It’s been over a month since the Ottawa Senators’ season ended. For players under contract, this has meant a well-deserved break filled with activities like golf, travel, and cottage time. However, for general manager Steve Staios, his scouting team, and players who will become free agents on July 1st, it's not time yet to relax.

Staios has been busy making the usual calls around the NHL, speaking with GMs and agents, and exploring possible ways to strengthen the team for the upcoming season. He's already secured contracts with his bottom-pair defensemen, restricted free agents Tyler Kleven and Nick Matinpalo, locking them in for a combined total of less than $2.5 million.

That's a nice piece of business.

When it comes to his team's pending unrestricted free agents, Staios is moving a little more slowly. In fact, he says he isn't ready to make any announcements on any of his UFAs yet.

“Not at this point, no,” he said last week during the Ottawa Senators Alumni Tournament at the Canadian Golf and Country Club. “I think we continue to work through it. There's a process to how every team handles it, including us. And so we'll see.

'We have our priorities and what we want to do, and then fitting it all into the cap and the strategy moving forward that'll take effect. (Players) that we've had on our team that are UFAs now, we've really liked all of them."

That list includes forwards Claude Giroux, Nick Cousins, Adam Gaudette, and Matthew Highmore, along with defencemen Travis Hamonic and Dennis Gilbert, and goalie Anton Forsberg.

The Ottawa Senators’ Quiet Logjam Up Front: What Are They Planning? If the Ottawa Senators are planning a new contract extension for impending unrestricted free agent Claude Giroux, it is hard not to wonder whether an accompanying trade is on the horizon.

While that list has some valuable players, it's pretty obvious that no one would be as hard to replace as Giroux. Staios was asked twice if there's any update on Giroux’s contract talks. Same answer both times.

"Not really. I mean, we continue to talk. I think the dialogue is ongoing, and like I said, just like with (Kleven), you speak to the representative, you want to find what's fair, and it takes two sides."

There are also decisions to be made about some UFAs who were important to Belleville this season, including Jeremy Davies and Hayden Hodgson, as well as Group 6 UFAs Angus Crookshank, Cole Reinhart, and Wyatt Bongiovanni.

Staios' approach is considerably different than Pierre Dorion's rip-the-band-aid approach, though not necessarily better or worse. Two years ago, for example, UFA defenceman Nick Holden didn't even make it to the season's final media availability before Dorion told him he wouldn't be re-signed.

While it's hard to hear that so soon after the end of the season, it does give the player's agent some clarity, allowing him to get straight to work, knowing for certain he needs to find his client a new NHL home. With just three weeks left until UFA opens, we'll certainly know very soon which Senators won't be back.

Steve Warne
The Hockey News
(Banner image Credit: Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images)

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