While there are plenty of excuses, Sens GM Steve Staios ends the deadline in failure, having moved just one piece that needed to go (cf my prior concern). Kubalik will walk away for nothing, Brannstrom is still here, and so on. Yes, the market was soft, but the best GM’s figure it out and Staios did not.
That’s not to write him off or say he can’t handle the job, we’re just looking at this specific situation. On the plus side, he didn’t make any bad trades or silly additions (Boris Katchouk off waivers is fine, if perplexing). Staios hasn’t made the team any worse, but he hasn’t improved it either. We’ll have a better sense of his true capabilities at the draft and then in free agency. With that said, let’s look at the one deal he did pull off.
Tarasenko, as a Sen, performed as expected:
57-17-24-41 0.72 (-0.04 with St. Louis last year, where he was averaging +1:29 TOI)
The primary criticism was signing him in the first place–it created cap hell for Ottawa and didn’t make the team better (nor did he produce at Debrinkat levels–0.80 with the Sens last year, 0.86 with Detroit this year).
Outside of local Ottawa reporters, no one liked the Tarasenko trade, despite the limitations (supposedly Florida was the only place he’d go and his family has been living there the entire season). Both writers at The Athletic gave Staios a poor grade (a C from Dom Luszczyszyn and a C- from Sean Gentille), and I agree with them. The picks provided by the Panthers will be late in those rounds and two 3rds or a 3rd/4th aren’t likely to produce NHL players (the last time I ran the numbers about 10% of 3rd-rounders made it (the last Ottawa 3rd-rounder to pan out was Zack Smith in 2008); the picks are useful as elements for other deals)–the value is very similar to what Toronto gave up for marginal defenseman Joel Edmundson, while Seattle GM Ron Francis was able to squeeze a 2nd-rounder from the Rangers for Alexander Wennberg. Retaining half his salary this season is fine given that Norris is (again!) injured.
The brief run the Sens went on with Jacques Martin has ended and they will likely finish as a bottom-five team in. The primary problem remains goaltending. It will be interesting to see if Staios believes they have the solution in the minors with Sogaard or if they look for someone else (obviously Korpisalo isn’t the solution, but that’s only a surprise to the departed Pierre Dorion). I’d try and get a veteran goalie with a decent track record (so not the scattered records of either Forsberg or Korpisalo), and either pair them with Sogaard or stick with Forsberg until you find a better solution. That’s on-paper what Dorion did in free agency, but Korpisalo clearly does not fit that bill.
Beyond goaltending there’s the depth problem (cf), something Dorion has tried to draft for years. While Jason York (& others) want to add ‘toughness’, the problem Ottawa has is the huge talent gap beyond their top players. The bottom half of the lineup can’t produce, which makes smothering the offense easy for elite teams. Players like Kastelic, MacEwen, and Chartier don’t move the needle enough and the Sens aren’t drafting enough talent (T. Boucher etc). It will be interesting to see how Staios envisions the bottom-six and what he does to fulfill that vision.
I want to go all the way back to August to look at moves. I have St. Louis as a buyer, not just because they are technically still in the wild card race, but more for how they’ve behaved (Calgary, who are tied with them, have operated more like sellers). For conditional picks I’ve leaned on what seems most likely; ‘prospects’ includes players on two-way deals; FC=future considerations.
