A look ahead at pending free agents as Senators playoff chances fade away

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Once again, the Ottawa Senators find themselves in the mushy middle of the pre-trade deadline riddle, a distant 12 points out of a wild card playoff spot and 12 points ahead of NHL basement dwelling Columbus before Friday’s game against Toronto.

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With center Josh Norris’s season over and with coach DJ Smith confirming that goaltender Cam Talbot will be out until after the club’s 11-day break that begins next week with a lower body injury, the chances of making the post-season are all but over. Gone, too, are the pre-season hopes for playing “meaningful games” in March.

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While general manager Pierre Dorion has been spotted scouting around the league, possibly in search of a young defenseman in advance of the March 3 trade deadline, what will happen with the existing players whose contracts are set to expire?

Complicating matters, of course, is the on-going sales process of the team. There are few guarantees that an incoming ownership team will keep the existing management and coaching structure in place. A fresh ownership team will bring new ideas about how to work with the existing Senators core.

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With all that in mind, Postmedia takes a closer look at what the future could look like for the club’s pending restricted and unrestricted free agents.

Cam Talbot, UFA: After his impressive 7-3-0 run in December, he assumed the number one goaltending job ahead of Anton Forsberg. Come the New Year, though, he has stumbled with a 2-4-0 record, 3.50 goals against average and .882 save percentage. After pulling himself out of Wednesday’s 2-1 win over the New York Islanders with an injury, he won’t be back until after the break. Talbot, 35, has a salary cap hit of $3.67 million and might still be an insurance option for a team looking to make a long playoff run. Re-signing with the Senators seems less likely than it did only three weeks ago.

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Alex DeBrincat, RFA (with arbitration rights): His 2022-23 salary is $9 million ($6.4 million cap hit), which means the Senators would need a qualifying offer of $9 million to keep him in the summer. A team bent on an extended playoff run might extend an attractive package including a late first round pick (Ottawa sent the 2022 seventh overall pick, along with a second and third round selection to Chicago for DeBrincat last summer). Maybe if there was an extremely talented young defenseman involved, the Senators might bite on a deal, but the best option here is likely for the Senators to hold on until the summer and see if new ownership is ready to offer a lucrative long-term extension. .

Austin Watson, UFA: If Dorion is offered a late-round pick, Watson, 31, might receive the reward of going to a playoff-bound squad after being a good soldier during the Senators rebuild. Re-signing him isn’t likely. Scott Sabourin, who is currently tied for the goal-scoring lead with Belleville, could be a late-season replacement. Tyler Boucher, the Senators 2021 first round pick, has been injury and suspension-prone with the Ottawa 67’s, but has potential as a physical presence on a third or fourth line down the road.

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Dylan Gambrell, UFA: Has seen third and fourth line minutes filling injury voids, but with one goal in 28 games, he’ll likely be moving on at season’s end.

Shane Pinto, RFA: Pinto has limited options and to keep him, the Senators only need to offer him a qualifying offer of $874,000. If he’s in his ideal spot next season, serving as a third line center behind Norris and Tim Stutzle, a bridge deal of two or three seasons in the summer might make the most sense.

Derick Brassard, RFA: The savvy Gatineau native has largely performed as advertised, filling holes up front wherever necessary, scoring his seventh goal of the season Friday against Toronto. One of Brassard’s pre-season goals was to hit the 1,000-game mark and after Friday, he’s only 11 games shy. It would be a fitting end to a solid career.

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Travis Hamonic, UFA: From the very beginning of his career, rookie defenseman Jake Sanderson has found a comfort zone with Hamonic as his partner. Hamonic, who is finishing up a two-year, $6 million deal, has taken plenty of licks along the way and has been part of a solid penalty killing unit. If there is an interest in the 32-year-old at the trade deadline, it will be an intriguing call for the Senators. At some point, the Senators have to open up a spot to give Jacob Bernard-Docker an extended look to see if he can be an NHL regular next season.

Nick Holden, UFA: He’s currently seeing time alongside Chabot, but Holden has largely been a third pairing defender since coming from Vegas in the Evgenii Dadonov trade in 2021. If playoff-bound NHL teams are looking for a 35-year-old insurance policy for depth reasons, Holden might get a chance to chase a Stanley Cup.

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Erik Brannstrom, RFA (with arbitration rights): The intrigue continues. His skating is good, his defending has improved and he has proven he can handle the grind of the NHL, but he hasn’t shown he can consistently play among the top four. Somehow, a player who carried so much promise with his offensive skills has so few points. His assist Friday was his fourth of the season, to go along with no goals. In 159 games, he has scored twice with 33 assists. It would be a difficult decision, considering that he arrived in the Mark Stone trade, but is it finally time for the Senators to move on?

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