean, they want to give John Carlson<\/a>, who was really crushed by being traded by the only team he\u2019s ever played for, some time to settle down in Anaheim and get the lay of the land. John Carlson<\/a>\u2019s family is slated to come out and join him soon. And so, they want to let the dust settle and let him get acclimatized to being an Anaheim Duck. <\/p>\n

But the plan is for Anaheim to approach him and his agent Rick Curran at some point here and start talking extension. They want him to be with them past this year. They\u2019ve got a young team. They value the fact that he\u2019s still a top-end defenceman. And so that\u2019s the plan, whether that\u2019s just before the playoffs, which are still five weeks away by the way which is nuts, or whether it\u2019s after the playoffs, they tend to have that call. I think a two-year extension makes a lot of sense. He\u2019s making $8 million right now. I don\u2019t see him taking a pay cut. We\u2019ll see where it goes.<\/p>\n

No changes expected in Toronto before end of season<\/p>\n

Duthie: Playoffs feel a really long way away for the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> right now. That long losing streak tosses them way out of the race. And it\u2019s the kind of a streak, CJ, that could get somebody fired, but not at this time, at least not yet?<\/p>\n

Johnston: No, at this point in time, from talking to people around the organization, the sense is, they want to get through this period. We\u2019ll call it no man\u2019s land. Bit of a death march, obviously, with the playoffs having faded from view for the Maple Leafs. <\/p>\n

But while all of the people outside were asking, what\u2019s going to happen with the management staff? What about Craig Berube<\/a> and the coaching staff? Will Auston Matthews<\/a> stick around? All these questions, I don\u2019t believe we\u2019ll get any clarity on whatsoever until after mid-April. The Leafs play their final regular-season game on Apr. 15. And so, yes, it leaves everyone in kind of a weird spot right now as they\u2019ve been losing a lot of games. And there\u2019s still a lot of games yet to be played, but that\u2019s just where they\u2019re at. I don\u2019t get the sense we\u2019re going to see any action taken before the last games played this season.<\/p>\n

Why hasn\u2019t Rasmus Andersson extended yet?<\/p>\n

Duthie: Pierre, you talked about that possible extension for Carlson and Anaheim. When Rasmus Andersson<\/a> was dealt from Calgary to Vegas, I think we all assumed there would be a quick extension there. Why hasn\u2019t that happened yet?<\/p>\n

LeBrun: Well, I\u2019ll give you certainly one reason, and that\u2019s the fact that even if they wanted to extend him right now, they couldn\u2019t just because of a CBA rule. We used to call this in the old days, the tagging rule, whether or not a team had tagging space for next year\u2019s payroll. They actually changed that terminology in the 2020 MoU in the CBA. Don\u2019t worry, James, I won\u2019t get into all that. <\/p>\n

But the bottom line is it\u2019s called projected cap space for next season now in the CBA. And Vegas only has $3.2 million in projected cap space for next year because they have to carry Alex Pietrangelo<\/a>\u2019s $8.8 million on it for next year. They\u2019ll have time to clean all that up under the cap, whether it\u2019s moving money after the season, or certainly waiting for off-season LTIR for Pietrangelo. Either way, they got lots of time to sign Andersson, but technically they can\u2019t do so right in the moment.<\/p>\n

Schmaltz signing further depletes razor thin UFA crop<\/p>\n

Duthie: You guys always make fun of me rightfully when I panic about no trade possibilities at trade deadline. <\/p>\n

Pierre, should I be panicking about July 1st in free agency right now with the crop that\u2019s out there?<\/p>\n

LeBrun: I almost made you that face, James, but I\u2019m not going to do it again. Enough people made fun of me last week, thanks to you. But yeah, you should be panicking. It\u2019s a very thin crop. And listen, if I were to tell you right now who the highest-scoring pending UFA is right now, would you guess it? It\u2019s Darren Raddysh<\/a>. And listen, great for Darren Raddysh<\/a>. He\u2019s having a career year. He has stuck with it. He\u2019s getting the best opportunity he\u2019s ever had in pro hockey with the Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a> this year in terms of role and usage and minutes. And he\u2019s having a spectacular year and the Lightning hope to keep him and eventually sign him. <\/p>\n

But Alex Tuch<\/a> is the biggest name left on what is otherwise a very thin crop after Nick Schmaltz<\/a> signed. And you know, the Sabres still want to sign Alex Tuch<\/a>. My understanding on this day is that they continue to work at that. They\u2019re just not there. But at least talks have not been shelved. That\u2019s the positive I got as an update on this day. You know, Tuch can certainly ask for double digits for an AV because Adrian Kempe<\/a> signed for $10.63 million a year, but Nick Schmaltz<\/a> signed for $8 million a year, the Sabres certainly can point to. So somewhere in between those two deals, perhaps an extension for Alex Tuch<\/a>, but it\u2019s not there yet.<\/p>\n

Duthie: Well, there\u2019s a decent chance Canada might be playing in soccer\u2019s World Cup on July 1st, so maybe we\u2019ll all be distracted by that. Thanks, guys.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TSN\u2019s Hockey Insiders on Ottawa getting their first-rounder back, the Ducks and John Carlson, the struggling Leafs, why…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5104],"tags":[34911,4759,5,58353,4,58873,72,25,33540,5157,32578,73,32467],"class_list":{"0":"post-500309","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ottawa-senators","8":"tag-alex-tuch-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8477949","9":"tag-apple-news","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-john-carlson-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8474590","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-nick-schmaltz-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8477951","14":"tag-ottawa","15":"tag-ottawa-senators","16":"tag-ottawa-senators-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-9","17":"tag-ottawasenators","18":"tag-rasmus-andersson-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8478397","19":"tag-senators","20":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-10"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116218694452018708","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}