Latest news with #Senators'
Vancouver Sun
02-07-2025
- Business
- Vancouver Sun
Ottawa Senators are home sweet home for Claude Giroux and his family
Home is where Claude Giroux's heart is. The Senators' alternate captain confirmed on Wednesday that he studied other options around the National Hockey League before signing a one-year deal that will pay him a base salary of $2 million US, with the opportunity to earn up to $4.75 million with bonuses. That's a significant cut from the $6.5 million that Giroux made in the final year of the deal he signed on July 1, 2022. Giroux came here three years ago to help the Senators take the next step, and he wants to be part of the solution after the club made the playoffs in the spring. In the end, it would have been too difficult for Giroux to walk away because there is unfinished business with the Senators. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. 'A lot of work was put into the last three years, and it wasn't always fun,' Giroux said. 'But it was the steps that needed to be made. The relationships I have with the guys on the team are very important to me, and it's something I want to see through. 'I just want to get started here.' The 37-year-old Giroux didn't expect the contract negotiation would take as long as it did, but that's the business side of the game. The Senators held their initial talks with his Los Angeles-based agent Pat Brisson in mid-May, but the deal didn't get done until 48 hours before July 1. Steve Staios, the club's president of hockey operations and general manager, stated on Tuesday that the negotiations with Giroux were difficult because the Senators hold him in high regard. 'It was one of the most challenging starts to the negotiation because you want to be fair to the player,' Staios said. 'What is that number? Not to get into specifics, but as we went through the process, the goal is to grow the team and be able to win. 'To do that, you need to manage the cap and the salary properly.' But Staios stated it was the hometown discount that Giroux took, which allowed the Senators to sign veteran centre Lars Eller to a $1.25 million deal with bonuses of $1 million in free agency. There was a point when Giroux was looking around to see what might be a good fit if he did decide to leave Ottawa. The belief is as many as 10 teams would have knocked on Giroux's door, including the Montreal Canadiens. 'When you go into free agency, you have to look at your options. That's just life,' said Giroux. 'But every time that my family talked about it, it always came down to that we like it here. We like the fans. I love my teammates. We like everything about it. So the more we talked, we talked about it, and it's something we wanted.' Giroux had no interest in uprooting his family for the guarantee of a little more term or cash elsewhere. The Senators wanted a one-year deal from the outset of the negotiation, and he had no issue with that. His wife, Ryanne, along with their children, Gavin, Palmer and Charlie, are settled here. 'It's not really about the money. It's what we've built the last few years,' Giroux said. 'It's not going to be easy next year; teams are going to be waiting for us. We still have a lot of work to do, but it's the work that I want to do with my teammates, and I'm excited about it. 'So, we can look at our team right now and be like, 'Oh, we're for sure going to make the playoffs, and for sure we're going to go to the second round'. It doesn't work like that. But it's a challenge that I personally, and my teammates, are looking forward to.' He enjoys being at the rink with the likes of captain Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Shane Pinto, Thomas Chabot, Drake Batherson, Jake Sanderson, David Perron and Dylan Cozens, just to name a few. He knows this group can go further, and he understands his role will change. 'I wouldn't sign here if I didn't think we could do that,' Giroux said. 'I trust and believe in my teammates a lot. It's guys that I want to go to battle with, guys I want to be around every day with, and they chirp me every day. But coming to the rink is a lot of fun. 'And for me, that was a big part of the decision, because if you come to the rink every day and you're not enjoying yourself, it's not fun. Since I signed here, it hasn't felt like a job once, and I don't think it will.' bgarrioch@
Calgary Herald
02-07-2025
- Business
- Calgary Herald
Ottawa Senators are home sweet home for Claude Giroux and his family
Article content Home is where Claude Giroux's heart is. Article content The Senators' alternate captain confirmed on Wednesday that he studied other options around the National Hockey League before signing a one-year deal that will pay him a base salary of $2 million US, with the opportunity to earn up to $4.75 million with bonuses. Article content Article content That's a significant cut from the $6.5 million that Giroux made in the final year of the deal he signed on July 1, 2022. Giroux came here three years ago to help the Senators take the next step, and he wants to be part of the solution after the club made the playoffs in the spring. Article content Article content In the end, it would have been too difficult for Giroux to walk away because there is unfinished business with the Senators. Article content Article content 'A lot of work was put into the last three years, and it wasn't always fun,' Giroux said. 'But it was the steps that needed to be made. The relationships I have with the guys on the team are very important to me, and it's something I want to see through. Article content 'I just want to get started here.' Article content The 37-year-old Giroux didn't expect the contract negotiation would take as long as it did, but that's the business side of the game. The Senators held their initial talks with his Los Angeles-based agent Pat Brisson in mid-May, but the deal didn't get done until 48 hours before July 1. Article content Steve Staios, the club's president of hockey operations and general manager, stated on Tuesday that the negotiations with Giroux were difficult because the Senators hold him in high regard. Article content Article content 'It was one of the most challenging starts to the negotiation because you want to be fair to the player,' Staios said. 'What is that number? Not to get into specifics, but as we went through the process, the goal is to grow the team and be able to win. Article content 'To do that, you need to manage the cap and the salary properly.' Article content But Staios stated it was the hometown discount that Giroux took, which allowed the Senators to sign veteran centre Lars Eller to a $1.25 million deal with bonuses of $1 million in free agency. Article content There was a point when Giroux was looking around to see what might be a good fit if he did decide to leave Ottawa. The belief is as many as 10 teams would have knocked on Giroux's door, including the Montreal Canadiens. Article content 'When you go into free agency, you have to look at your options. That's just life,' said Giroux. 'But every time that my family talked about it, it always came down to that we like it here. We like the fans. I love my teammates. We like everything about it. So the more we talked, we talked about it, and it's something we wanted.'
