Ottawa Senators: "The Summer of Staios" Has Begun

The Summer of Staios has begun. The first order of business was hiring Travis Green as the head coach of the Ottawa Senators. Now that that's settled, what's next?

To say it's an important summer for the Senators and Steve Staios, the team's newish general manager, is an understatement. The team missed the playoffs for the seventh year in a row and took a significant step in the wrong direction, finishing with just 78 points on the season.

The to-do list includes attending to goaltending, defence, and depth scoring, not to mention injuries and contract questions surrounding stars. There is plenty on the docket for Staios to figure out during his first summer as GM.

Goaltending

Sometimes, to win in the NHL, it's as simple as getting the goaltending. The Senators had the opposite last season, with the league's worst team save percentage at .884. Joonas Korpisalo had the second worst goals-saved-above-expected with -16, according to Money Puck, meaning he gave up 16 goals that he shouldn't have. Staios said in his season-ending press conference he had no intentions of buying out Korpisalo, who has four years left on his contract at $4 million a year.

Thus, Staios will have to be creative. He could trade Anton Forsberg, who has one year left on his contract, at a 2.75 million AAV (average annual value). That might allow him to add a goaltender through free agency. However, the free agent market is thin on established goaltenders. 

Or Staios could go the trade route. There have been rumours of high-level goalies jumping on the trading block with names such as Juuse Saros, Linus Ullmark, and Jacob Markström. For Saros and Ullmark, who both have one year left on their contracts, the expectation would be to sign extensions with those goaltenders if the Senators acquired them. 

In the end, Staios will need to be creative to establish a modicum of stability in net for the Senators, who haven't had even league-average goaltending since Craig Anderson in 2016-17 when the Senators made the Eastern Conference Finals.

Settling the Chychrun situation

Sens defenceman Jakob Chychrun has one year left on his contract at 4.6 million dollars and has been incredibly coy about his future in Ottawa.

"It's a tough question, I don't know. I honestly have not thought about that. I know I have one more year left," Chychrun said last month. "There haven't been talks of an extension or anything, so I haven't got my head wrapped around that idea. It's tough to sit here and act like I have."

Many signs point to Chychrun and the Senators parting ways. Remember that Staios was not the GM who traded for Chychrun. The team has too many left-shot defencemen, including Chychrun, Jake Sanderson, and Thomas Chabot – none of whom appear to be that comfortable on their off-side.

If Staios decides to ship out Chychrun, would it be for future assets, or would it be a hockey trade with players in return?

Regardless, if Chychrun is traded, it leaves a major hole in the Senators lineup that Staios would have to shore up immediately, preferably with the need of adding a top four right-shot defenceman. The Senators have no obvious replacement for Chychrun in their pipeline. 

One name that has been bandied about in rumours involving the Senators has been soon-to-be free agent Chris Tanev. Tanev is an analytics darling and a tough veteran defenceman, but he's also 34 years old and consistently injured. Would he be the right fit on this young Senators team? Maybe. There will be other options for Staios, but it is very hard to acquire a top-four right-shot defenceman in the NHL, whether it's through free agency or trade. That will be the task for Staios.

Adding veteran forwards

The Senators were the fifth-youngest team in the NHL last season, and Claude Giroux is the team's only experienced stalwart. Staios says he wants to add "a veteran player if we could."

Signing Shane Pinto

Shane Pinto is a restricted free agent this summer. He has said publicly how eager he is to get some security in his contract after losing out on millions of dollars last season due to his gambling-related 41-game suspension.

Pinto has shown flashes of success in Ottawa, with a 20-goal season and playing well in his 41 games last season. However, Pinto has only played 140 games in the NHL. Will Staios sign Pinto to a bridge deal or buy low on Pinto with a long-term extension?

Through seven "Summers of Pierre" (Dorion), Sens fans developed a feel for what the team would go after. Staios is a blank slate. Will he prioritize experience, speed, or size? Will he look mainly for wingers, given the team's strength up the middle? Will he push his chips in on goaltending?

By the end of the summer, these will be much more Staios' Senators, and then we'll see whether he can deliver the winning team the city craves.