Almost an entire team's worth of ex-Ottawa Senators got new deals in the first week of NHL free agency. Where are they now?
Given how busy the Ottawa Senators were in the first week of NHL free agency, their fans had enough to do, keeping up with their own team's wheeling and dealing.
But now that most of the frenzy smoke has cleared, let's examine what's been happening around the league in the past week, beyond just the Sens and the big NHL headlines.
Here's your handy list of old Senators in new places, starting with players who suited up for the Sens last season.
Vladimir Tarasenko: After winning the second Stanley Cup of his career, winger Vladimir Tarasenko got a two-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings. The contract has a cap hit of $4.75 million.
Erik Brannstrom: With 266 games played, Brannstrom had quietly moved into the Senators' top 50 all-time in that category. Brannstrom didn't receive a qualifying offer from the Senators, so he signed a one-year deal worth $900K with the Colorado Avalanche.
Parker Kelly shared Brannstrom's summer storyline. After not getting an offer, he also signed a similar deal with the Avs.
Boko Imama, who played only six games in Ottawa this season, signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Imama was part of Ottawa's now-fading Saint John Sea Dog mafia. It included Imama, Thomas Chabot, Matthew Highmore, Mathieu Joseph, and Julien Gauthier, who all suited up for the Sens at some point in the past 15 months.
Cam Talbot is on the move again, signing with the Detroit Red Wings, his seventh team in eight seasons. Steve Yzerman was quite generous with the 37-year-old, giving him a two-year deal worth a total of $5 million.
Anthony Duclair has changed his address even more than Talbot. Duclair is now with his eighth team in eight seasons. He got some security, signing a four-year deal with the New York Islanders with an AAV of $3.5 million. As an aside, he doesn't seem like a Lou Lamoriello type of player. But we'll see.
Matt Murray: Murray's NHL career is now at a point where he's almost out of chances. The Toronto Maple Leafs gave him one more, signing the enigmatic two-time Cup winner to a one-year, one-way deal worth $875K. That's a far cry from the four-year deal worth $25 million that the Senators gave him in 2020.
Connor Brown: Despite his absurdly long goal-scoring slump, Brown proved in the playoffs he still has game. Instead of heading for the open market, he re-signed with the Edmonton Oilers, getting a one-year deal worth $1 million.
Josh Brown: If you told me the Oilers signed Connor Brown to a three-year deal worth $1 million, I'd have believed you. Not so fast. It's big defenceman Josh Brown got that deal from the Oilers. Logan Brown remains a free agent. Maybe the Oilers will reunite The Brown Band.
Matt Duchene: The 33-year-old will ride in Dallas again (not in an Uber), getting a one-year deal worth $3 million.
The rest: Dylan Gambrell (Columbus), Max Lajoie (Seattle), Mike Reilly (NY Islanders), Chris Driedger (Florida), Tyler Motte (Detroit), Andrew Agozzino (Utah).
We spend so much time focusing on the superstars, who often stay in one place for a long time, it's easy to forget that for most players, the life of an NHL'er is a nomadic one. Most fans will always have a soft spot for the men who wore the centurion crest, even if only for a little while.