Drake Batherson on what the room is like at NHL Trade Deadline As the Ottawa Senators prepared for their game in Anaheim against the Ducks on Wednesday night, GM Steve Staios briefly held court with the media, fielding questions about his first trade as an NHL GM. On Wednesday, Staios dealt 32-year-old Russian winger Vladimir Tarasenko, a pending UFA, to the Florida Panthers. In return, the Senators got two mid-round picks, a 2024 fourth-rounder (which becomes a 2026 third-rounder if the Panthers win the Cup) and a 2025 third-round pick. Ottawa also retains 50% of what's left on Tarasenko's deal this season. Many fans had a big problem with the relatively low return for Tarasenko, wondering if Staios should have waited a bit. Could he have squeezed out a better deal in the next two days before the deadline? "I won't get into the details of it, but the answer to that is unequivocally no," Staios told the media. "I think that we exhausted all the options. We felt comfortable with where we were at, and that was the maximum value in that deal. And it also allows us some time to look at some other things now." Based on media interviews that Staios has done in the past few weeks, it sounds like contract talks never really got that serious with Tarasenko. "I won't get into all the discussions with the player and the agent," Staios said. "But certainly, we really liked Vladdy. We liked what he brought to our group. But as time went on, this was the outcome." Staios acknowledged that Tarasenko's no-trade clause was a factor. "It certainly adds a different dynamic to the whole process," Staios said. "I'm happy with the return. I'm happy that Vladdy gets to go home. And his family had been there the entire year. So he gets to play on a very good team and have an opportunity and to be close to home again." When GM Pierre Dorion signed Tarasenko to a one-year deal worth $5 million last summer, he certainly didn't envision the winger leaving at the deadline, or the no trade clause being a problem, or the Senators being 19 points out of the playoffs as Tarasenko walked out the door.
