New Senators GM Makes Immediate Changes

The Ottawa Senators have wasted no time under new GM Ed Arsenault. The first trade is in, and we will get to that, but the big news out of Ottawa today is they have stripped Ilya Kovalchuk of his captaincy. David Perron was also stripped of assistant captaincy.

GM Arsenault has clearly decided to hand the reins of this team to a younger regime. Ryan Murray has been named the newest captain of the Ottawa Senators. The pending restricted free agent is set to take on a big role under the new regime, and the captaincy is just one of the added roles he will assume. He is also expected to be on the powerplay, penalty kill and top defensive pairing. It is evident the new GM is very high on the defender, even going so far as to say he would have taken him #1 in 2012 over now bust Nail Yakupov. It is thought the GM believes this player will be a workhorse for this team for a very long time, it's going to be an interesting story to follow. 

Anthony Cirelli has also been named an assistant captain. Taking over for veteran David Perron, the young stud is said to be excited for the opportunity. While he is not a very vocal guy in the locker room, Cirelli's leadership comes from his play on the ice. This is another player who will play a ton of minutes under new GM Arsenault, top powerplay and penalty killing lines and will in all likelyhood be a go to in OT and shootouts as well. This is an exciting kid who all fans should be looking forward to following for the next decade.

Mark Boroweicki is still serving as an assistant captain, but it is assumed he will be dealt by the deadline and replaced as assitant captain at that point. 

Now for the 2nd biggest news of the day, The Senators have traded defenceman Dylan DeMelo to the Calgary Flames in exchange for Nick Paul and Edmonton's 2020 3rd. 

Firstly, Dylan DeMelo is a true professional and has really stepped up his game to become a valuable asset. It has become clear though that he does not fit the long term plans of the franchise. I think everyone in Ottawa wishes Dylan nothing but the best. 

As for the return, they filled the hole they were missing in the 2020 draft by acquiring EDM's 2020 3rd. With the depth of this draft every pick added is another asset to get excited about. 

Nick Paul, is a player who has finally started coming into his own. At 24 he has been putting in his time in the AHL, but is finally looking like a guy ready to make the jump to a full time NHLer. The 24 year old went from a prospect with minimal expectations, to a World Juniors player with the expectations he was gonna be a sure fire top 6 forward, to being a guy so many guys have given up on. Finally though it looks like he has gained the confidence with and without the puck to become a full time NHLer, the expectation is for him to be a great middle six, secondary scoring option. He is expected to join Belleville tomorrow to help them make a push for a Calder Cup. We expect him to join the 2nd line with the likes of Scott Wilson and Zach Senyshyn. Also expected to play 1st unit Powerplay and 2nd penalty killing unit.