Ottawa Citizen
02-07-2025
- Business
- Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa Senators are home sweet home for Claude Giroux and his family
Article content The Senators' alternate captain confirmed on Wednesday that he studied other options around the National Hockey League before signing a one-year deal that will pay him a base salary of $2 million US, with the opportunity to earn up to $4.75 million with bonuses. Article content Article content That's a significant cut from the $6.5 million that Giroux made in the final year of the deal he signed on July 1, 2022. Giroux came here three years ago to help the Senators take the next step, and he wants to be part of the solution after the club made the playoffs in the spring. Article content Article content In the end, it would have been too difficult for Giroux to walk away because there is unfinished business with the Senators. Article content Article content 'A lot of work was put into the last three years, and it wasn't always fun,' Giroux said. 'But it was the steps that needed to be made. The relationships I have with the guys on the team are very important to me, and it's something I want to see through. Article content 'I just want to get started here.' Article content The 37-year-old Giroux didn't expect the contract negotiation would take as long as it did, but that's the business side of the game. The Senators held their initial talks with his Los Angeles-based agent Pat Brisson in mid-May, but the deal didn't get done until 48 hours before July 1. Article content Steve Staios, the club's president of hockey operations and general manager, stated on Tuesday that the negotiations with Giroux were difficult because the Senators hold him in high regard. Article content Article content 'It was one of the most challenging starts to the negotiation because you want to be fair to the player,' Staios said. 'What is that number? Not to get into specifics, but as we went through the process, the goal is to grow the team and be able to win. Article content 'To do that, you need to manage the cap and the salary properly.' Article content But Staios stated it was the hometown discount that Giroux took, which allowed the Senators to sign veteran centre Lars Eller to a $1.25 million deal with bonuses of $1 million in free agency. Article content There was a point when Giroux was looking around to see what might be a good fit if he did decide to leave Ottawa. The belief is as many as 10 teams would have knocked on Giroux's door, including the Montreal Canadiens. Article content 'When you go into free agency, you have to look at your options. That's just life,' said Giroux. 'But every time that my family talked about it, it always came down to that we like it here. We like the fans. I love my teammates. We like everything about it. So the more we talked, we talked about it, and it's something we wanted.'
