As the Ottawa Senators look to make a big swing in the trade market this season, what other team in the NHL can be a trade partner?
The Ottawa Senators have been humming along, posting a 10-6-4 record thus far this year. That's been good enough to hold the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, just two points behind the Atlantic Division leaders in the Boston Bruins, who have played three more games than Ottawa.
But as per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Sens are aiming "to hit a home run" via the trade market.
Given that Ottawa has made several splashes over the years – including the additions of Dylan Cozens, Linus Ullmark and Claude Giroux, as well as Jacob Chychrun and Alex DeBrincat, the latter two of whom were eventually traded away after a relatively short run in Canada’s capital city.
Still, it’s clear the Senators have no fear in stepping up to the plate and taking a big swing. They have approximately $1.475-million in salary cap space, but that number increases to $5.12 million in cap space at this year’s trade deadline.
That may not get the Sens the biggest fish on the market, but the chance to push deeper into the Stanley Cup playoffs should be all the motivation Ottawa GM Steve Staios needs to go out and acquire a helping hand.
At this point, it’s hard to pinpoint who the Senators are going to be targeting in a trade. With the parity thus far in the campaign, there’s no clear sense of which teams will be sellers. Therefore, buyers like Ottawa will have to bide their time to see which teams will be putting talent on the block.
However, it makes sense to look at the teams hanging around the bottom of the standings. Teams such as the Calgary Flames, Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues, who look to potentially become sellers, may have a piece for the Senators.
The Sens could use help on defense. Ottawa are among the top-10 worst teams when it comes to keeping the puck out of their net. They've conceded 67 goals in 20 contests. While goaltending has a say in that, the makeup of its blueline does as well.
Additionally, while looking at the Senators' roster on paper, they could likely use another winger, preferably a middle-six left winger.
Ultimately, there’s no shortage of potential options that could be available to them between now and the March 6 trade deadline.
In any case, it should be reassuring to Senators fans that team ownership is prepared to hit the salary cap ceiling. The trick now is to use their remaining cap space on an experienced hand who gives them energy and provides a secondary scoring option.
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The Senators don’t have their 2026 first-round draft pick, but they do have their first-rounder in 2027 and 2028, so they could be in play for the right type of difference-maker.
But at this stage, the only surprising thing would be if the Sens stood pat. With first and eighth place in the Atlantic only separated by six points, there’s a sense the division is wide open, so the Senators should seize the moment and go all-in.
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