Sellers
Anaheim 23-36-3 14th
In: Lyubushkin (Buf); prospects: Gauthier (Phi), Mysak (Mtl), Meyers (Col); picks: 1st (24/Edm), 3rd (25/Tor)
Out: Drysdale (Phi), Lyubushkin (Car-Tor); prospects: Perreault (Mtl); picks: 2nd (25/Ana), 4th (Min/25), 5th (24/Ana)
Arizona 25-33-5 13th
In: picks: 4th (27/Edm), 5th (27/TB), 6th (24/Dal)
Out: Stecher (Edm), Zucker (Nsh), Dumba (TB); picks: 7th (24/Bos), 7th (25/Ari)
Buffalo 29-30-5 13th
In: Robinson (Clb), Byram (Col); prospects: Sjalin (Flo); picks: 4th (24/Phi), 4th (Min/25), 7th (24/Flo), 7th (25/Wsh); FC (Mtl)
Out: Lyubushkin (Ana), Mittelstadt (Col), Okposo (Flo), Johnson (Phi); prospects: Cederqvist (Mtl); picks: 7th (25/Nsh)
Calgary 31-26-5 9th
In: Kuzmenko (Van), Miromanov (Vgk), Okhotiuk (SJ); prospects: Jurmo (Van), Brzustewicz (Van), Grushnikov (Dal), Pettersen (Dal); picks: 1st (24/Van), 1st (26/Vgk), 2nd (24/Dal), 2nd (25/Vgk), 3rd (26/Van), 4th (24/NJ), 5th (24/Chi or better)
Out: Zadorov (Van), Lindholm (Van), Tanev (NJ-Dal); picks: 5th (24/Chi or better)
Chicago 16-42-5 16th
In: Beauvillier (Van), Pitlick (Pit); picks: 5th (24/Nsh)
Out: Beauvillier (Nsh); picks: 5th (24/Chi or better), 7th (26/Chi)
Columbus 22-31-10 16th
In: Nylander (Pit); prospects: Subban (Stl), Zboril (Bos); picks: 3rd (27/Bos), 4th (26/NYR), 6th (26/Pit), 7th (25/Nsh)
Out: Robinson (Buf), Peeke (Bos), Roslovic (NYR)
Minnesota 30-27-6 12th
In: Bogosian (TB); prospects: Raska (SJ), Butcher (Pit), Elson (NYR), Toporowski (Bos), Ovchinnikov (Tor); picks: 3rd (26/Col), 6th (26/Bos)
Out: Addison (SJ), Duhaime (Col), Maroon (Bos), Dewar (Tor); prospects: Cajkovic (Min), Petan (NYR)
Montreal 24-29-10 14th
In: Lindstrom (Det), Pearson (Van); prospects: Legare (Pit), Novak (Ott), Perreault (Ana), Cederqvist (Buf); picks: 1st (24/Win), 2nd (Pit/25), 2nd/3rd (25/NJ), 3rd (Van/25), 4th (Det or Bos/25)
Out: Pitlick (Pit), Hoffman (SJ), Allen (NJ); prospects: Mysak (Ana); FC (Buf)
New Jersey 31-28-4 11th
In: Allen (Mtl), Vanecek (SJ); prospects: Durandeau (NYI); picks: 2nd (25/Win), 3rd (24/Win), 4th (26/Dal), 4th (26/Win)
Out: Toffoli (Win), Kahkonen (SJ), Miller (Win); prospects: Thompson (NJ), Brady (Dal); picks 3rd/2nd (25/NJ)
Ottawa 25-32-4 15th
In: picks: 3rd (25/Flo), 4th (24/Flo); FC (Mtl)
Out: Tarasenko (Flo); prospects: Novak (Mtl)
Pittsburgh 28-25-8 12th
In: Karlsson (SJ), Pitlick (Mtl), Bemstrom (Clb), Bunting (Car); prospects: Hamaliuk (SJ), Rathbone (Van), Plasek (Van), Cajkovic (Min), Ponoarev (Car), Lucius (Car), Koivunen (Car), Waeber (Flo); picks: 2nd (24/Phi), 3rd (SJ/26), 5th (24/Car), 7th (25/Flo)
Out: DeSmith (Mtl), Pitlick (Chi), Nylander (Clb), Guentzel (Car), Ruhwedel (NYR); prospects: Legare (Mtl), Friedman (Van), Glover (Van), Butcher (Min); picks: 2nd (Pit/25), 4th (27/NYR), 6th (26/Pit)
