Ottawa Senators: The Colin White Dilemma
There have been constant murmurings from fans and pundits alike. Colin White’s season has ended with the Boston College Eagles. Should the Ottawa Senators burn a year of his entry level deal or persuade him to sign an ATO. Conversely, they could neither.
White is tipped to have an incredibly bright future in Kanata for the Ottawa Senators and hopefully back downtown (praying that he develops and stays). As always there are a plethora of anomalies that can make or break a young stars career. If you haven’t read our prospect profile on Colin White, you can do so here.
Unfortunately, as has been quite evident for a while now. College players seem to hold quite a lot of power in respect to contracts. Of course, this can go to ways if the player’s bubble bursts while playing in the NCAA.
Colin White’s year with the BC Eagles has been a productive one. 33 points in 35 appearances for the Massachusetts university. 16 goals and 17 assists a well spread output from the 21st overall pick of the 2015 draft.
Sign Him Now
In doing so, they would burn a year of his entry-level deal and in Pierre Dorion’s eyes that is just wasted capital. Leaving the Ottawa Senators with just two years on the basic NHL entry deal before the player can demand more bang for his puck. You’ll have to excuse that pun.
Why sign him now? He could add some fresh impetus into this lineup. Playing well, but always capable of more. I personally don’t see the negative in terms of signing him now. Yes, it does burn off a year of the entry level. So what? It could mean that he continues his wave of improvement rather than having too much time to think about what’s next.
If you were waking up everyday to papers writing and fans tweeting about you, you’d naturally want to get out there and show them what you’re capable of. The Sens organisation as always are the parent in these situations. What the fan may want isn’t necessarily best for the player (child) or the club (family).
ATO Contract
From that tweet you can sense the fans trepidation with this subject as discussed before. The ball is most certainly in Colin White’s court. He holds the power here.
An ATO (Amateur Try Out) is unpaid with an uncertain future that goes with it. White could sign one of these, play in Binghamton but he must feel that he is ready to slot into the Sens lineup. To me, based on White’s supposed reaction to this, it isn’t happening. Rightly so, the Ottawa Senators either want him now or they wait until the season is over.
Next Season
The third and most likely option available to the Ottawa Senators is that of signing him prior to the 2017-18 season. In doing so, Ottawa will have White for the entirety of the three year entry-level contract. With such a player on the books who could blossom, on so little a cap hit, Ottawa could make a move. In all honesty, they have the next two seasons to prove to Erik Karlsson the seriousness of their ambitions. Otherwise he is gonzo.
Many fans have stated Boucher’s love of the veteran. This is evident but White has performed this season at College at would almost certainly add some spark to the third or fourth line. A question that remains in the balance is, going from College hockey to the NHL playoffs is one heck of a leap and many have fallen.
Next: Four Game Skid Stopped In Boston
My thoughts are this. Sign White now, with such uncertainty surrounding College players nowadays, it would be a bigger mistake not to. Especially with the club offering a derisory ATO, this could lead to another Jimmy Vesey situation. All for the sake of a year off a ELC. Sort it out Dorion.