Despite losing in the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs to the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games, the 2024-25 Ottawa Senators season was a special one.
The Senators made the playoffs for the first time since 2017. With young studs like Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Jake Sanderson, the future is bright in Ottawa to win for years to come.
Now, the work is drawing near with the free agency frenzy one month away. It might be hard to accept the Senators can lose some players their fans love. However, it's important to know how much cap space the Senators have at the moment.
Sens have steady amount of cap space to build a strong team for 2025-26
As of the morning of June 1, the Senators have over $16.626 million in cap space according to PuckPedia.
The cap space is a solid amount for the Senators to have at the moment with free agency one month away. However, the Senators will have a task to sign players and re-sign players this free agency.
Claude Giroux is the biggest free agent on the Senators this Summer. For the past three seasons, Giroux has had a cap hit of $6.5 million per year. Giroux might not see a salary of $6.5 million again, but it's important the Senators can re-sign Giroux for the right price.
Fans in Ottawa quickly grew to love Giroux since he's signed in Ottawa and want him to return. Giroux's veteran presence and his play is still able to contribute to a team to win.
The cap space the Senators is a solid amount to re-sign fourth liners Adam Gaudette and Nick Cousins. Both players were solid contributors to help the Senators reach the playoffs. Gaudette recorded a career-high 19 goals in the regular season and Cousins helped bring in leadership and was a physical player.
Players like Dennis Gilbert, Travis Hamonic, Hayden Hodgson, Matthew Highmore and Anton Forsberg could face uncertainty with their struggles and inconsistency in the 2024-25 season. The Senators could have the idea to attempt to sign other players this Summer instead of re-signing them this Summer.
Defenseman Tyler Kleven and goaltender Leevi Merilainen are two young Senators who are both restricted free agents this Summer. The Senators' cap space should be enough to give both young players a steady deal while still being able to sign and re-sign other players.
This Summer will be a busy one for general manager Steve Staios. However, Staois helped bring in a winning season with his work last Summer with trading for Linus Ullmark, signing Cousins, signing David Perron and keeping a strong roster together.
Staios will have to do the same thing this Summer to keep winning a consistent thing in the nation's capital for the 2025-26 season.