Ottawa Senators: What’s next for Connor Brown?

General Manager Pierre Dorion has gotten a lot done this offseason so far. However, the work is far from over. The Ottawa Senators still have a lot of question marks before we can call this offseason a win. One of these many question marks is Connor Brown’s contract.

Connor Brown is scheduled for arbitration this Thursday, October 22nd and it seems as if he and the Ottawa Senators have a fairly different evaluation of his worth. According to Bruce Garrioch, Brown is seeking 4.8 million dollars while the Senators are looking to sign him for 2.25 million. That is a 2.5 million gap between him and the team.

Connor Brown was acquired by the Ottawa Senators in last year’s offseason in the Cody Ceci deal. In 71 games this year for the Sens, Brown scored 16 goals and 27 assists for 43 points. Brown has quickly established himself as a core member of the team and it is important for the team’s management to deal with this contract negotiation swiftly.

While the arbitration hearing is set to go for this Thursday, there is still time for the two sides to reach an agreement. This happened between the team and Mark Stone back a few years ago, agreeing on a one year deal before the hearing. Stone was asking for 9 million while the Sens were offering 5.

While the Sens avoided arbitration with Stone by meeting around the middle at 7.35 million over one year, this leads me to believe they will approach this in a similar manner with Brown. Although, one has to hope that Brown stays with the Ottawa Senators longer than Mark Stone did after signing that last contract.

My prediction is that Brown and Dorion meet in the middle as he did with Stone. I believe Brown will sign a bridge deal, say 2-3 years at 3.5 million. Either way, the Senators have just a few days to sign Connor Brown to a contract.