Traded Linus Ullmark traded to OTT for 25th, Kastelic and Korpisalo(25% retained)

[swiftwin]

Consider too that players (and their agents) contemplating a move to Ottawa may now regard Ottawa as a place to be, an up and coming young team with solid ownership and strong management, no longer a cluster-effed gong show. I'm certainly not claiming all the Sens issues have magically evaporated because there is still work to do. That said, you would be hard pressed to claim significant steps have not been made toward improving the team direction. Already a great summer with more moves to come. Pretty solid start!

Stop projecting. We already were a place to be. We landed a few big name free agents like Giroux and Tarasenko the last two seasons.

 

[PlayOn]

Wow it’s like a broken record. Yes alfie chewed him out.
And then….he was VERY good the rest of the way.
One of the best 4th liners we’ve had in a looong time.

I’m saying I like the trade. But kasty is a good relatively unique fourth liner.


Re signs. Almost 100%

Kastelic needa a veteran team anyway. He’s not fast, not that good defensively and struggles with consistency. There’s a lot he needs to work on. He’ll be a nice player if he can put it all together, but we need some more stability in that role right now anyway. We have enough centres that struggle with consistency and defense as it is.

 

[CallSaul]

Stop projecting. We already were a place to be. We landed a few big name free agents like Giroux and Tarasenko the last two seasons.

In fairness, Giroux signed here for family reasons and Tarasenko took the most money and trade control he could get and subsequently navigated his way to Florida. Other teams probably weren't offering him $5M + a full NMC.

With that said, I've always thought the narrative of "UFAs don't sign in Canada and Ottawa can't get anything" pretty tired. Every year, a lot of UFAs do sign in Canada.

I do think that with Andlauer and Staios at the helm, and now Ullmark in nets, potential defenseman will look at this team in a better light, though.

 

[swiftwin]

Wow it’s like a broken record. Yes alfie chewed him out.
And then….he was VERY good the rest of the way.
One of the best 4th liners we’ve had in a looong time.

I’m saying I like the trade. But kasty is a good relatively unique fourth liner.


Re signs. Almost 100%


Don’t see them. Whatever. He’s gone. And yes he’s just a fourth liner. Good luck to him.

I don't think he's a good 4th liner, but he does have the potential to be one. I wouldn't rule out a Nick Paul style progression. He's still young and has the tools to do it.

The problem is we desperately need veteran leadership in our bottom 6. We don't have room to allow Kastelic to make mistakes and grow.

I think he'll become a good NHLer, and Boston is a great landing spot for him.

 

[WallyD]

Korpi at 3mill is fine for a backup in Bos

been saying that someone would take him retained

Probably not an unacceptable contract but the RFA price of Swayman is likely going to be 8.5/AAV. That being the case Boston may not want 11.5 in goalies. I could see them playing Korpi to get his numbers up and then deciding if they keep or move him with improved numbers. 3M is not a high price for somebody if his numbers are decent. Last year's numbers just don't cut it. The proverbial ball is in Korpi's court.

 

[The Waffler]

Wow it’s like a broken record. Yes alfie chewed him out.
And then….he was VERY good the rest of the way.
One of the best 4th liners we’ve had in a looong time.

I’m saying I like the trade. But kasty is a good relatively unique fourth liner.


Re signs. Almost 100%


Don’t see them. Whatever. He’s gone. And yes he’s just a fourth liner. Good luck to him.

I saw it totally different. He has all the tools to be a great 4th liner (size, speed, good faceoff%) but he was not a difference maker on the ice when he was out there. You have a smaller, slower guy on his line in Parker Kelly out there making a much bigger impact every shift.

Kasty was just too soft, plain and simple. Failed the eye-test for me. But I believe if he finds that next gear he’ll a force to be reckoned with.

 

[Alf Silfversson]

I saw it totally different. He has all the tools to be a great 4th liner (size, speed, good faceoff%) but he was not a difference maker on the ice when he was out there. You have a smaller, slower guy on his line in Parker Kelly out there making a much bigger impact every shift.

Kasty was just too soft, plain and simple. Failed the eye-test for me. But I believe if he finds that next gear he’ll a force to be reckoned with.

Kastelic's skating really holds him back. He's too slow to get in on the forecheck. No use being 6'4 and 220 if you rarely get close to the other team's D. If his replacement is indeed Ostapchuk we will, after he learns just a little, get a big upgrade to the speed of our 4th line. Ostapchuk is smarter and grittier as well.

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

I suspect Ottawa wanted Kastelic included because he wasn't part of their plans going forward and was on 1-way money.

It doesn't hurt the Bruins to take him as their 12th-14th forward, but I doubt they targeted him. It was likely we will give you a 1st for Ullmark but you have to take these two pieces to make the salary work to us.