Seattle 28-23-11 10th
In: Tatar (Col); picks: 2nd (24/NYR), 4th (25/Dal)
Out: Wennberg (NYR); picks: 5th (24/Sea)
San Jose 15-40-7 15th
In: Granlund (Pit), Rutta (Pit), Hoffman (Mtl), Addison (Min), Kahkonen (NJ), Kostin (Det); prospects: Studnicka (Van), Thompson (TB), Cooley (Buf), Edstrom (Vgk); picks: 1st (24/Pit), 1st (25/Vgk), 3rd (24/TB), 5th (24/Chi or better), 7th (25/NJ)
Out: Karlsson (Pit), Duclair (TB), Simek (Det), Okhotiuk (Cal), Vanecek (NJ); prospects: Hamaliuk (Pit), Raska (Min); picks: 3rd (SJ/26), 7th (24/NJ), 7th (25/SJ)
Washington 29-23-9 10th
In: picks: 2nd (24/Vgk), 3rd (24/NYI), 3rd (25/Car), 4th (26/Vgk), 5th (25/Chi)
Out: Mantha (Vgk), Edmundson (Tor), Kuznetsov (Car)
Buyers
Boston 37-13-15 2nd
In: Maroon (Min), Peeke (Clb)
Out: prospects: Toporowski (Min), Zboril (Clb); picks: 3rd (27/Bos), 6th (26/Bos)
Carolina 37-19-6 4th
In: Kase (Phi), Guentzel (Pit), Kuznetsov (Wsh), prospects: Burke (Col); picks: 6th (26/Tor)
Out: Bunting (Pit); prospects: Rizzo (Phi), Jones (Car), Slepets (Tor), Webber (Tor), Ponomarev (Pit), Lucius (Pit), Koivunen (Pit); picks: 2nd (24/Phi), 3rd (25/Car), 5th (24/Car), 5th (25/Car), 6th (24/Tor)
Colorado 39-20-5 4th
In: Tatar (Sea), Walker (Phi), Mittelstadt (Buf), Duhaime (Min), Trenin (Nsh); prospects: Jones (Car), Bardakov (NJ), Sward (Nsh); picks: 5th (24/Ana), 5th (25/Phi), 7th (24/Nsh)
Out: MacDermid (NJ), Byram (Buf); prospects: Burke (Car), Meyers (Ana); picks: 3rd (25/Col), 5th (24/Sea)
Dallas 38-17-9 2nd
In: Tanev (Cal-NJ); prospects: Brady (NJ), Damiani (Cal)
Out: prospects: Grushnikov (Cal); picks: 2nd (24/Dal), 4th (Dal/26)
Detroit 33-23-6 7th
In: Petry (Mtl-Pit), Simek (SJ)
Out: Lindstrom (Mtl), Kostin (Det); picks: 4th (Det or Bos/25), 7th (24/NJ)
Edmonton 38-21-2 5th
In: Henrique (Ana-TB), Carrick (Ana), Stecher (Ari); prospects: Taylor (TB); picks: 7th (24/Ana), 7th (24/Bos)
Out: picks: 1st (24/Edm), 4th (25/Edm), 5th (25/Edm), 7th (25/Flo), 7th (27/Edm)
Florida 43-17-4 1st
In: Tarasenko (Ott), Okposo (Buf); prospects: Hellberg (Pit)
Out: prospects: Sjalin (Buf), Waeber (Flo); picks: 3rd (25/Flo), 4th (24/Flo), 7th (24/Flo)
Los Angeles 32-19-11 6th
No moves
Nashville 36-25-3 7th
In: Beauvillier (Chi), Zucker (Ari); prospects: Hanzel (Col), Allison (Phi); picks: 3rd (25/Col)
Out: Trenin (Col), Gurianov (Phi); prospects: Sward (Col); picks: 5th (24/Nsh), 6th (24/Dal)
NYI 28-20-14 9th
In: Bortuzzo; prospects: Durandeau (NJ)
Out: prospects: Thompson (NJ); picks: 7th (24/NYI)
NYR 40-18-4 3rd
In: Wennberg (Sea), Ruhwedel (Pit), Roslovic (Clb); prospects: Petan (Min)
