{"id":83152,"date":"2025-06-20T12:48:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T12:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/83152\/"},"modified":"2025-06-20T12:48:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T12:48:10","slug":"ottawa-senators-continue-to-take-care-of-off-season-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/83152\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa Senators Continue to Take Care of Off-Season Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

With all the chatter and rumours surrounding the Ottawa Senators<\/a> off-season targets, one thing is for sure. Between the likes of Drake Batherson<\/a>, Claude Giroux<\/a>, Jason Robertson<\/a>, and more recently, and more pixie-dust like, Mitch Marner<\/a>, there\u2019s a common underlying theme, the Sens are trying to target a increase in top-six, point production. Now that they\u2019ve re-signed Fabian Zetterlund<\/a>, fewer available spots to fill remain. As a matter of fact, it seems only Giroux\u2019s spot remains open in the top nine.<\/p>\n

Claude Giroux<\/a> Rumours Heat Up Once Again for the Ottawa Senators<\/p>\n

One specific rumour-type update worth providing is on Giroux<\/a>. It seems the two sides remain far apart. Moreover, it doesn\u2019t appear to be the dollar amount. You can\u2019t think it would be much more than $1M or so, per year, either way. It\u2019s possible the disconnect is on term. It would make sense Giroux would consider a contract to retire on, more like in the three-year variety. In contrast, the Sens would want a one-year deal, just to figure things out next summer. You know, based on their needs at that time.<\/p>\n

Addressing the Ottawa Senators Top-Nine Forward Group Early Offseason Rumours<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

For the Sens right now, the internal discussion begins with Giroux, Batherson, and also others, Shane Pinto<\/a> and Fabian Zetterlund<\/a>. Regardless of which players are currently set to go to free agency, the Sens management needs to make a plan and execute. As a note, it is currently only Giroux of those names without a contract for 2025-26 with yesterday\u2019s Zetterlund signing.<\/p>\n

We will start by mentioning Pinto, as his name kind of stands out from the rest. He hasn\u2019t been the source of recent rumours being the main reason he stands out. He is also carrying an underrated contract. In contrast, he role with the club is very versatile. He\u2019s strong in the face-off dot, something the ideal number one club centre, Tim Stutzle<\/a>, would be considered to have as a weakness. Therefore, even though Pinto typically locks in as the 3C, he can play anywhere within the top-nine. His goal-scoring abilities, strength on the puck, and shot make him an asset in an offensively relied-upon scenario. Furthermore, he would have the potential to support Stutzle on the draw. It seems that the conclusion we are landing on for Pinto\u2019s role in the top nine<\/a>, is a super utility stud. In other words, build the rest of the first three lines and special teams how you want, and insert Pinto as high in those combinations as possible.<\/p>\n

Defining Many of the Sens Roles Amidst Ottawa Senators Rumours<\/p>\n

Many of the other names in the current top-nine forward group have somewhat predetermined roles. To give them a spot, which also has the added benefit of removing them from, for the most part, baseless rumours, assign Batherson and Giroux a slot. Yes, we did here the Montreal Canadiens pop up as a possible destination for Giroux in the last day or two. However, we really like the veteran-presence need he fills for the Sens. Especially when you consider yourself a team set to return to the postseason in 2025-26.<\/p>\n

Further on down the line, we like the Dylan Cozens<\/a> and Batherson chemistry from last year and think it\u2019s a keeper. Moreover, we like the train-of-thought of a Giroux and Ridly Greig<\/a>, third-line connection. This level of offensive dependency seems to be about where Giroux is at this point of his career. You might end up being pleasantly surprised by the potential increase in Greig\u2019s offensive stat-line come year-end. For completeness, and the fact they have two suitable face-off guys, in Greig and Giroux already, throw Michael Amadio<\/a> with them. Plus Amadio and Greig have nice synchronicity from their 2024-25 line that included Pinto.<\/p>\n

Finding Roles for the Snipers<\/p>\n

At this point, we\u2019ve created the third line and two-thirds of the second line. That means the big names are left with just four spots. Brady Tkachuk<\/a> joins Stutzle and Pinto for three-out-of-those-four slots. The trick is to add offence, by either a noticeable upgrade, or simply natural boosts or chemistry. You already have up to five of them that can take faceoffs, so that\u2019s not even a huge consideration. As a group, there is a couple possible traits that you want to identify. You have a couple playmakers, with Giroux and Stutzle, but you could possibly use another. The one attribute that is a necessity, is offensive efficiency and shooting percentage. They need to have the ability play a top-six role and provide offence from the second power play unit.<\/p>\n

With Zetterlund now signed, it seems that he will get his shot within the top nine. He has 85 points combined in 166 games over the past two seasons. That\u2019s not all that bad. If he can find his offensive rhythm, which he didn\u2019t officially do after coming over from San Jose, there\u2019s no reason he can\u2019t be an asset for years to come in Ottawa.<\/p>\n

However, what if the Sens management still targets a major upgrade. So, let\u2019s explore a top available candidate, say one for free agency and one for trade. One difficulty to keep in the back of your mind, is the Sens aren\u2019t throwing dollah bills like Will Smith<\/a> when he first arrived in Bel Air.<\/p>\n

The Upgrades Are So Hard to Come By<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why recent Ottawa Senators rumours, despite seeming hard to imagine, were very logic based. This really is why JJ Peterka<\/a> is so attractive. He really does check all the proverbial boxes<\/a>. To that point, he is an efficient offensive player, definitely a top-six guy, and his 2024-25 assist total shows glimpses of playmaking abilities. Same goes for Jason Robertson<\/a>. Those guys are hard to find. But hey, that must be a good thing. It is a sign you have a well-designed team, if the player that helps put you over the top is hard to find. If we are throwing out trade bait guys, maybe Jordan Kyrou<\/a> checks all the right boxes while we are at it.<\/p>\n

The problem when you are trying to find such a specific, not to mention skilled, player, is that they are few and far between. Plus, teams tend to not to want to give them up. The Sens do have some options as trade bait. Unfortunately, it seems like if they go that route, it relies on giving up one of their currently important pieces. At this point and based on available cap space, Sens are currently sitting around $10.75M, they will have to be wise with their money.<\/p>\n

Keeping up with rumours from Bruce Garrioch, things are looking up in Ottawa for the Senators. The arena situation looks promising. It seems that the Sens and the National Capital Commission still have plans to execute on a new arena. Furthermore, it will be one in the LeBreton Flats region. Moreover, Garrioch also touched on previous rumours of adding a big name, right-shot defenceman<\/a>. If the forward group is status quo, maybe the upgrade will come on the backend. In any case, we are preparing for a fantastic summer. The 2025 NHL Entry Draft<\/a> is just days away, and the Sens scouting staff is busily putting the final touches on prep for that tall task. So stay tuned, as we bring you all the live action right here from Last Word On Hockey.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With all the chatter and rumours surrounding the Ottawa Senators off-season targets, one thing is for sure. Between…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5104],"tags":[1325,7010,5,4,72,25,5539,5157,73],"class_list":{"0":"post-83152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ottawa-senators","8":"tag-claude-giroux","9":"tag-fabian-zetterlund","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-ottawa","13":"tag-ottawa-senators","14":"tag-ottawa-senators-rumours","15":"tag-ottawasenators","16":"tag-senators"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/114715774387793531","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83152","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=83152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}