2025 was an important year for the direction of the Ottawa Senators. The Senators made the playoffs for the first time in eight years.
With making the playoffs, the Senators have their window open to win for years to come. With captain Brady Tkachuk leading the way, rising superstars Jake Sanderson and Tim Stutzle, and other solid players, the window to win now is open.
However, there's two things that are holding back the Senators to having a larger cap space, and the team will be happy when 2028 arrives for these things to come off the books.
White's buyout and Korpisalo's salary retained each come off after 2028
Colin White was once a fan favorite in Ottawa who signed a six-year contract extension in 2019, but the Senators bought him out of his contract after the 2021-22 season. White's play has taken a huge drop, which not many saw coming after a solid rookie season in 2018-19.
Joonas Korpisalo signed a five-year contract at a salary of $4 million per year in July 2023, but was traded after one season to the Boston Bruins. The Senators retained 25 percent of Korpisalo's salary to make it easier to move the goaltender and acquire Linus Ullmark in the trade.
In 2028, both White's buyout and the retained salary of Korpisalo will come off the books, and the Senators can't wait for it to happen to have more cap space.
Korpisalo will be getting $3 million ($1 million per year) for the next three years from the Senators. White will be getting $2.625 million ($875,000 per year) for the next three years from the Senators. That's a combined $5.625 million in dead cap for the Senators. That's dead cap that the Senators could use in free agency.
2028 is also the same year when Brady Tkachuk and Thomas Chabot's contract each run out. With White's buyout and Korpisalo's retained salary ending in the same year, that can help the Senators potentially re-sign both Tkachuk and Chabot to new contracts with not having to pay White and Korpisalo anymore.
The Senators will have three more years of putting up with White and Korpisalo. However, 2028 will be a huge weight of the shoulders when both their pay is done to free up cap spac