The Ottawa Senators should trade for defenceman Colin Miller

The Ottawa Senators need to build from the blueline and trading for the Vegas Golden Knights’ Colin Miller could go a long way to helping that process.

Colin Miller would be a valuable player to the Ottawa Senators, who have some real young talent emerging on defence but could do with bolstering on the right side.

Cody Ceci is still without a contract, which could lead to the Sens looking to bring in new faces via free agency or a trade this summer.

The Vegas Golden Knights appear to be the ideal trade partner for any team in the league, with their extremely dire cap situation heading into the 2019/20 off-season.

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At the time of writing, the Golden Knights are currently using $124,999 of LTIR allowance with a projected salary cap of $83 million – with eight free agents yet to be signed on their roster.

The NHL’s newest team will be desperate to offload contracts and the Senators, who need to reach the cap floor this season, could be the perfect trade partners as a result.

Miller, a right-handed defenceman standing at 6-foot-1, 196lbs, could find himself on the trade blocked – having made just 65 regular season appearances this past season, earning three goals and 26 assists, while averaging 19:39 of ice time.

His cap hit of $3.875 million over the next three seasons is the ideal type of contract that owner Eugene Melnyk would like to see the team take on – getting three years of the 26-year-old for a very reasonable price during a rebuilding phase.

In order to acquire Miller, the Ottawa Senators may need to take on a contract that has very little appeal to many other teams around the league – but could work out perfectly for Ottawa.

David Clarkson has not played a game in over three seasons and is effectively retired, though has never officially stated this.

His current cap hit is $5.25 million – a significant sum of money that the Golden Knights would certainly like to have available to negotiate with their top free agents.

If the Senators wanted to acquire Miller, they may be required to take on Clarkson’s contract to sweeten the deal – which could see GM Pierre Dorion only need to part with a late-round draft pick in exchange as a result.

Taking on Clarkson’s contract may sound like a terrible idea at first, but it could actually benefit the Ottawa Senators in the immediate short-term.

Not only would they receive Miller, but Clarkson’s deal expires after the 2019/20 season and is reportedly covered by insurance – meaning that Melnyk wouldn’t have to pay a single penny himself.

The cap hit from the deal would help the Ottawa Senators reach the cap floor but would also not cost the team any real money.

With the deal expiring after a single season, the Senators could take a leaf out of the Arizona Coyotes’ book, taking on a poor contract to get a player that would benefit their rebuild while not being tied to any long-term commitment.

A trade with the Golden Knights could see the Sens potentially part ways with a fourth or fifth-round pick in exchange for Miller and Clarkson’s contract – a relatively low cost to acquire a player that could be an important top-four piece for the next few seasons until the team’s rookies begin to take over.

For Vegas, they would get over $9 million in cap space and would be in a significantly stronger situation to deal with their own free agents – making this type of deal would be for the benefit of both teams involved and is something that Dorion should seriously consider ahead of the draft.

Next. Richard Panik an interesting free agent option. dark

What do you think Sens fans? Would you be interested in seeing Colin Miller brought to the Canadian capital? How would you feel about the team taking on Clarkson’s cap hit for one year to facilitate a deal? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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