Watson's new deal couldn't have been any better than what Ottawa reportedly offered toward the end of last season.
After two seasons in Ottawa, former Senators winger Austin Watson has signed on with the Tampa Bay Lighting.
Watson had been on a professional tryout and signed a one year deal worth just under $777 thousand. The 31-year-old played 75 games for the Senators last season, scoring nine goals and 11 points.
The Senators had shown some interest in re-signing him, but GM Pierre Dorion reportedly balked at Watson's desire for a multi-year deal. Had Watson known how this would turn out, it's possible he might have accepted the Sens' initial offer, which was almost certainly at least as good as what he's now agreed to in Tampa.
Once they realized Watson's return was no longer in the cards, the Senators found a new fourth-line crasher. They turned to a younger model, probably on the advice of Claude Giroux, giving a three-year deal to Zack MacEwen. Giroux and MacEwen were teammates in Philly in 2021-22.
According to PuckPedia, the Lightning appear to be up to their old LTIR tricks. Watson's $776,665 cap hit puts the Lightning just two dollars below the combined cap hits of Brent Seabrook and former Senator first rounder Logan Brown, two players set to be placed on LTIR.
Because of this optimization, the Lightning will be able to place Vasilevskiy on injured reserve and gain $9.5 million in cap space.