 

[Icelevel]

I saw it totally different. He has all the tools to be a great 4th liner (size, speed, good faceoff%) but he was not a difference maker on the ice when he was out there. You have a smaller, slower guy on his line in Parker Kelly out there making a much bigger impact every shift.

Kasty was just too soft, plain and simple. Failed the eye-test for me. But I believe if he finds that next gear he’ll a force to be reckoned with.

The last part of the season the 4th line was getting lots of shifts to create energy and drive things forward. They did that consistently and looked awesome most games.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

I like the trade. But we just love trading away our biggest strongest players and not caring eh?

He struggles to play big and strong consisntely.

 

[swiftwin]

In fairness, Giroux signed here for family reasons and Tarasenko took the most money and trade control he could get and subsequently navigated his way to Florida. Other teams probably weren't offering him $5M + a full NMC.

With that said, I've always thought the narrative of "UFAs don't sign in Canada and Ottawa can't get anything" pretty tired. Every year, a lot of UFAs do sign in Canada.

I do think that with Andlauer and Staios at the helm, and now Ullmark in nets, potential defenseman will look at this team in a better light, though.

I don't think players care as much about ownership and management as the fans do, as long as the team is willing to spend to the cap.

Just look at how many players want to play for Vegas despite the fact that management regularly stabs their players in the back.

Players care about which other players are on the team, and maybe who the coach is. There's no chance Giroux signs here if he thinks the team is a gong show. He singled out Brady and the youth movement of the team when signing here. He doesn't care about management or ownership. That's too long of a horizon. Players only care about the short term.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

I don't think players care as much about ownership and management as the fans do, as long as the team is willing to spend to the cap.

Just look at how many players want to play for Vegas despite the fact that management regularly stabs their players in the back.

Players care about which other players are on the team, and maybe who the coach is. There's no chance Giroux signs here if he thinks the team is a gong show. He singled out Brady and the youth movement of the team when signing here. He doesn't care about management or ownership. That's too long of a horizon. Players only care about the short term.

I think you're both right and wrong.

In general they want to get paid and have a chance to win which requires cap spending.

When things get as amateur hour in basically every area of the organization as it got under Melnyk, which is about an extreme of an example as we've seen in the NHL, I think players around the league take notice. I do think a lot of that went away when he passed though, not after Dorion was finally fired. At that point the stigma was gone and he only needed to go for performance reasons.

 

[swiftwin]

I think you're both right and wrong.

In general they want to get paid and have a chance to win which requires cap spending.

When things get as amateur hour in basically every area of the organization as it got under Melnyk, which is about an extreme of an example as we've seen in the NHL, I think players around the league take notice. I do think a lot of that went away when he passed though, not after Dorion was finally fired. At that point the stigma was gone and he only needed to go for performance reasons.

I agree. That's why I said as long as the team is willing to spend to the cap, which we were after Melnyk died.

In fact, the DeBrincat trade likely laid the foundation for signing Giroux.

 

[CallSaul]

I don't think players care as much about ownership and management as the fans do, as long as the team is willing to spend to the cap.

Just look at how many players want to play for Vegas despite the fact that management regularly stabs their players in the back.

Players care about which other players are on the team, and maybe who the coach is. There's no chance Giroux signs here if he thinks the team is a gong show. He singled out Brady and the youth movement of the team when signing here. He doesn't care about management or ownership. That's too long of a horizon. Players only care about the short term.

They don't care about who the owner and GM are, no, but they care about how the owner and GM act and how they treat players (in terms of communication, amenities, team services, etc).

You can only hide dysfunction at the top for so long, it eventually seeps into the day to day of everyone in the organization. Shit flows downstream. It was like that in Ottawa for a long time, just like it was like that in Arizona, Washington with the Commanders, etc.

Luckily things are looking up in that regard.

And for the Vegas example, their management group can be very cut throat when making decisions about who to sign or trade. But when a player is there, everything is first class.

 

[DrEasy]

The last part of the season the 4th line was getting lots of shifts to create energy and drive things forward. They did that consistently and looked awesome most games.

A lot of that had to do with the Katchouk acquisition.

 

[WallyD]

Interesting to hear on 32Thoughts that Friedman heard from a league executive that he doesn't think Ottawa was on Ullmark's No-Trade list because he didn't include them because they signed Korpi to a long term deal to #1 last year. Ottawa would have likely been added when submitting a new list next week.

That makes a ton of sense really. If you only have the ability to exclude (say) 10 destinations, it would be a smart move to not include a few spots where you logically assume there is very little likelihood of getting traded to. IOW, why waste a selection?

 

[The Waffler]

The last part of the season the 4th line was getting lots of shifts to create energy and drive things forward. They did that consistently and looked awesome most games.

The line, sure, maybe. I didn’t see it that way with Kastelic. We’ll have to agree to disagree on that one I suppose.

 

[StoicSensFan]

I found it hilarious that the clips shown in this TSN video have Ullmark making amazing saves but Korpisalo letting in horrible ones.

