Show Time in Ottawa?

Eventfull offseasons have come to be expected in Ottawa.

The Senators kicked off Free Agency with a splash, inking veteran foward Patrick Kane to a 3-year deal. The doozy on day one was followed by a pile of additional signings, including the likes of Jordan Staal, Dmitry Orlov, Jonathan Drouin, Erik Gustafsson, Trevor Van Riemsdyk, Nick Ritchie, and Calle Rosen.

Outside of several additions to the NHL Roster, Ottawa added prospects Hunter McKown, Pierrick Dubé, Mac Hollowell, and Ryan Tverberg to join the baby Sens in Belleville. Depth signings Adam Gaudette, Christian Wolanin, and Phillippe Myers were also added to the mix.

While a boat load of roster additions were necessary from a numbers standpoint, what was perhaps more suprsing, were the quality of veterans, in Kane, Orlov, and Staal all opting to join a rebuilding club. The potential to play big minutes, combined with a chance to serve in a leadership role was a common draw. Oppourtunity, in general, was the most common selling point echoed by the new additions.

Ottawa’s GM credits a cohesiveness between Ownership and Managment for a successful offseason.

“It’s a special feeling when Ownership, and Managment share the same vision for the future.” Said Ottawa’s GM.

According to Ottawa’s brass, the key objective of the 2023 UFA period was to insulate their youth, add assets, and become more competitive.

“These are signings that will help insulate our players in the Under-24 range where we have the luxury of longer term contract control. We have a number of guys in that we envision fitting into the same window of contract control.”

Current roster players like Noah Dobson, Seth Jarvis, Yegor Chinakhov, Phil Kurashev, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Morgan Frost, Jack McBain, Michael Rasmussen, Adam Boqvist, Pierre Olivier Joseph, Lukas Dostal, and Sam Ersson are all players who seen as apart of the long term vision.

That vision includes a recent haul at the 2023 Draft. Ottawa added Adam Fantilli, Will Smith, Dalibor Dvorsky, Axel Sandin-Pellikka, Kasper Halttunen, Jacob Fowler, Luca Cagnoni, and Alex Ciernik to an already strong prospect pool. One that boasts the likes of Jonathan Lekkerimaki, Mavrik Bourque, Joakim Kemell, Lian Bichsel, Thomas Bordeleau, Amadeus Lombardi, Topi Niemela, Henry Thrun, Tyler Tucker, and Dmitri Buchelnikov, among others.

So, amid a signing showtime himself, a much-improved team on paper, and promising prospects on the way, is it fair to say it’s officially show time in Ottawa?

The Sens GM says “not so fast”, and stressed the importance of “small steps while not mortgaging the future”.

“Organizationally, the focus is getting more competitive and developing players. The signings we made don’t change our commitment to the long term vision.

“It’s just another step in the process. The players will ultimately dictate how big that step will be.”