Senators mailbag: What would a trade proposal for Jack Eichel look like? (2024)

I have to say this was my most stressful week on the beat since joining The Athletic.

Each time I sat down to write, I was afraid my entire story would become irrelevant thanks to breaking news.

Thursday, I was putting the finishing touches on this mailbag, when my phone buzzed with an alert from the Senators official communications Twitter account. My heart stopped for a moment, wondering if the news would affect my column.

“The Senators have signed forward Pontus Aberg to a one-year, two-way contract.”

I exhaled, knowing that not a single word I had written would be impacted by this news.

Exactly 12 minutes later, my phone buzzed again with another news alert from the Senators.

“The Sens have agreed to terms with defenceman Dillon Heatherington and forward Kole Sherwood on one-year, two-way contracts.”

I frantically searched my Twitter settings to see if could mute the term “two-way contract” but alas, I could not.

But that brings us to this week’s mailbag and a trade rumour that would probably destroy the Senators Twitter notifications if it ever went down.

Note: Questions may be edited for clarity and style.

Do you expect to see a push for Jack Eichel from Ottawa? If so what would you expect to be going back to Buffalo? — Jake H.

So if the Senators truly want to land a bona fide, No. 1 centre, they won’t do better than Jack Eichel. He’s 24 and an elite, game-changing pivot. When he’s on his game, he has the potential to be one of the top 10 players in the game. But the cost to acquire Eichel is going to be steep and likely force the Senators to blow up a tiny portion of their core. Is it worth it?

Let’s divide up the Senators players into a few columns and create an asset table here for the purpose of this exercise:

So Column A essentially represents the players most Sens fans would say are untouchable. If any of those players are involved in a trade for Eichel, I think it’s close to a one-for-one situation. Maybe they need to add something else, but I probably wouldn’t even go down that path.

Now let’s play around with some other possibilities which could be more realistic.

Suppose you let the Sabres pick one asset from each of the other columns — B through E. So for example, you give up Josh Norris, Erik Brannstrom, Mads Sogaard and a first-round pick. Is that too much for Ottawa fans to stomach? Or could you live with that price to land your generational centre?

Would you be willing to pick any two players from Column B and then the first-round pick from Column E? I think these two scenarios are probably in the ballpark of what the Sabres are seeking. Most Sens proposals I see involving Eichel are usually just people offering up all of Column C and maybe attaching a draft pick to it.

It’s going to be costly, but considering the market seems soft for Eichel, maybe the Senators can pounce. Buffalo did trade Sam Reinhart to Florida, so the idea they won’t trade within the division might be moot. Plus, when the Edmonton Oilers traded Wayne Gretzky, they took the best offer possible and disregarded the fact they were moving him to a Smythe Divison rival.

The Senators could certainly have the assets to match or improve any offer that’s out there for Eichel. But would they want to potentially blow up this patient rebuild to add a player who is dealing with a serious neck issue and is still owed $50 million? My gut says no, but it’s certainly a fun exercise to see what everybody’s comfort level is for giving up assets to acquire Eichel.

What do you think the Del Zotto/Holden acquisitions mean for Brannstrom/Mete? — Jordan M.

My initial reaction was this didn’t seem like great news for Victor Mete. The Senators still need to hammer out an RFA contract extension with Mete, who looked comfortable in his 14-game audition last season. But that it hasn’t happened, plus Ottawa landed a couple of left-hand shooting defencemen in Nick Holden and Michael Del Zotto, seems to push Mete out of the picture. I think it was fair to say D.J. Smith wasn’t going to be comfortable with dressing both Mete and Erik Brannstrom on a regular basis next season. Smith wanted a little more size and physicality on that left side and he’ll probably get that with Holden in the mix. Dorion told us he’s totally comfortable with bringing all of these defencemen into training camp in the fall. But I suspect something will happen before then because this seems a little too crowded for my liking.

What I’m more curious about is they signed Del Zotto to a two-year deal. Considering Jake Sanderson should be an option next spring, does that alter their plan to have a left side of defence that features Thomas Chabot, Sanderson and Brannstrom to start the 2022-23 season? And the right side of the defence should feature Artem Zub, Jacob Bernard-Docker and Nikita Zaitsev by then too — so where exactly does Del Zotto fit into the mix? It certainly leads me to believe that another trade is coming at some point, but we’ll have to wait and see.

What are your thoughts on the Evgenii Dadonov deal? — Jeremy B.