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Towering Utah Defenceman Would Be Ideal Senators Trade Target
Injuries to Artem Zub and Nick Jensen highlighted the Ottawa Senators' need for greater quality of depth on the right side throughout the 2024-25 season. Their absences created opportunity, and to his credit, Nik Matinpalo parlayed his emergence as a credible depth option into a two-year, one-way extension carrying an average annual value of $875,000. Despite the 26-year-old Finn's arrival, the reluctance of the coaching staff to move Matinpalo off the third pairing when faced with injuries underscores the necessity of finding better quality of depth. It is essential with the uncertainty of Jensen's recovery and timetable from his undisclosed lower-body injury and the impact it may have on his offseason. Bookmark The Hockey News Ottawa and never miss the latest Senators news, interviews, columns, features and more. General manager Steve Staios discussed Jensen's injury at his end-of-the-season media availability before acknowledging that it could influence his decision to address the right defence position this offseason. "I can tell you that just about every one of our players was dealing with something when you play as hard as they did," the general manager stated. "The commitment they've shown, they played through a lot, including Nick. He's an absolute warrior to continue to perform at a level with what he was dealing with. "It's the character of the individual Nick, but all of them. I'm not going to come out with any list and speak specifically to injuries. But, he will get re-evaluated, and if it is something significant, that's definitely an area to to look at. We have some players coming up, but that'll be an area to look at for sure." Should the Senators' front office look to add another quality defenceman, the free agent options will be limited. The Florida Panthers' Aaron Ekblad headlines the class, but the relatively weak crop of free agents means his combination of age (29) and championship pedigree will make him highly sought after. The demand for him will drive his cost, likely pricing him out of the Senators' range, assuming he would be interested in coming to this market in the first place. Another unrestricted free agent who will likely command some decent money coming off a strong season in Columbus is Dante Fabbro. The 26-year-old rearguard had his best season in the NHL, recording nine goals and 26 points in 62 games for the Blue Jackets. As one of the youngest players on the free agent market, that consideration alone will afford Fabbro a real opportunity to earn a significant raise on this season's $2.5 million salary. Regarding the Senators, I do not see a fit for Fabbro. Most of his value is tied to his puck-moving and offensive abilities, and with the presence of Thomas Chabot, Jake Sanderson and Nick Jensen, the Senators already have several of these types. Adding size, physicality, and defensive aptitude to their top four should be the preferred route. A free agent like Nick Perbix could make more sense, but the risk is that he predominantly played a third-pairing role on an excellent Lightning team. HockeyViz's data show that his minor isolated impacts suggest he's closer to a league-average player than not, so the risk is overpaying for a defenceman who could be worse playing an elevated role on a weaker team. The rest of the unrestricted free agent options are underwhelming, which will pressure the Senators to make a trade and fill that void. Local talent Mackenzie Weegar would be a pipe dream if the Senators could pry him out of Calgary, but a Flames defenceman they should avoid is Rasmus Andersson. The 28-year-old Swede will enter the 2025-26 season in the final year of his six-year contract, carrying a $4.55 million cap hit. Calgary is known for its 'Sea of Red', but a close inspection of Andersson's underlying metrics reveals its own sea of red. Andersson played with a broken fibula down the stretch last season, which would have explained his horrendous metrics, but Andersson's defensive metrics have cratered in recent seasons. Evolving-Hockey's 'total defence' metric (DEF) combines all of a player's defensive contributions at five-on-five and shorthanded into a single value. This proprietary metric shows that Andersson has not created positive defensive value since the 2021-22 season. His performance while playing hurt could help the Senators buy low, but if Andersson's defensive metrics continue to suffer, it would put the team in a difficult position. The Senators already have one of the thinnest farm systems in the league, so they can ill afford to trade prospect capital or valuable draft currency for a player who will not address a need. If the Senators are going to move that capital, they would be better suited moving picks for more predictable veterans like Connor Murphy or Andrew Peeke. Alternatively, they could target younger options who could grow with this core, like Simon Nemec or a Jordan Spence (who, admittedly, is a smaller puck-moving type who relies on skating and his stick to defend well). While researching prospective defencemen to target, one of the things that struck me was how many organizations are willing to use defencemen on their off-side. One solution for the Senators could be to use Tyler Kleven in this capacity, freeing them from using resources to bring in a top-four defenceman. Kleven has experience playing his off-side from his time at the University of North Dakota. The maturation and growth that he displayed down the stretch and into the postseason was remarkable. He was already one of the team's best defenders, but watching his poise and play with the puck improve markedly leaves me wondering whether or not he could thrive in this role if given the opportunity. The Senators could elevate Kleven and sign an excellent defender like Jon Merrill, giving the Senators three strong pairings. If the Senators elect to acquire a right-shot defenceman, however, there is an option that they should consider pursuing. Why 2024-25 Was The Best Season Yet For Senators Centre Tim Stützle Ottawa Senators centre Tim Stützle just enjoyed the best season of his NHL career. If you are a regular viewer of the 'Coming in Hot Podcast' and saw yesterday's episode, you will have seen me mention the name of Michael Kesselring. The 25-year-old right-shot defenceman stands at 6'5" and 216 lbs. He registered seven goals and 29 points in 82 games while averaging 17:41 of ice time per game. Kesselring finished tied for 32nd amongst NHL defencemen in blocked shots with 124 while tying for 69th in hits with 87. His most iconic NHL moment occurred during a tilt in which the Maple Leafs' Simon Benoit attempted a Superman punch, but Kesselring possesses a nice mix of traditional hockey stats and analytics. Although he played almost exclusively with noted analytics darling and legendary Senators defenceman Ian Cole, Kesselring's defensive numbers were strong. When Kesselring was on the ice at five-on-five, Utah generated 53.91 percent of shots (CF%), 53.79 percent of the shots on goal (SF%), 56.47 percent of the goals (GF%), and 54.05 percent of the expected goals (xGF%) per NaturalStatTrick. According to HockeyViz's data, Utah was a stronger defensive team with Kesselring on the ice than off it. Evolving-Hockey's data substantiate Kesselring's defensive gains. According to their DEF metric, Kesselring posted his first positive season of defensive value, accumulating the second-highest DEF among Utah's regular defencemen behind Olli Maata. Advanced Hockey Stats also recognized his defensive improvements. Kesselring is entering the last year of his two-year contract, worth a real and average annual value of $1.4 million. He has one year left of restricted free agent status before he can become an unrestricted free agent, meaning, he should have some negotiating leverage on his next deal. It may also represent the last opportunity to acquire Kesselring before his value and price tag go up significantly. If the belief is that his offensive value can be preserved while his defensive aptitude continues to trend up, he could be an interesting target for consideration. Given the alternatives, it may not be a bad bet. Graeme NicholsThe Hockey News Ottawa Bookmark The Hockey News Ottawa and never miss the latest Senators news, interviews, columns, features and more.
