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- Welcome back to another Post Media Senators One on One.

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I'm Bruce Garrock,

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pleased to be joined by hockey writer,

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Callum Fraser of the Ottawa Citizen.

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And today we're going to break down the,

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we'll start off draft week, by the way,

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by breaking down the trade of Brady Kitchock

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for three first round picks,

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including a protected top 20,

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number 29 pick from the Florida Panthers,

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a second round pick in 2030,

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and number nine to number 25 in this year's draft,

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the first round being held on Friday night in Buffalo,

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Callum, the most shocking, more shocking

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than Brady Kitchock being traded to the Florida Panthers,

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which is not shocking in the big scheme of things,

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would be if the Senators actually select at number nine,

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Callum.

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- Yeah, I mean, this trade was, you know, twofold.

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It was one stay-os, I think,

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getting as much as he possibly could

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out of a very, very small list of teams

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that was acceptable for Brady to be traded to.

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And of course, as you reported,

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that might have been a list of one at the end of the day, right?

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So it's one, you get a lot of assets actually

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for someone who made it very clear

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to a select number of people

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that he no longer wanted to be an Ottawa Senator.

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And on top of that, it's, you know,

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the second part of that is,

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it's likely that there's gonna be one or two picks

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that they're probably not gonna use

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'cause they need to get better right away.

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Like this team is not gonna be content with,

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you know, waiting on certain players to develop, right?

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You also have to convince Tim Stutzlajic Sanderson

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Shane Pinto, a lot of these guys in the team that, hey, you're not going to have to wait

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three or four more years to actually be a contender.

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We want to be a contender starting in October.

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So there's a lot of names out there, Bruce.

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You'd know better than me which ones are more likely to be actual targets because I know

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that part of this conversation is likely going to be about whether or not Ottawa can be a

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destination for star players in the NHL.

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But they need to get something, whether that's two solid forwards or that top six winger that

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they've been looking for all along.

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And they have other pieces to use as well.

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We'll see what happens.

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But yeah, I'm with you here.

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These simply feel more like assets that Steve Stiles can use to find a player that is in

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their mid-twenties and potentially going to be with an Ottawa senator for a very long

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time and contribute in big ways.

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I mean, they could have gone one of two ways here, Callum.

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They could have made Brady Kitchuck play at the final two years of his contract as an

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Ottawa senator.

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Clearly when Steve Stiles met with Brady Kitchuck in New Jersey last month after the World Championships,

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it was made clear to him that Brady Kitchuck had no intention of resigning here.

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For the last four years, he's told his teammates in that dressing room that he had no intention

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of resigning here, that he was not going to be here after this contract expired, that

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Jake Sanderson could essentially put on the seat.

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I think that you have to look at the situation that they were in and the decision to react

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now.

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The problem is, right now, let's be honest, this looks like an awful trade because you didn't get

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Lundell or Verhagy in return. Two guys they tried to get. You didn't get, and I hate using the term

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warm body, but you didn't get a warm body. But if you can turn nine or 25 or both into a player

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that can help this team immediately, then it's going to look like a better deal.

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Yeah, and it seems like the clock is ticking, right? Like, now we've got, on top of that too,

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like, what's even more intriguing to potential trade partners, it's being able to make that pick,

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right? It's not just prospects that were taken high in the draft, it's, you know, having that

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autonomy to figure out exactly what position, what player, what whatever type of player you want to

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take in the draft. So right now, I mean, it should feel imminent, right? That Steve Stavros is going

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to make a pretty big, another pretty big splash in the next three or four days.

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You know, I think that, and I do believe that they are in on Mason McTavish, I do believe that

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the Montreal Canadians are in on Mason McTavish and I'm Ducks as well. His father works for the

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organization. There are differing opinions amongst NHL executives on what impact Mason McTavish can

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make with this team. The Pittsburgh Penguins have made it clear that they want to move up in the draft.

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do believe that the center showed some interest in Richard Raquel and Brian Russ last season.

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Is that a route they go?