Thursday, I referred to it as some Hogwarts level wizardry from Dorion to be able to dump Dadonov without retaining any salary. In the end, the Senators had Dadonov for one year and only paid him $3.5 million in cash, which seems like a bargain even with his disappointing season. Heck, I think most Ottawa fans figured Dadonov was worth the $3.5 million alone for his role in that comeback win over Toronto.

Dumping his contract, however, is only one part of the equation. Now the question becomes how are they going to spend the money that was originally budgeted for Dadonov.

Wednesday, Dorion pledged to spend the $11.5 million in real dollars that was supposed to be paid to Dadonov over the next two years on improving his roster.

“We will make sure that those allotted dollars will be spent,” Dorion said.

To me, it opens up the door to some alternatives. And the best one would be David Krejci, if the Senators are looking for a veteran centre. If they could get Krejci on a two-year deal around $11.5 million, it would be the best use of improving the roster — without going outside of the intended budget.

Until we see how the money is spent, we can’t quite make a final judgment on the Dadonov deal. But it was certainly a great start by dumping his contract without retaining any salary — and then adding a veteran defenceman in Holden and a third-round pick.

Any word on contract extensions for Pierre Dorion and assistant GM Peter McTavish? Maybe that doesn’t come until late this season when Melnyk has seen how the year goes? — David W.

Dorion went out of his way Wednesday to clarify his contractual situation.

“So we’re all clear on my contract situation, there is an option,” Dorion said. “After this year, it’s a team option and I’m very content — and I’ve said that to Eugene — that we don’t need to talk about this, we don’t need it to be a distraction until the end of the year.”

This does bring up a unique situation in pro sports. It’s not too often where a head coach has more job security than the general manager who just handed him the extension. I’m sure it’s happened a handful of times, but I think this is fairly atypical.

So where does this leave Dorion? I think he gets to start this season to prove he can push the right buttons at the helm of a contending team. For the most part, he delivered on his promise to rebuild this franchise from scratch, so he should be afforded the luxury to start this season in his position.

Because Melnyk holds the option over Dorion’s contract for the 2022-23 season, it’s a fair estimation that he’ll make his mind up at some point during the course of this upcoming season.

I think if Matt Murray — who was arguably Dorion’s most aggressive move — can start the season strong, it should significantly help Dorion’s job security. Usually a goalie’s success is tied to a head coach’s job security, but this time I think it could be directly tethered to the general manager’s chair.

I think we’ll get an indication of where things are headed around Christmas. And if Melnyk knows Dorion isn’t the right man for the job, would he allow him to oversee the moves at the trade deadline next spring?

Ottawa passed on Aatu Raty twice in the second round. Given the attitude that the Sens are pretty set in their pipeline and this draft would afford them the opportunity to take some risk, why wouldn’t they take a home run swing on the player that last year was projected to go No. 1? Are there any specific concerns about Raty or is it just he fell off a cliff? — Jeremy B.

Raty’s stock certainly plummeted over the past 12 months.

And when the Senators had a pair of second-round picks and passed on Raty, there were a lot of Ottawa fans screaming at their laptops. And it certainly made them angry when Raty was taken 52nd by the Islanders — just three spots after Ottawa selected OHL defenceman Ben Roger.

I reached out to Chris Peters from Hockey Sense, who is one of the best scouting and prospect analysts in the sport. I asked him if he was surprised the Senators passed on Raty not once — but twice — in the second round.

“I’m not terribly surprised I guess. He was just not good this year and even if you know the full body of work, that step back is a huge concern,” said Peters. “It makes sense that a team without a first like NYI made the bet, though. You either drafted a guy with first-round talent who just had one bad year or you make a second round pick that people forget about in a couple of years. Ottawa clearly had a type for this draft class and Raty doesn’t come close to fitting it.”

It’s interesting Peters points out Ottawa’s focus on sandpaper in this draft, because that was certainly its strategy. And based on that, I guess there was no way the Senators were going to take a swing on him. I will give Ottawa some, credit though, for gambling on Oliver Johansson with a third-round pick. He just turned 18 and has some skill and upside — potentially at centre. While there was a feeling like Ottawa only selected one type of player in this year’s draft, Johansson could be the outlier who could pay off with some skill down the road.

What are your thoughts on how the Sens should get the community involved in order to get some fans back in the seats and clean up their image after what happened with the Sens Foundation and now Chris Philips severing ties? — Gary S.

I actually don’t think getting fans back into the building is going to be an issue this fall — especially if we’re dealing with some limited seating capacity issues. I think Senators fans are starving to connect with their team again and would love nothing more than to cheer on this young team in person. Remember, the last time Ottawa played a home game with fans — on March 5, 2020 — the lineup featured the likes of Ron Hainsey, Jayce Hawryluk, Mikkel Boedker, Scott Sabourin, Andreas Englund and Matthew Peca.

