More so than a trade, I believe the thing the Ottawa Senators need the most is health. Thomas Chabot always misses more than a few games each season while they just acquired one of the most injury-prone defencemen in the NHL in Jakub Chychrun. On top of that, Josh Norris has had some of the worst injury luck this season. That being said, there is still potential to switch things around in the offseason and set themselves up for a playoff push next season.
Alex DeBrincat
The Senators have a few options going forward with Alex DeBrincat. They can sign him long-term, lock him up for one year, or trade him in the offseason. Locking him up long-term would eat a ton of cap space and put the team in a tough spot. They have a number of forwards already signed long-term to similar deals, and they have yet to make the playoffs because of it. The team’s depth is a little weak and that money could be spent wisely elsewhere on multiple players.
The second option, signing Debrincat to a one-year deal, keeps him on the team for next season at a cheaper cost than it would be to sign him long-term. The problem here is that he would become a UFA at the end of next season and the Senators would likely lose him. Debrincat is most likely looking for a higher salary than the young core at over $8 million AAV as his qualifying offer is above that. The final option, trading him, would allow the Senators to get back a lot of value in a return and free up cap space. They would have to go out and get a top-six forward to replace Debrincat on the second line, but they can find someone who is effective for much less than what he will cost.
Alex Formenton
As the Senators and Alex Formenton couldn’t agree on a contract last summer and into the start of this season, he was forced to miss the entire season and play overseas. There has been the feeling that he isn’t going to play another game for the Senators and instead be traded. His rights still belong to Ottawa and they would be wise to gauge interest.
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Formenton would have been a good forward depth piece to have on the team this season, but a number of other teams could use his speed and scoring ability. On top of that, he won’t cost too much and is only 23 years old. He scored 18 goals and 32 points in his first full NHL season in 2021-22, including five shorthanded goals. There won’t be much trouble moving him, and he would likely welcome the change after this season.
Erik Brannstrom
Erik Brannstrom has been given ample time in Ottawa to develop, and it has been a much slower process than they would like. He is a left-shot defence, but now the team has Chabot, Chychrun, and Jake Sanderson, so Brannstrom is forced to play on the right side more often than not, or not at all.
He’s played nearly a full season (71 games), but his ice time is way down and his production still hasn’t seen an improvement. He is down nearly four minutes of ice time per game compared to last season and has played at least 30 games in four consecutive seasons in the NHL now. This is the first season he hasn’t split time between the NHL and AHL, and that’s because he is not waiver exempt anymore. With a couple of other young defence on the rise and pushing for spots, Brannstrom could be moved to help bolster their right side or depth forwards.
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