Ottawa Senators Forward Mathieu Joseph Traded to St. Louis Blues

Joseph played in 72 games with the Senators last season, killing penalties and putting up 35 points.

Ottawa Senators winger Mathieu Joseph has been rumoured to be on the trade block for several weeks. Joseph's $2.95 million a year contract was reportedly seen as expendable, an area where the team could save some cap space as it rebalances its roster.

The Sens pulled the trigger on a deal today with the St. Louis Blues, giving up Joseph and a third-rounder for future considerations.

Joseph's exit leaves the Sens with a projected cap hit of $80.6 million and $7.3 million to play with. Re-signing RFA Shane Pinto will eventually take up a good chunk of that available cap space, but it would still leave the Senators with just 11 NHL forwards at the moment. 

While dumping the two years left on Joseph's contract wasn't a shocker, many were surprised the Sens had to add the sweetener of a third-round pick. At $2.95 million, that's a pretty reasonable contract for a solid NHL player.

Joseph is a two-time Stanley Cup winner and played in 72 games with the Senators last season, killing penalties and putting up 35 points (11 goals, 24 assists). The Laval native, who's blazing fast, was originally drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the fourth round of the 2015 NHL Draft.

However, once the Sens began rebalancing the roster and adding free-agent veterans like David Perron and Michael Amadio, they had no choice but to find a way to clear salary, which is obviously tricky when everyone is on a shopping spree.

As an aside, for those who like a good trade tree, today's deal doesn't quite kill the Senators' Jason Spezza trade tree. When the Sens got Joseph for Nick Paul, they also got Tampa's 2024 fourth-rounder. The Sens used that pick on Saturday to select USHL forward Blake Montgomery.