Sunday NHL Rumor Roundup – March 31, 2024
Check out the latest on the Senators and Red Wings in the Sunday NHL Rumor Roundup.
WHAT COULD THE OFFSEASON HOLD FOR THE SENATORS?
OTTAWA SUN: Bruce Garrioch recently compared the Senators and the Buffalo Sabres, who are poised to miss the playoffs for the 13th consecutive season. He noted the Sabres have gone through three general managers and eight head coaches.
The Senators are also reaching a crossroads as they’ll miss the postseason for the seventh straight season. They must avoid the Sabres blueprint if they hope to build around their young core.
Changes must be made. The Senators can’t just bring back the same roster next season and hope everyone improves.
The core of Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Drake Batherson, Shane Pinto, Josh Norris, Thomas Chabot, Ridly Greig and Jake Sanderson will be expected to improve. However, Senators GM Steve Staios must put the right group around them and improve the goaltending. Staios would also like to acquire additional leadership to support team captain Tkachuk.
THE SCORE: Josh Wegman has some suggestions for how the Senators can get over the hump.
Ottawa Senators defenseman Jakob Chychrun (NHL Images).
First is hiring an experienced head coach such as Claude Julien, Craig Berube, Dean Evason, Gerard Gallant or John Stevens. Wegman also suggests making a major trade, entertaining offers for Chabot, Norris, Batherson, Jakob Chychrun and Claude Giroux, among others. Staios should prioritize acquiring a right-shot shutdown defenseman to balance the Senators’ blueline.
Wegman also thinks Staios should target strong defensive players via free agency. Options could include the Dallas Stars’ Chris Tanev, the Los Angeles Kings’ Matt Roy, the Edmonton Oilers’ Vincent Desharnais, the Carolina Hurricanes’ Jalen Chatfield, the Vancouver Canucks’ Nikita Zadorov or Ian Cole, or bringing back Dylan DeMelo from the Winnipeg Jets.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Staios has a lot of work to do here. Hiring a new head coach could be the easiest of his offseason tasks. He’ll have plenty of experienced NHL bench bosses to choose from if he goes that route.
It won’t be easy improving the goaltending. They’re stuck with Joonas Korpisalo, who has four years at $4 million annually left on his contract. They could try to replace backup Anton Forsberg, though his $2.75 million cap hit for next season could be difficult to move.
The Senators have a projected cap space of $11.8 million with 16 roster players under contract for 2024-25. A new contract for Pinto could eat up between $4 million and $5 million. Staios must find a way to free up some cap room to bring in that much-needed defensive help.
One or two notable players will have to be moved. Chychrun could be shipped out to make room for that right-shot shutdown rearguard. Norris’ injury history means his trade value is low right now. Giroux has a full no-movement clause but maybe he’d waive it for one last shot with a contender.
WHAT DO THE RED WINGS NEED NEXT SEASON?
THE ATHLETIC: Max Bultman recently looked at the Red Wings as they struggle to remain in the playoff chase and how it could affect their future.
Bultman noted the Red Wings have plenty of players who can score but they’ve struggled when they need goals that don’t come on the rush or with lots of space in the offensive zone. Their forward corps also must improve defensively.
The Wings need above-average goaltending, something they haven’t consistently received this season. They must also upgrade their defense corps.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Wings are sitting two points out of the final Eastern Conference wildcard berth.
They held the first wildcard a month ago and seemed poised to secure their first playoff berth since 2016. However, they stumbled through March with just three wins in 14 games. They’re still in the chase because the Philadelphia Flyers, New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils are also struggling as the regular season winds down.
Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman made no significant additions at the March trade deadline. If his club fails to clinch a playoff berth, he can’t just sit on his hands in the offseason and hope this same group will get better next season. He must address the issues raised by Bultman to avoid another disappointing outcome.
The Wings have a projected cap space of $27.9 million for 2024-25 with 14 active roster players under contract. Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond are completing their entry-level contracts and will seek substantial raises. Veterans Patrick Kane, David Perron, Shayne Gostisbehere, James Reimer and Daniel Sprong are among their pending unrestricted free agents.
Seider and Raymond will be re-signed but it’ll be interesting to see if they get long-term deals or bridge contracts. Most of those UFA could be cut loose as Yzerman seeks to improve his roster for next season.
Preseason polls had the Sabres,Senators,and Red Wings to make the playoffs! Management made poor decisions like theSenators locking up their young talented players for a long time.Problem is they over valued many of them and makes some of them untradeable! Buffalo went with young,inexperienced goaltending and it has shown in their record! How could they have let Rhinehart go and not have enough money to sign Middlestadt?And Stevie Y is waiting for a team that can compete for the cup and not just make the playoffs! He might have a long wait! Meanwhile Boston continues to hang around because of the most important position in hockey, goaltending!
