The Ottawa Senators Are A Mess With No Hope In Sight

In just a year, the Ottawa Senators have gone from Eastern Conference finalists to a complete mess

Ever since their elimination in the 2017 Eastern Conference finals, the Ottawa Senators have been trapped in a dark tunnel with no light in sight.

With the recent news between the significant others of Erik Karlsson and Matt Hoffman emerging this week, it just adds to the latest chapter of dark times in the Senators organization. Ottawa was so close to a Stanley Cup final a year ago. Since then, they have since seen the entire franchise completely unravel.

More from Puck Prose

From billboards around the city demanding the owner Eugene Melnyk sell the team, to Daniel Alfredsson, suggesting the same, to the dismantling of key playoff heroes of a year ago such as Marc Methot and Kyle Turris, to the dismantling still to come with the likes of Karlsson, Hoffman, Bobby Ryan, and others, to the failed Matt Duchene trade that could haunt the franchise for years to come, the Senators have become a mess.

The Senators are a complete mess with very little hope for the team’s foreseeable future. The team will have to move Hoffman, perhaps as early as next week’s draft. And Ottawa must do it with every team knowing they have to trade him. They also don’t want to pay Karlsson what he’s worth when he becomes an unrestricted free agent next summer, which suggests he’s likely to go this summer too.

Without Karlsson ,it doesn’t make much sense to hang onto Duchene giving he’ll be an unrestricted free agent next summer as well. With Ottawa entering a full rebuild it makes the most sense to acquire as many assets as possible which means trading Duchene. It’s hard to imagine Duchene would have any interesting in re-signing with a rebuilding team given it’s only thing he’s known since entering the league.

However, management would have to swallow their pride in trading Duchene less than a year after acquiring him. As a result of the deal, the Colorado Avalanche own Ottawa’s first-round draft pick next season, which given the rebuild the Senators are entering could be a top-five overall selection.

In order to avoid handing Colorado such a high pick, Ottawa could look to hang onto Duchene until next year’s trade deadline. The Senators would hope the center plays well enough to increase his trade value, while also keeping the club as competitive as possible.

The Senators failed to sell out their building a year ago when the club was in the third round of the playoffs against the game’s biggest name in Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The club might struggle to fill half of their building if Karlsson is dealt and the full rebuild officially begins.

Unfortunately, it appears as if the club has no choice but to start all over again. They don’t have enough cap space to pay Karlsson and put a competitive team around him. They also aren’t close enough to competing where it’d make sense to trade prospects and draft picks in an attempt to get better immediately. However, they also don’t have a first-round pick next season so it doesn’t benefit the team to tank either.

Next: Ranking Each NHL Team's All-Time Starting Lineup

For a team that was in the final four a season ago to the bottom four this season, the Senators are just beginning their dark times as the worst is still to come.

Home/Ottawa Senators