Without a doubt, much attention around the league will turn to David Clarkson, who is probably the newest “biggest name” potential unrestricted free agent on July 5th. He could join the likes of Alex Semin and Mike Ribeiro as the prizes of the free agent pool that has shriveled up remarkably with the removal of Perry and Ryan Getzlaf in recent weeks.

March 15, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov (30) makes a save against New Jersey Devils center David Clarkson (23) during the shootout at the Wells Fargo Center. The Flyers defeated the Devils 2-1, in a shootout. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Clarkson is that power forward who can score goals, although he is very streaky (while some would call it inconsistent).  He started out with 10 goals in his first 14 games and he was all the rage and would have got a huge deal at the time.  Now, with 1 goal in his last 15 games, that talk has died down somewhat.

So while the rumours will no doubt turn to Clarkson as the top-6 winger the Senators need, I don’t see a fit.  The only tie I can see at all with the Senators organization is that he played on the same team as Jason Spezza for a couple of months in Belleville as a junior, and he also played with Andre Benoit for three years in Kitchener, but those aren’t exactly the ties that bind.

Clarkson is from Toronto, so no doubt the Leafs machine will start that campaign sooner or later, and I just don’t see the day where Clarkson is a Senator.

With Perry not an option, I would think that the Sens will stick to building from within.  If the Perry home run was available, you have to take it, but don’t think the team will feel they need to go for option B in free agency just because they missed on option A.

The former MVP has re-signed in Anaheim, with an 8 year, $69M deal that will keep him riding shotgun with Ryan Getzlaf.  While the dream of Perry coming to Ottawa made sense, the Ducks did what they had to do to keep him and kudos to the player for showing some loyalty to the franchise with which he won a Stanley Cup in 2007.

Feb 24, 2013; Anaheim, CA, USA; Anaheim Ducks right wing Corey Perry (10) celebrates after shooting the puck past Colorado Avalanche goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere (35) for a goal in the second period at the Honda Center. The Ducks defeated the Avalanche 4-3 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

There were a lot of  reasons to think that he might have wanted to come to the Senators, but in the end the Ducks had to open the wallet and make sure they kept their best player in the fold and to avoid the distraction of trade rumors that were certain to pop up and get louder as the trade deadline approached and he remained ticketed to become an unrestricted free agent.

For the fans of the Senators, it is disappointing because they like to think about what could have been. Now, where does that attention turn?  Perry was the one target that seemed too good to be true, with a situation that led one to think there were better than average odds that a superstar would choose to play here.  I don’t know if that set of circumstances that I wrote about a couple of months ago exists elsewhere.