With Mark Kastelic, Dominik Kubalik, Parker Kelly, and Boris Katchouk heading out the door this off-season, the Sens have only eight returning forwards signed for next season.
It's Canada Day, and Ottawa Senators GM Steve Staios is going fishing.
No, he's not spending the holiday relaxing; he and his team are casting their lines, trying to land a big fish or two in the NHL's annual free-agent frenzy. Contracts across the league expire today at noon, and Staios has all his lures out.
Yesterday, he threw three of his regulars from last season back into the free-agent pond (editor's note: this now ends our current run of fishing analogies).
Erik Brannstrom, Parker Kelly, and Boris Katchouk did not receive qualifying offers, so they're done in Ottawa and will enter unrestricted free agency today.
On the other hand, the Senators did make qualifying offers to restricted free agents Shane Pinto, Mads Sogaard, Kevin Mandolese, Egor Sokolov and Lassi Thomson.
The rules require teams to extend qualifying offers to their restricted free agents if they want to retain their negotiation rights. These QOs had to be in by 5 p.m. yesterday (June 30).
Qualifying offers don't necessarily mean a signing is imminent. An RFA who wants to play in the NHL next season has until December 1st to sign. In Thomson's case, it's about retaining his rights as an asset if he figures out his game in Europe and wants to return to the NHL someday.
Staios will be shopping over the next few days in both the forward and defence aisle, ideally looking for players who compete hard and get involved. Who isn't?
Up front, with Mark Kastelic, Dominik Kubalik, Parker Kelly, and Boris Katchouk heading out the door this offseason, the Sens have only eight returning forwards signed for this fall. That opens the door for a homegrown player like Angus Crookshank, but Staios will have an eye today on some free-agent options, too.
And even though the Senators addressed their need for size on the blue line at the draft on the weekend, no one they selected will be ready to help this fall or maybe even the one after. Here are just a few of the UFA options still on the board – and they've been dropping like flies this morning – that might intrigue the Senators.
Defence: Matt Roy (LA) RD, Nikita Zadorov (Van) LD, Sean Walker (Col) RD, Joel Edmundson (Tor) LD
Forwards: Jake DeBrusk (Bos) LW, Viktor Arvidsson (LA) RW, William Carrier (VGK) LW, Michael Amadio (VGK) W.
GM Steve Staios has a media availability set for 3:30 this afternoon.