The Senators' new management team has taken care of their biggest off-season business on time, removing all distractions long before training camp in September.
Barring an unforeseen hockey trade that sees the Ottawa Senators swap roster pieces with a rival, the organization's in-house business appears set.
Ottawa's unresolved contracts ended with Monday's signing of restricted free goaltender Mads Sogaard and yesterday's deal that sent Kevin Mandolese to the Colorado Avalanche for a 2026 six-round pick. After those transactions, the invaluable PuckPedia shows that the Senators no longer have any players on the parent roster or in Belleville who require a contract for the 2024-25 season.
It is July 17th.
July 17th.
Forgive Senators fans for not recognizing normalcy. It has been a while.
Over the last three years, Senators fans have endured the Brady Tkachuk contract negotiations that dragged throughout the 2021 offseason. The future captain would put pen to paper hours before the team's home opener, but his absence forced him to miss the team's first three games as he got back into game shape.
The absurdity of the drawn-out sale of the franchise cast a cloud over the Senators' 2023 offseason. The 2022 offseason's significant acquisition, Alex DeBrincat, refused to sign an extension with Ottawa, necessitating a trade. Stalled Shane Pinto contract negotiations lingered through last summer's offseason before an unanticipated Vladimir Tarasenko contract put the team in a precarious salary cap situation. Without any cap room to squeeze Pinto in, hypothetical contract dump trade scenarios permeated the Senators' news cycle until the league suspended Pinto for his involvement in a gambling scandal.
'Distractions' have been a recurring buzzword in recent weeks. In each media availability following their respective trades, both Joonas Korpisalo and Jakob Chychrun hinted at the unintended negative challenges the players faced.
"It's just unfortunate, I think, the way everything went when I was here," Chycrun said. "Personally, I felt, I wasn't playing my best hockey. I was a little bit frustrated with the way that I was playing. You know, a coaching change, an ownership change was tough on a lot of the guys. It was just a lot of noise it seemed like, distraction for our group. We never seemed to all be on the same page and really take a step as a team together and make a push. It was something that was really frustrating for everyone in that room. I know everyone in that room really cares and really wants to win. That just wasn't in the cards for us last season."
It is ironic that two players who spent only a season with the organization would openly complain about the uncertainties they faced last season when their peers have been here longer and endured much worse.
No one will not have the luxury of these excuses this season. By concluding much of the heavy lifting by mid-July, the players and the coaching staff can work together to get on the same page and arrive in camp ready to go.