Until someone finds the actual quote in a radio spot, it's obviously made up.
On the topic of Jiricek to Ottawa, Greig or Pinto are the only two pieces that make sense. If we move either, it likely means that the market for Norris wasn't there.
Norris fits a need for Columbus, but I can't see them taking him as the center piece of a trade for a top prospect.
If it's Norris, we have to retain or take back a lot of bad money. I look at a trade like Dubois for Kuemper as a baseline. Norris doesn't have a NMC, and he is better on the ice than Dubois has been since what, the play-in round? But he also has a lot of risk because of the injuries.
Something like Merzlikins+Kuraly+Jiricek for Norris+Forsberg+2nd Round Pick
Kuraly for Forsberg is a close to cap neutral positional swap (Sens lose a C gain a G, CBJ lose a G gain a C). Neither factor into the value, they offset each other as both having little to no value but being useful.
So the trade is really Norris+2nd for Jiricek, but instead of retaining on Norris, the Senators take Merzlikins contract. Let's be super optimistic and say Norris has enough positive value with retention that it could be the difference between the value of a projected high 2nd for Jiricek.
With that said, I think Provorov makes more sense for Ottawa in a Norris trade because they need someone ready to plug and play into NHL minutes. I highly doubt Columbus would do Provorov for Norris, because I don't think they would want the contract of Norris, so it would have to be something more convoluted like Merzlikins+Provorov for Norris+Forsberg. That would be cap compliant for Ottawa and if you believe Columbus will get their ask of a late 1st for Provorov, it would be like giving up a late 1st+Merzlikins for Norris+Forsberg.