Ottawa Senators: Breaking Down The Trade Deadline
It was a trade deadline that offered oh so much and delivered so little. Depth is great, but surely the Ottawa Senators focused too much on depth and character.
Let’s run through the Sens dealings prior to March 1.
Alex Burrows
The most mind-boggling move Ottawa made prior to the window shutting. Rightly, there are mixed thoughts on it. I was not impressed by it at all. Vancouver overwhelmingly won the trade hands down. Not a single hockey analyst has even insinuated that Ottawa did well out of it, considering the price.
Furthermore, Ottawa actually come third in this trade. Vancouver win as they get highly tipped prospect Jonathan Dahlén, who might finally be appreciated. Who comes second in this trade you ask? Alex Burrows himself, how he has managed to not only get a year extension but two is eye-watering.
Burrows will only decline in this two-year span, the extension was need to waive his no movement clause, this should’ve scared Ottawa off. It didn’t.
That makes uncomfortable viewing for Sens Army, the Allsvenskan is not a substandard league and to see a second round prospect improve that much, is incredible.
The Burrows trade is old-fashioned and somewhat antiquated in today’s NHL. If Mitch Marner’s rise to stardom tells us anything, it’s that speed and agility is the future of the game. Therefore, the Sens seem to be determined to remain in the dark ages, and use the magic word of character.
Curtis Lazar
Arguably the most high profile trade of the trade concerning the Ottawa Senators. Adding to that, it wasn’t a surprise at all, given the Sens were looking to court any team that they could get a draft pick out of.
The in-form Calgary Flames ended up being Lazar’s suitors, offering up a second-round pick to get their guy.
Calgary are being viewed as forward thinking by making this trade. Many analysts commenting that his is a Brad Treliving masterpiece and he’ll mould Lazar.
Just like with Burrows, the Lazar trade has divided many. Hark back to Jared Cowen, the reluctance to move on, the continual decline and that is where many fans drew the line. Others, wanted to see the job out.
His stats may have you scratching your head but he still has a tremendous upside to his game. Whether that is as a goalscorer or further down the line and improving his physicality.
Pierre Dorion was 20 minutes from having himself a good trade deadline week. Then he moved Curtis Lazar. (Don Brennan)
Pretty stern from Brennan, who believes trading Lazar’s character will hurt them in years to come.
I’m still of the belief that he was worth a 2017 1st round draft pick, given the lower promise of this draft, and the power of the seller this year.
Viktor Stalberg
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Another depth player. Only this time does offer some speed. Going against the grain of the usual slow, big-hitting depth player, Stalberg can make some plays happen.
One point to make about this trade is that, it is great having depth but why overload on bottom-six players. It’s head scratching material, no real backups for the top-six and another injury could explode this team.
The third-round pick further proves the win now mentality within the Ottawa Senators. You can’t win a cup with a team of bottom-six forwards however.
Final Thoughts
In all honesty, the trade deadline was brutal viewing for fans in Kanata. The rumour mill offered Duchene, and reality hit back with Burrows and a sucker-punch of Dahlén.
How the next few games play out will tell us everything about the mentality of this team.
Overall Trade Grading: C