New York Times
14-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Could the Senators tender an offer sheet this summer? Mailbag, part 2
We are back with more of your questions from the Senators mailbag. If you missed the first batch of responses, here's part one from Monday morning. This one has insights on the Senators' offer-sheet situation, potential selections for the Sens at No. 21 in next month's draft and what it's like covering the Senators compared to previous beats. (Note: Questions have been lightly edited for length and clarity.) Advertisement St. Louis showed how to properly do an offer sheet. You can make your team better by making another team worse off; that's a win. So, can you look at some offer sheet options for the Sens? I kind of like Matthew Knies. Great player, and Toronto has to think about Marner, Tavares and some other players. Why not offer-sheet him? Who else? — Norm M. I'd keep my expectations low on a potential offer sheet, Norm. The Senators are likely to keep their 2025 first-round pick, meaning they'll have to give up the 2026 first-round pick as a penalty for the Evgenii Dadonov trade mishap. The Senators also don't own their 2026 second-round pick (unless they swing a deal with Utah to get it back). So they're ineligible to make an offer sheet beyond the lowest two compensation thresholds as shown below. But while offer-sheeting players like Matthew Knies or J.J. Peterka seems pretty unlikely, it doesn't mean there aren't restricted free agents worth looking at. Remember, the Blues took advantage of the Oilers being pressed against the salary cap limit last summer and managed to get two RFAs. Dylan Holloway, who scored 63 points last year, only cost a third-round pick with a $2,290,457 cap hit through 2026. Defenceman Philip Broberg, their other capture, cost a second-round pick. If the Senators want to replicate this, they must look at competitive teams that won't have much room to maneuver despite the rising salary cap. The Dallas Stars are a prime example. They are projected to have under $6 million of cap space this summer, according to PuckPedia, with a handful of pending UFAs on their docket, including Jamie Benn, Mikael Granlund, Matt Duchene and, ironically, Dadonov. If I'm the Senators, I consider tendering an offer sheet to right-shot forward Mavrik Bourque, who's coming off an 11-goal, 25-point season. He plays with pace and can be a playmaker, and could benefit from increased responsibilities on a different team. Advertisement The Buffalo Sabres, on the other hand, will have over $21 million in cap space this summer to sign pending RFAs, including forwards J.J. Peterka, Ryan McLeod, and Jack Quinn, plus defencemen Bowen Byram and Jacob Bernard-Docker. My Buffalo colleague Matt Fairburn did an excellent job breaking down the Sabres' RFA situation earlier this month. Depending on how much the Sabres will dole out to their players (particularly Peterka and Byram), the Sens should monitor the situation. Quinn is due for a raise after a 15-goal, 39-point season, for example. The New York Rangers will have slightly over $8.4 million in cap space this summer and most of their attention will go towards defenceman K'Andre Miller. But what about forward Will Cuylle, a 23-year-old scoring winger who hit the 20-goal mark for the first time this season? He might be a bit out of Ottawa's price range, however. He's projected for a three-year, $3,438,000 AAV bridge deal according to AFP Analytics. If the Sens want to involve themselves in the projected offer-sheet rat race to come, the Blues' model is one to follow. But their options may be limited depending on how other teams handle their own free agents, and how other free-spending teams pounce on the available names out there. One more thing: the team offers the contract, but the player decides if he wants to sign or not. So, provided they're keeping their 21st overall this draft, who's their likely pick? Who might slide that far? What are the odds they trade down/out of the first round? Basically, your idea of their first round and possible candidates. — Andrey I. The Senators are currently going through their scouting meetings, so they're actively considering their possibilities as you read this. I'll work at getting a better sense of what the Senators might want soon. If I'm in the room, I'm pounding the table and consistently chanting, 'Best. Player. Available.' Advertisement The Senators' draft pipeline is still among the league's worst, according to colleague Scott Wheeler's annual rankings. Considering the Senators are still at risk of not having a first-round pick in 2026 — and have ambitions of that 2026 pick being lower than their 2025 first — this pick has to hit. I'm not particularly choosy about who the Sens should