What polls? If I recall correctly, most prognosticators had Detroit battling Montreal for worst in Eastern Conference, with Ottawa and Buffalo fighting for the last spot.
Really?
What polls do you follow?
I (retired) read 10 hockey blogs/sites daily and every one of them had Detroit, Buffalo and Ottawa competing for a wild card spot!
The decision to sign young talented players to long term contracts is one of the consequences of a hard (and virtually unchanging) salary cap. Teams around the league make the same bet on young players and they often come to regret it.
Ottawa is not unique and we don’t know yet if they made the wrong choices.
The cry has been pretty consistent in these pages throughout this past disappointing season for the Senators that one of their primary needs in the off-season is to shore up the goaltending by somehow dumping Korpisalo at least – and I have been among those taking that position.
But lately I have to say I have started to take another view as his “game” has begun to take on the consistently good performances that led to GAA of 2.60, 2.88 and 2.95 and save % of 0.920, 0.905, 0.911 in the better years of his stint with Columbus and 2.13 and 0.921 in his brief stop in L.A. before coming to Ottawa. At $4 mil off the cap for 4 more years, and turning just 30 in April, maybe the focus should be on acquiring a better veteran back-up which, combined with improvements in overall team defense structure, would allow Staios to focus on solidifying the D corps and improving the ranks of the 3rd and 4th lines with the approximately $21 mil in cap space he’ll have this summer.
One thing IS certain – Staios better get it right because the wheels falling off starting around November won’t be met well by the fan base.
The only reason the Jackets sent Korpi to LA is because of Merzlikins’ moronic contract. Shore up the Sens blueline and Korpi will keep Ottawa in most games.
Paul, I’m beginning to see it that way as well. What we tend to forget in here is that, when it comes to assessing a player’s overall performance, each team pours over hours of detailed film that we’ll never see, not to mention equally-detailed game reports by staff in the boxes as to missed assignments etc.
George O, same old same old.
Maybe it’s just a maturity things, hoping the team grows and mature together and puts it all together once and for all.
Maybe adding a solid veteran 2 way player
A Ryan O’Reilly or a Phillip Danault solid two-way Center. O’Reilly a little long in the tooth but still productive and would certainly bring a leadership voice that could be respected.
caper, that’s the type (or two) they need to find … and while O’Reilly may be getting up there, there are many more a lot older, still contributing that way – Perry for example.
I don’t watch the Sens so don’t have an opinion on their woes, but wasn’t Giroux just that veteran player? 20 goals, 60 points so far. Now rumoured to be expendable?
No one is calling Giroux to be “expendable.” Does Staios need to listed if offers come in? Of course.
But it would have to be an eye-opener of an offer before he even considered relinquishing him. Not going to happen.
Yes, he is a good veteran to have around – and is still performing well.
But one other – perhaps 2 – to fill the same role on the bottom two lines or D can’t hurt.
Wings biggest needs are #2 RD and a starting goalie.
Holl, Petry are not getting it done and it looks like they are stuck with at least 1 of them if not both for another year. Ghost is fine as a 3rd RD and #1 PP guy, but I think he will move on. Husso and Lyon are both signed for another year, but both have serious consistency issues. Stevie did make wonderful moves on offence, but acquiring Holl and Petry on defense is a serious blunder. And Holl is not used much at all, and I don’t see why because he can’t be worse than Petry has been!
The pipeline is one of the best in the NHL, but other than Edvinsson I don’t see another lock for next year’s team. I say that because Berggren would also be a lock, but he seems disgruntled and may be traded. So it is off to the trade market and FA with a rather limited budget for those needs. Oh, and Kane is not a lock to re-sign either! đ
Re the Sen’s
I dont think Giroux is expendable, they need to add 2 more Venteran’ s for team balance
–A 2.nd pairing RD-man (Shut down)
&
–A 6-7 Forward with Leadership skill and some one the team will look up to
A Ryan OâReilly may be getting up there in age,
But at 33 yr old with 3.2 years left at $4.5M would be Perfict fit for the Sen’s with 25 Goals and 30+ ass
he could move from the 2nd to 3rd line when ever they want, it may cost them a good prospect and
Or a young player like a LD/RD Erik BrÀnnström
and a 3nd rd pick, ..â
Why would Smashville trade O Reilly! They just went through a 16-2-0 run! He has the best contract in the entire NHL! Nashville or Ottawa,that s not even a choice! He loves music
Too!
The Wings need:
A# 2d man RD, A shutdown 3rd pairing RD
A true #1b or 2center (think LINDHOLM, Crosby Stamkos type)
Atop 6 forward
A quality backup goaltender
Move out some of these bottom 6 and promote some prospects
This is not such a tall order as it sounds. Thru F/A AND trades SY must be willing to part with a couple #1 or #2 draft picks
RESIGN KANE