Hapless Senators gather for picture that tells story of a team in flux
Look to the left. Look to the right. Remember it all because it will never be the same again.
As the Ottawa Senators gathered Wednesday for the official 2017-18 team photo, there was no hiding the awkwardness.
Who will stay? Who will leave? Who will be traded in the summer? Whose contracts might be bought out?
Every new season brings at least some change, but after a year of non-stop turmoil and a nasty tumble down the NHL standings — the Senators are 29th overall — a radically different set of players will be attending training camp next September.
Owner Eugene Melnyk and general manager Pierre Dorion have talked vaguely about a “plan” for the future, centred on younger and likely less expensive players.
That leads us to Erik Karlsson, who was front and centre for Wednesday’s photo, sitting between Melnyk on his left and Dorion on his right.
Karlsson has been in the middle of it all since replacing Jason Spezza as captain in 2014-15, but it’s hardly a leap to suggest he could be elsewhere next season.
There’s calm on the Karlsson front after the annual trade deadline passed last week, but a new round of speculation will begin in advance of the NHL draft on June 22.
With Karlsson only a year from unrestricted free agency, will Melnyk open his wallet for somewhere in the range of US$80 million to US$100 million on an eight-year extension to keep his captain?
Even if Melnyk is willing to go there, a trade is the most likely outcome unless Dorion convinces Karlsson he will rebuild the Senators into a competitive squad as quickly as possible.
Should Karlsson slide out of the picture, expect Mark Stone to move into the spot in the middle, taking over as captain. Stone was three spots away from Karlsson on Wednesday, with Melnyk and head coach Guy Boucher on his right.
Stone, a pending restricted free agent, is headed into his own contract negotiation and could end up in the range of $8 million per season. It’s the type of deal likely to force Dorion to shed payroll in other areas.
Coincidentally, Bobby Ryan was stationed to Stone’s left for the photo. With $33 million remaining on his contract, Ryan is a candidate for a trade and Dorion could revisit the predeadline talks including him in a package with Karlsson.
A change in ownership could alter all of the above, of course, sending the Senators in yet another direction and perhaps bringing back some of the fans who have stopped buying tickets, weary of the air of despair.
Yet Melnyk, who took over the club from Rod Bryden in 2003, insists he’s not selling.
Looking up to the second row from the top for the photo, it was intriguing to see 36-yearolds Alex Burrows and Marian Gaborik side by side. It’s entirely possible Melnyk could choose this summer to buy out what remains of their contracts.
Burrows broke a 36-game goalscoring drought by scoring in Las Vegas on Friday night. Gaborik has one goal and one assist in 10 games since joining the Senators in the trade that sent defenceman Dion Phaneuf to the Los Angeles Kings.
Phaneuf and centre Derick Brassard, who was dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins before the trade deadline, were key players for the 2016-17 team that got within one goal of the Stanley Cup Final.
Who would gave guessed they would effectively be replaced by minor-league veterans Erik Burgdoerfer and Jim O’Brien in this year’s end-of-season picture?
Not Burgdoerfer and O’Brien. “Realistically, I don’t think anyone would have thought I would be here,” said Burgdoerfer, who has played in three NHL games over nine professional seasons, including one with the Senators this season.
“I’m happy to be here, kind of waiting for my time and trying to get some positivity going here.”
It’s déjà vu for O’Brien. Drafted by the Senators in 2007, he played what he thought was his last game with Ottawa in 2013. After spending most of this season with their American Hockey League team in Belleville, he signed an NHL contract last week.
“I guess I never would have thought that,” O’Brien said of appearing in the 2018 Senators photo. “But I guess you never really know what’s going to happen anymore.”
Indeed. We really won’t know what’s going to happen to the picture until summer arrives.
Realistically, I don’t think anyone would have thought I would be here. I’m happy to be here, kind of waiting for my time and trying to get some positivity going here.