A lot of things have changed since then and the lineup is no longer littered with placeholder veterans. So I think a lot of fans are excited about rolling into Canadian Tire Centre and being legitimately excited about watching their team on the ice for the first time since that magical 2017 playoff run. If the team is playing really well in the new year and the COVID-19 restrictions have fully lifted, it wouldn’t shock me to see some numbers back closer to 16,000-17,000 on a nightly basis here. That’s how much I think the fans are enamoured with this young group of players.

As for the community stuff, that’s going to be an interesting development. Watching Chris Phillips and Brad Weir walk out the door — less than a calendar year after the original charitable arm dissolved — was an extremely bitter pill for the franchise to swallow. The organization is going to be hardpressed to find someone with credibility within the community who could seamlessly connect with charities in the manner in which Phillips and Weir could. So whenever they establish the next iteration of their charity, they cannot make this an outside hire or bring in a consultant from Toronto or elsewhere.

The next person in charge of the Senators charitable arm should be someone with an intimate knowledge of this market. If they get that right, they shouldn’t have a problem reconnecting with the community.

What is the absolute biggest, four-alarm trade the Sens could possibly make that you think is at least 10 percent possible? — Christopher R.

The two names we often hear in the rumour mill are Adam Henrique and Sean Monahan. I don’t mind either player — but under the right circ*mstances. Henrique, for example, at his full cap hit of $5.8 million is probably too expensive. So if Ottawa’s giving up assets to take on Henrique at full freight, I’m throwing a red flag. That might not be a four-alarm fire, but I’m hearing a couple of bells.

Monahan is a curious one because he’s a three-time 30-goal scorer and is only 26. In many ways, he fits the Senators timeline for becoming a legitimate playoff contender. But Monahan is coming off two consecutive subpar seasons and could be on a downward trajectory thanks to injuries. He’s got two more years at $6.375 million and then he’s a free agent. It feels a lot like when the Senators acquired Bobby Ryan — and then injuries took a toll on him. Would they go down this road again? If we go back to that Eichel trade asset chart above, what are you willing to give up for Monahan? I might be hearing all four bells of the alarm if the assets are from Columns B, D and E.

Is it time for the Sens to start thinking of Colin White and Logan Brown as wingers now instead of centres? — Tony M.

Wow. Imagine asking this question in the summer of 2016? Brown and White were drafted in the first round in consecutive years and were supposed to provide a 1-2 punch down the middle for the Senators. Now we’re really not sure where either player fits into the puzzle.

On the surface, I don’t think Brown’s game translates on the wing. He’s 6-foot-6 and I’m not sure his game has a dynamic and explosive element that could make him an effective winger. I’m actually having a hard time thinking of too many wingers who have been that tall in NHL history. Derek Boogaard and John Scott come to mind, but they were one-dimensional fighters who weren’t expected to generate much offence.

But maybe a good comparable for Brown is Nik Antropov, who is the only other 6-foot-6 forward I could think of that had an offensive element to his game. And like Brown, Antropov was a first-round pick (10th) who took a long time to evolve into a consistent and productive NHL forward.

It wasn’t until he was 27 — and pretty much in his seventh full season in the NHL — that Antropov hit the 20-goal, 50-point plateau. The Leafs certainly played the long game with him and there were times he played on the right wing with Mats Sundin in the middle. In fact, Sean McIndoe informed me that Antropov and Sundin combined to score 55 goals as linemates in Toronto, which suggests Antropov had some success as a winger. So there is a precedent for it — it’s just a question as to whether or not the Senators believe Brown could play there.

As for White, I could see him being an effective winger if the situation called for it. He’s never been too successful with faceoffs (42.3 percent success rate last season) and he doesn’t kill penalties as a centre. For the sake of context, consider that both Dadonov (30 seconds) and Alex Galchenyuk (25 seconds) saw more time on the penalty kill than White (11 seconds) last season. So it’s fair to say that White hasn’t evolved into the prototypical two-way centre they envisioned, but there could absolutely be merit in moving him to the wing. The question becomes, however, with a cap hit of $4.75 million for each of the next four seasons, does White need to be a 20-goal scorer on the wing to justify that salary? He scored 14 goals when he played alongside Mark Stone in 2017-18, so he would probably need a chance.

I think another fun question to debate is whether there would ever be an argument for sliding Nick Paul to centre on the third line. Paul might be Ottawa’s most consistent faceoff man (52.1 percent success rate last season) and he’s often the one taking key defensive zone draws late in the game. If Brown or White move to the wing, could Paul could go to centre?