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Now that Brady Kitchuck is no longer in the room, the few years ago the senators visited

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a trade for Eric Carlson, the decision was made that they would not acquire Eric Carlson

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from the Pittsburgh Penguins because they felt that that would undermine Brady Kitchuck's

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leadership in the dressing room, bringing in a former captain.

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Do you maybe go that route now and maybe bring in a guy like Eric?

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Do you bring him back to finish out his career?

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There's a lot of moving parts with this roster right now, but time is of the essence and I

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don't want to get too much into names because I think by Thursday this video is going to

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be dead one way or another.

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Where are you at on all of this?

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Well, I think that's the first time I ever said that Carlson thing.

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We got a scoop for this.

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I mean, honestly, Bruce, that sounded like a dozen scoops in the past couple of minutes

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from here.

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It's an impressive run.

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Where I'm at with this is I like hearing the different names from you around the league.

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That's really interesting to me.

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Where I'm most intrigued is what additional assets, because I don't think that you can

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just use the number nine pick to get the player that you want, right?

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Or even potentially even the number nine and number 25 pick, right?

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I think what is putting Steve Stowes in a much better spot.

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than where he possibly could have been,

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is how well the Sends D-Corp played this past year,

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and specifically how well Jordan Spence played,

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and how well Carter Yackamchuk played.

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I don't think they're gonna deal Carter Yackamchuk,

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but it just means that you have another guy

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that's ready to step in and potentially play power play,

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can hopefully turn into a more of a two-way defender, right?

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And then there's the question of Artem Zub,

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whether or not they wanna trade that piece as well.

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So up top, honestly, in the forward core,

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I think it's more difficult to trade certain players right now,

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but you have a lot of assets in the D-Corp that,

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even if you were to not get a defenseman back,

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your D-Corp's still looking very good

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for the next season and beyond, right?

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Like, they're not gonna trade a guy like Tyler Cleven, likely,

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and good thing because he's been improving,

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improving, improving, and Jake Sanderson's gonna be

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a top three defenseman probably in the world by next year, right?

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Like, they have options to send players elsewhere

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and then also pad their D-Corp in,

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using players that they have developed

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over the past couple of years.

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So I think that Steyos has some assets

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where if he were to deal them,

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the team would not be worse for it.

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- Well, I think one of the names that he could attach

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to trade, quite frankly, is Jordan Spence.

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I don't believe that the organization,

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I think that Spence wants a four-year deal at it

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in excess of five million a year.

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And I don't believe the organization has any intention

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of paying them that.

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I believe that they have had informal conversations

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with Artur Mzub's camp on an extension.

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You know the elephant in the room quite frankly is is drake batherson, you know that the departure of of

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Brady kichok

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Sends a message to the rest of the room and this is where

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They feel their room is better off without them. Okay, sure

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If you're better if your room is better off with one of one of your best players, that's fine with me, but

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you better replace that best player and you were already looking for a top six forward and

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Whatever you do Callum is going to send a message the likes of of

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drake batherson and

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Artem Zube and and Thomas Shabbat who are all approaching unrestricted free agency on on where this organization is going

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Yeah, and on top of that too Bruce

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I also think you need to convince guys who are signed to long-term contracts, right? Like what's

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What's stopping certain players from pulling a Brady kichok pulling a Dylan Larkin, right?

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Like we all talk about how there's a lot more American players

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Especially the ones on that US national team that are now wanting out and wanting to compete with either their buddies or just saying

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You know what I'm sick and tired of not being on a contender. I want to play you know into June every single year and

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From me like exit interviews. I know we didn't get a chance to speak to Jake Sanderson

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But exit interviews and how we've kind of seen players

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You know act and and and talk about the city like I'm pretty confident that Tim Stutzler and Jake Sanderson and shame Pinto want to be

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here but who's to say that that won't change in a year's time, right? So you're totally

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right. You need to convince certain players that are about to sign contracts but you also

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need to convince guys that could be the core for the next decade on this team.

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Well, and I guess it remains to be seen what happens this week but we'll keep an eye on

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everything here at the Ottawa Citizen. For SENS 101, I'm Bruce Garriac with Callum Fraser.

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