Out: prospects: Elson (Min); picks: 2nd (24/NYR), 4th (25/Dal), 4th (26/NYR), 4th (27/NYR)
Philadelphia 33-23-8 6th
In: Drysdale (Ana), Johansen (Col), Johnson (Buf), Gurianov (Nsh); prospects: Rizzo (Car); picks: 1st (25/Col), 2nd (25/Ana), 5th (24/Vgk), 5th (Car/25)
Out: Kase (Car), Walker (Col); prospects: Gauthier (Ana), Allison (Nsh); picks: 4th (24/Phi), 5th (26/Phi)
St. Louis 32-28-3 11th
In: FC (Clb)
Out: prospects: Subban (Clb)
Tampa Bay 33-25-6 8th
In: Duclair (SJ), Dumba (Ari); picks: 7th (25/Ari), 7th (25/Min), 7th (25/SJ)
Out: Bogosian (Min); prospects: Thompson (SJ); picks: 3rd (24/TB), 5th (27/TB)
Toronto 36-19-8 5th
In: Lyubushkin (Ana-Car), Edmundson (Wsh), Dewar (Min); prospects: Slepets (Car), Webber (Tor); picks: 5th (24/Van)
Out: Lafferty (Van); prospects: Ovchinnikov (Min); picks: 3rd (24/NYI), 3rd (25/Tor), 5th (25/Chi), 6th (24/Tor), 6th (26/Car)
Vancouver 41-17-7 1st
In: DeSmith (Pit-Mtl), Lafferty (Tor), Lindholm (Cal); prospects: Friedman (Pit), Glover (Pit), Cicek (SJ); picks: 5th (24/Chi or better), 6th (24/SJ)
Out: Pearson (Mtl), Beauvillier (Chi), Kuzmenko (Van); prospects: Rathbone (Pit), Plasek (Pit), Jurmo (Van), Brzustewicz (Van); picks: 1st (24/Van), 3rd (25/Van), 4th (24/NJ), 5th (24/Van)
Vegas 33-23-7 8th
In: Mantha (Wsh), Hanifin (Cal-Phi), Hertl (SJ); prospects: Vorobyov (Phi); picks: 3rd (25/SJ), 3rd (27/SJ)
Out: picks: 1st (25/Vgk), 1st (26/Vgk), 2nd (24/Vgk), 2nd (25/Vgk), 4th (26/Vgk), 5th (24/Vgk)
Winnipeg 39-17-5 3rd
In: Monahan (Mtl), Toffoli (NJ), Miller (NJ)
Out: 1st (24/Win), 2nd (25/Win), 3rd (24/Win), 4th (26/Win)
Going into the deadline, The Athletic‘s Dom Luszczyszyn wrote about five ‘buyer beware’ players and three of them were acquired: Dumba to Tampa, E. Johnson to Philadelphia, and Peeke to Boston. All three are big, physical defensemen, which is what’s in vogue and in the first two cases are purely rentals.
Other interesting notes: LA made no deals over this period (the only such team); Calgary acquired the most picks (7 and although one of those was traded away, 6 remains the most); Vegas surrendered the most (6). Teams that gave away 1st-round picks: Vegasx2 (Hertl, Hanifin), Edmonton (Henrique/Carrick), Winnipeg (Monahan), Pittsburgh (Karlsson), Vancouver (Lindholm), and Colorado (Walker; other than the Penguins these are all playoff teams). San Jose added the most NHL players (6), while they and Pittsburgh traded away the most (5 each). Pittsburgh also acquired the most prospects (8), while Carolina traded away the most (7). While the deadline was a dud for Ottawa, it was a busy time overall.
This article was written by Peter Levi
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