Ottawa Senators: Grading the seemingly confusing Derek Stepan trade

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Derek Stepan #21 of the Arizona Coyotes. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

There are multiple facets to the Derek Stepan to Ottawa Senators trade.

The Ottawa Senators made quite the splash on Saturday when they sent a Second Round pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft to the Arizona Coyotes for veteran forward Derek Stepan.

It was a transaction that left a lot confused, particularly Senators fans, but I detailed here how it could be a smart move given that Stepan will be an ideal role model for the franchise’s plethora of young guns.

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We have also looked at it from the perspective of the Arizona Coyotes, who offloaded an expiring contract of an aging forward for a Second Round selection, which is an absolute home run for a franchise who have a depleted assets pool.

However, while many will declare the Coyotes as the clear winners in this deal, we are going to look at the transaction closely from all sides, before attempting to give it a final grade.

Let’s delve right in…

What this means for Stepan and the Sens

Firstly, this was a trade somewhat out of left field given that the Ottawa Senators are in full-on rebuild mode right now and are busily building for the future.

Therefore, trading a valuable 2021 Second Round pick for a 30-year-old forward who has been on the decline offensively was a bit confusing, especially when you consider that Derek Stepan has one-year left on his current deal with a $6.5 million cap hit.

However, when you actually drill down into the details and get right down in the weeds, this trade does make some sense for the Senators.

The main aspect of this deal that matters from an Ottawa Senators perspective is the fact that Stepan should be a perfect fit in the locker room with this young core.

Currently building for the future with a talent-laden core that features Brady Tkachuk, Colin White, Thomas Chabot, Logan Brown, Erik Brannstrom and now Tim Stuetzle, Stepan can come in and be a mentor and a real role model for that young crew.

He can take the likes of Tkachuk, Brown and Stuetzle under his wing and guide them through the trials and tribulations of a gruelling NHL season, which will be hugely beneficial for Stuetzle in particular given that he is just about to embark on his rookie year in the NHL.

Stepan has experienced pretty much everything throughout his 10-year NHL career, going to the Stanley Cup Final and a couple of Eastern Conference Finals with the New York Rangers, while he also had to deal with the pressure of being an Alternate Captain under the bright lights of Broadway.

So, therefore, Stepan can be on hand to impart wisdom and knowledge on to his young colleagues from a career that has featured 479 points (167 G, 312 A) in 739 career NHL regular season games, while the right shot will be an important glue guy in what is a very young locker room.

After all, when things go wrong, and they will for a youthful and inexperienced rebuilding team, you need a level head to help stop things from imploding and Derek Stepan will be that for the Ottawa Senators.

Plus, while his production has regressed somewhat over the last two seasons, he did record five straight years of 50 plus points, including 56 (14 G, 42 A) as recently as 2017-18, while the center can log big minutes and play in all situations including on the power play and on the penalty kill.

And, for Stepan, this is a chance for the forward to breathe new life into his career, potentially put up biggish numbers and boost both his stock and his market value before becoming a UFA in 2021.

Overall, expect Derek Stepan to play a key role and be a vital glue guy for the Ottawa Senators in 2020-21, although the price they had to pay will still leave a lot of people somewhat baffled, which leads us nicely to…

What this means for the Coyotes

This is a home run of a deal for the Arizona Coyotes and new General Manager Bill Armstrong, who has quite the task when it comes to turning this beleaguered franchise around.

However, Armstrong is off to a good start by getting back a much-needed Second Round pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft for an aging forward in Derek Stepan who has regressed offensively somewhat over the last two years.

Yes, Stepan was a leader and a well-respected presence in that Coyotes locker room, but they have other players who can fill that leadership void, including Phil Kessel, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

The Coyotes will also have to find a replacement for Stepan on the second-line, but the veteran’s departure should just open the doors for Barrett Hayton to take on a much-bigger role with the team and really fulfil his lofty potential.

No, parting ways with Stepan was the right price to pay for the Coyotes in order to start re-stocking an assets pool that has been significantly depleted.

After being found guilty of violating the NHL’s Combine Testing Policy, the Arizona Coyotes had to forfeit a Second Round pick in 2020 and a 2021 First Round selection, while the franchise also cut all ties with Mitchell Miller, their top pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft (111th overall) after the defenseman was revealed to have once bullied a Black classmate, Isaiah Meyers-Crothers, who was also developmentally disabled.

So, by trading an aging center who was in the final year of his six-year, $39,000,000 contract, the Coyotes have recouped a crucial draft pick that can be used to help start bolstering a farm system that lacks any real talented gems or elite game-changers currently.

The other significant part of this deal for Arizona is the fact that they have now cleared some vital cap space.

Although the majority of Stepan’s $6.5 million cap hit in 2020-21 was already paid through a signing bonus, the Coyotes are now back under the flat cap of $81.5 million and have around just over $3 million in cap space according to CapFriendly, a situation that will only get better once Marian Hossa‘s contract is off the books after the 2020-21 season.

So, while there is a hell of a lot of work still to be done by Bill Armstrong, the Arizona Coyotes are all of a sudden in a much better position when it comes to both cap space and draft capital, all because of dealing Derek Stepan to the Ottawa Senators.

Final Grade

Now we’ve looked at it from both sides, as well as what this means for the long-term future of Derek Stepan the player, let’s now attempt to give this trade a final grade.

We will do this by giving it two overall grades, one for the Ottawa Senators and one for the Arizona Coyotes.

We’ll start off with the Senators who get a much-needed veteran and natural leader for that young locker room, in addition to a player in Derek Stepan who can be a productive top-six forward for them while playing in all situations.

However, giving up a 2021 Second Round pick for a 30-year-old center who has seen his production drop in each of the last two seasons is a bit of a puzzling one, especially for a team in the midst of a deep and long rebuild.

Therefore, it is hard to give anything but a low grade to the Ottawa Senators for this deal given that they could have selected another young stud with high upside with that pick so, with that in mind, we have no choice but to do this:

. Ottawa Senators. . team. 91. . C-

As for the Arizona Coyotes, well new General Manager Bill Armstrong managed to accomplish a couple of goals by moving Derek Stepan.

Not only did he somehow acquire a Second Round pick for an expiring contract for a team that desperately needs draft selections and assets, he also cleared Stepan’s $6.5 million cap hit off the books and didn’t have to give up anything else with it in order to get it done.

Plus, by moving an aging 30-year-old center who has been in decline, there is now a spot open on the second line for the likes of Barrett Hayton or perhaps another young prospect in the farm system to rise up and make it their own.

But, overall, clearing an expiring contract and getting a valuable Second Round pick back in return is a home run of a deal for Armstrong, who has a lot of work to do when it comes to making this Coyotes team a consistent Playoff team, let alone anything else.

121. . A+. . Arizona Coyotes. . team

So, there you have it, a complete breakdown of the Derek Stepan trade which certainly raised more than a few eyebrows when it went down on Saturday.

Next. The Coyotes stole a second round pick for Stepan. dark

It is an instant win for the Arizona Coyotes who needed some draft capital, while we will see how this risky transaction pans out for the rebuilding Ottawa Senators over the course of the 2020-21 NHL season, but they are already well up against it given the hefty price they paid.

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