Staios's first trade deadline experience was quiet, but the talks with other teams may have planted seeds for deals in the off-season.

The Ottawa Senators may have come up empty-handed at the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline, but it wasn't for a lack of trying. When the phone stopped ringing and the smoke had all cleared, veteran winger Vladimir Tarasenko was gone, the Sens had two mid-tier draft picks from the Florida Panthers and a waiver claim from the last place Chicago Blackhawks.

Shortly after the deadline had passed, Staios sat down for a Zoom call with the media this afternoon to discuss how the last few days had gone.

Gord Wilson: How would you sum up the trade deadline day from a Senators' perspective? 

Staios: Well, I'd say that it was productive, although it didn't lead into any results as far as player transactions, except for the waiver pickup with Boris Katchouk. But certainly, I think that we learned a lot about our team. We learned where other teams are at as well, as far as value. And that helps us with our plan moving forward. So it was engaging for sure. We were extremely active. I think the process overall is going to help us in the long run. 

Bruce Garrioch: How much discussion did you have? And do you believe at any time you were close on any deals? 

Yes, we had some very strong discussions on some transactions that we felt were probably pretty close. And I think the uniqueness of it is, we're approaching this opportunity for the Ottawa Senators, not just looking at where we are in the standings and your traditional way of moving players out, but certainly, we were looking for opportunities to improve our team and support our team the way that we felt best shaped our group. So we were involved in a lot of different discussions on a lot of different levels. 

Garrioch: Is it possible that perhaps you laid the foundation today for some deals down the road? 

Yes. It certainly did. I think the conversations that we've had with teams were good. And we learned a lot. Not only about what was available at the trade deadline, but how teams are looking to approach their off-season as well. So I think a lot of those conversations are open-ended and opportunities are open-ended.

So, I think from that perspective, it puts us in a good shape to good shape moving forward to plan for the off season. 

Wayne Scanlan: Is there a sense out there that maybe the value wasn't there for some of the players that you might've considered moving? 

Well, I think it's on both sides of it. I think that we learned that the value or the fit wasn't there in some instances, and also that we have good players and that we have coveted players, which is, I think, what's been so intriguing about being here for a short period of time around this group.

But we certainly have talented hockey players and good hockey players. And we've shown that we're a good team for stretches of time. It certainly is my responsibility to be able to identify that and where we can supplement this roster and help them along, But also, I think our players need to know that they are talented players and good players.

Their responsibility is to come together as a team and we've shown it, even as recently as our game last night against an older, more experienced LA Kings team – and undermanned – how we can compete against the best teams in the league. And so that's what I mean by we learned a lot about our team. 

Lisa Wallace: Would you say you're satisfied with how things played out or maybe left a little disappointed at not being able to do more? 

I think it's so fresh right now, with all the conversations that we had. Any opportunities we were looking at, it's hard to really digest it all. I think we'll be able to do that over the next few days. I'm very pleased with our process. Instead of just going out to make deals at the deadline, we identified where we wanted to get in the market and what we were looking to accomplish.

At the end of the day, we didn't get there at this deadline, but this is one opportunity for us. So, it's hard to really put it into words right now. I think over time, we'll look back on where we're at. We have good players and there are players that were available and trades that probably could have helped us here in the short term, but we had a vision on both the short term and the long term for our group. 

Wallace: You have a fan base who is so desperate to see this team move to the next level. So, what's the message to them following today? 

Well, I share in their angst for this team to get to the next level. We thought outside the box, we were extremely aggressive in some situations to expedite the process of the development of this group. With keeping in mind that we weren't going to do anything rash. 

I hear where they're coming from.

I have not been around this group for a long period of time when it comes to building a team, building a group. I certainly think that there's a lot of things that we could do internally much better. We'll enter the off season with the same aggressive approach that we came into this trade deadline with, in improving this team.