Ottawa Senators acquire Linus Ullmark from Boston Bruins | TSN

The Boston Bruins traded 2023 Vezina Trophy winning goaltender Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators on Monday in exchange for the Senators' 2024 first-round draft pick, forward Mark Kastelic and goaltender Joonas Korpisalo.

www.tsn.ca

 

[CallSaul]

I agree. That's why I said as long as the team is willing to spend to the cap, which we were after Melnyk died.

In fact, the DeBrincat trade likely laid the foundation for signing Giroux.

I think Giroux was coming here as soon as Philly chose to trade him instead of extending him. It was a life decision for him, his wife and kids. Not so much a "hockey" move.

Regardless, I think the Ottawa Senators in the summer of 2024 are a much more attractive destination than the Ottawa Senators in the summer of 2022.

I think they're also going to make much more thoughtful, considered decisions on who to bring in, and who to send out.

Debrincat was the definition of short-sighted thinking.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

I agree. That's why I said as long as the team is willing to spend to the cap, which we were after Melnyk died.

In fact, the DeBrincat trade likely laid the foundation for signing Giroux.

I think there are factors outside of simply cap spending that help swing the tide, but for sure it's the biggest factor and this organization has had a reputation of not doing that for the last ~15 years.

 

[WallyD]

Ya, its all about leverage now. Ullmark & his agent are in no rush and want to maintain as much leverage as possible. Ullmark can wait to see how lucrative the offer from Ottawa is, and if he likes it, he’ll sign. If not, he’ll move on to free agency.

Ullmark may also want to see what kind of team Staois puts together (i.e., other offseason additions like a RD), and/or how they play this year.

Has to be posturing... The last thing Ullmark would want is to risk having a suspect year numbers wise behind a weaker Ottawa d-core and then go UFA with those numbers. I can only guess that at his age he might want a sure thing, to strike while the iron is hot now and get his high price with certainty and security. The only reason he might not do so is if he needs Ottawa to prove to him that it is worth being here for that term. Big risk for him to take.

 

[Alf Silfversson]

Travis Green has got to be thrilled.

For those out there who like to place bets, you might want to place a longshot bet on Travis Green winning the Jack Adams this coming season.

It's not that I think he's that great a coach. I don't. I know not that much about his coaching and from what I do know he's hardly the second coming of Scotty Bowman. But here is the case for him being in the running:

1. Up until the coaching change last year we had next to no real NHL coaching. For most of our core this will be their first true NHL training camp.

2. After the coaching change we played at a 92 point (I believe) pace in the second half of the season. The team has a solid sample size of playing better than their total record of last year indicates. And that is with horrible goaltending. Which brings me to the third and final point.

3. Show me a good coach and I will show you a good goalie. This trade gives us a bona fide starter for the first time in a while.

Voters for the Jack Adams love year over year improvement. I think this team could approach the 100 point marker this year. And that would put Green in the running for Coach of the Year after 78 points last year.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

Well if we’re actually planning to re-sign him we should maybe get to doing it before Saros re-ups for big money.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Has to be posturing... The last thing Ullmark would want is to risk having a suspect year numbers wise behind a weaker Ottawa d-core and then go UFA with those numbers. I can only guess that at his age he might want a sure thing, to strike while the iron is hot now and get his high price with certainty and security. The only reason he might not do so is if he needs Ottawa to prove to him that it is worth being here for that term. Big risk for him to take.

I think this line of thinking has merit, and that's what his agent will tell him, but I doubt he thinks this way or is on the forefront of his mind. Everyone is different, but he likely has confidence in his ability and is sure he will show it when the time comes. I doubt he's thinking the bad what ifs himself, but the advice from the agent will likely be take the money now.

Ottawa has been a bit of a goalie graveyard, but lets be realistic about what was in play. Murray, Korpisalo and Forsberg all had red flags on their resume that aren't on Ullmark's. Murray with the injury issues and hard down year prior. Forsberg had bounced around and was mostly unspectacular. Korpisalo was a yo yo that mostly posted backup or below backup numbers, and got the deal off the back of an outlier season. Other guys they've had in the past like Nilsson, Condon, etc. were never really great prior either, so I think the Ottawa effect gets overstated a bit, and it's just non starters giving inconsistent performance in a lot of cases. They just haven't acquired guys that are capable, at that stage of their careers.

 

[DrEasy]

I found it hilarious that the clips shown in this TSN video have Ullmark making amazing saves but Korpisalo letting in horrible ones.

Ottawa Senators acquire Linus Ullmark from Boston Bruins | TSN

The Boston Bruins traded 2023 Vezina Trophy winning goaltender Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators on Monday in exchange for the Senators' 2024 first-round draft pick, forward Mark Kastelic and goaltender Joonas Korpisalo.

www.tsn.ca

Well, that's the material they had to work with...