After a year off, I’m really excited for the return of the OHL. It’s pretty cool Dave Cameron will now be coaching the 67’s and that one of our top goalie prospects (Leevi Merilainen) will be in Kingston. I know the action will really be at UND, but what OHL storylines should Sens fans be paying attention to this year? — James S.

I’m sure the top storyline in the OHL will be Shane Wright’s development with Kingston. Most people feel he’s a sure-fire lock to be selected No. 1 and considering he’s a prototypical franchise centre, there might be some Ottawa fans who would be OK with one more painful rebuilding year if it came with a consolation prize of Wright. If the Senators are near the bottom of the standings around Christmas, I suspect this will become the top storyline for Sens fans in 2022.

And with a lot of focus on Wright, that means a lot of eyeballs will be on Sens prospect Leevi Merilainen who should receive plenty of playing time with Kingston this season. Merilainen will turn 19 before the OHL season starts and the Senators are hoping his transition to North America will be smooth this season.

If you live in Ottawa and are interested in attending a 67’s home game with a chance to see Wright and Merilainen, the Kingston Frontenacs are making six visits to the Civic Centre: Oct. 10, Oct. 30, Nov. 9, Dec. 30, Feb. 23, March 16.

Cool idea for a hockey doubleheader in Ottawa: Catch the Frontenacs-67’s game at the Civic Centre at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, March 16. (The 67’s are having a matinee start due to March break.) And then you can head down to Canadian Tire Centre for an evening tilt involving the Senators and the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The intriguing storyline from a Sens perspective will be Ben Roger’s development with the London Knights. The Senators were really impressed with Roger’s development at the OHL prospect showcase in Erie in June. At that mini-tournament, Roger showed off his bigger frame — which included an extra 35 pounds of weight — while still maintaining a mobile element to his game. If Roger can thrive in a top-four role in London this season, it will certainly justify the Senators selecting him with the 49th pick in the draft — which was 53 spots ahead of where Corey Pronman had him going in his final mock projection.

Do you think the Sens can be a legitimate Stanley Cup contender with this core? Or do they need at least another major piece (Shane Wright, for example) to be a bona fide contender? — Steve C.

As you can see, there might be a portion of Senators fans clamouring for Shane Wright.

And the simple question is this: Do the Senators have enough talent and skill to compete for a Stanley Cup with this core?

So let’s take a look at the past three Stanley Cup winners and compare their core against what the Senators have coming up:

Could the Senators stand to add Shane Wright to the mix? Absolutely — but there are probably 31 other NHL teams that feel that way.

When you compare Ottawa’s projected roster against the Blues and Capitals recent championship lineups, there’s not a massive discrepancy. I think the Lightning have set the bar impossibly high and it will be hard to replicate that type of roster depth and star power. So let’s not try and compare this rebuild to Tampa because the Lightning are a bit of a unicorn.

But, I look at teams that won recent championships like St. Louis and Washington and would gladly put Ottawa’s core up against those clubs. Put the Blues roster right next to Ottawa’s and tell me where Sure, Washington probably had more high-end skill with the likes of Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nicklas Backstrom. But looking at the defence, I would happily select Ottawa’s top four over Washington’s if the Senators prospects develop in the manner in which they could.

So to answer your question: I think the Senators can be a legitimate Stanley Cup contender with this core of young players. A little more high-end skill probably wouldn’t hurt, but if they can get solid goaltending, I think they can win with this group.

With life coming back to the CTC next season, what should be the Sens new goal song? — Tony M.

I would go back to individual goal songs for each player.

You always knew Daniel Alfredsson scored when you heard “Beautiful Day” by U2. Marian Hossa had a unique song that was inspired by an African tribe. Mike Fisher had a good friend write a personalized goal song for him.

And who could forget Jason Spezza’s goal song, where they subbed in the name “Jason Spezza” for “Barbra Streisand” from that quirky hit by the band Duck Sauce?

So what are we thinking with this current crew?

Clearly something by Drake for any goal scored by Batherson.

I’m a big Prince fan, so I could get behind “7” for any goal scored by Brady Tkachuk.

Elton John’s “Nikita” would probably be too soft and slow, but maybe we just reserve that for the times when Zaitsev scores against a goalie.

And maybe they can drop in “Brown Sugar” from the Rolling Stones any time someone with the last name Brown scores — which means they should have that song on standby at all times.

(Photo of Nikita Zaitsev, Jack Eichel: Andre Ringuette / NHLI via Getty Images)