take at 21st overall as long as their talent is sufficient enough to vault them to the top of Ottawa's prospect pipeline. The Sens could use some more centres in their pipeline, but it's quite alright if their top two prospects end up being two right-shot defencemen (Carter Yakemchuk and someone else). Ottawa needs to accumulate good young players when they can get them, at a point where their contention window is forming and they don't aspire to be picking in the top half of the draft for the foreseeable future. If the best player available is the high-scoring, playmaking Ben Kindel out of the Calgary Hitmen, so be it. A two-way, right-shot centre who can generate points should be right up the Sens' alley. When Wheeler did his mock draft after the lottery, he projected the Senators would take the bigger Jack Nesbitt, who could also fit the bill, with Kindel going one spot later. Corey Pronman's mock draft has the Sens taking right-shot defenceman Blake Fiddler out of the WHL's Edmonton Oil Kings. Among other prospects who could be available at No. 21: forwards Malcolm Spence, Milton Gastrin, Lynden Lakovic and Justin Carbonneau and defencemen Henry Brzustewicz and Logan Hensler. If I'm the Senators, unless I'm getting a trade offer that nets me a quality player in return, I'm choosing a surefire first-round talent. How can we realistically afford adding a third star forward to Brady and Stu? — Matt R. If GM Steve Staios is serious about adding a star for the Senators, I think it would have to come via trade. The biggest star likely to test free agency this summer, Mitch Marner, might not want to join forces with his current team's rival. The Senators will have over $17 million in cap space this summer, but they need to tender contracts to restricted free agents Fabian Zetterlund and Tyler Kleven and handle the UFA dossiers of Claude Giroux, Adam Gaudette and others. Advertisement And even through trade, potential pieces are somewhat limited. The Sens have their 2025 first-round pick and Yakemchuk among their biggest pieces. In Monday's mailbag, I debated the merit of trading scoring winger Drake Batherson, who has a team-friendly deal. But unless the Sens get scoring or some other kind of star player in return, it doesn't make much sense — but it's not impossible. So, yeah, Staios would have to be creative this summer if that's what he wants, but it's not like he is averse to making trades. He landed Zetterlund and Dylan Cozens at the deadline this season and acquired Linus Ullmark last summer. Julian, anything unique about covering the Sens as a reporter? What's it like in the room at these press conferences? Where do you get to watch the home games from? What is the quickest and slowest you've ever left the parking lot after the game? Or are you taking the 404? — James S. Ottawa is the third NHL team I've been around since I started writing about the Canadiens back in 2018 for a ton of places before joining The Athletic in 2021. Every media corps is unique, but Ottawa has tons of great quirks. It features voices I've grown up watching or listening to, whether it be Brent Wallace or Dean Brown (oh, and that Mendes guy). The francophone media contingent isn't as large as Montreal's, but they're well represented. And because I can speak English and French, I can hang around in their scrums and ask questions as well. I learned French in school growing up, but I only felt comfortable speaking the language when I hung around francophone colleagues in Montreal and Ottawa. And the friends I've made are plenty, including familiar names to The Athletic subscribers in Chris Stevenson and Graeme Nichols. (Small story on Nichols: In 2017, I was a play-by-play guy for McGill University's baseball team that won a championship in New Brunswick. McGill beat Carleton in the final that year, the latter of which featured Nichols as a bench coach.) Anyway, everybody's been pretty friendly and professional across the Sens' mediaverse, whether they be writers, TV people, radio people, podcasters, former players, current players, the coach, PR people or even Bruce Garrioch! This entire experience has been great. At games, I'm seated right below the visiting team's play-by-play booth, so I get commentary right above me as I watch. My favourite seat in the house. I usually leave games pretty late. I love writing off games and media availabilities at the arena, so I rarely get traffic on my way home. Advertisement So yes, Ottawa's been pretty great! But for those rushing to the comment section: No, I won't rank Ottawa, Montreal and Calgary. All three of these cities mean a lot to me for very different reasons and have helped me become the person I am today. (Top photo of Mavrik Bourque: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
