Report: Sens expected to ask Tarasenko to waive NTC, listening on Chychrun
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The last-place Ottawa Senators are shaping up as sellers ahead of the March 8 trade deadline as team president and general manager Steve Staios looks to put his stamp on the club.
Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reports "the expectation" is the Senators will ask pending unrestricted free agent Vladimir Tarasenko to waive his no-trade clause, and notes the team has also " tried unsuccessfully to move winger Dominik Kubalik."
Tarasenko was listed at No. 6 on the latest TSN Trade Bait board, while Kubalik was the only other Senator on the list, checking in at No. 16.
According to Garrioch, Staios has been listening to interest on defenceman Jakob Chychrun, who was the team's prize acquisition at the trade deadline last year.
Tarasenko joined the Senators in the summer on a one-year, $5 million contract. The 32-year-old has 10 goals and 28 points in 37 games with Ottawa. Tarasenko was also moved ahead of the deadline last season, joining the New York Rangers after 11 years with the St. Louis Blues. He had eight goals and 21 points in 31 games upon joining the Rangers and posted three goals and an assist in seven playoff games.
Kubalik, also acquired in the off-season, was part of the team's return from the Detroit Red Wings for restricted free agent Alex DeBrincat. The 28-year-old forward has nine goals and 12 points in 39 games with the Senators. Also a pending unrestricted free agent, Kubalik carries a cap hit of $2.5 million this season. He scored 20 goals and posted 45 points in 81 games last season in Detroit and has yet to top the 30 goals and 46 points he recorded as a rookie with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2019-20.
Chychrun’s trade to the Senators last March ended months of speculation on his future with the Arizona Coyotes. Ottawa gave up a 2023 first-round pick (used by Arizona to select winger Daniil But), and two second-round picks.
The 25-year-old has seven goals and 26 points in 37 games this season after posting two goals and five points in 12 games upon joining the Senators last season. Selected 16th overall in the 2016 draft, Chychrun is signed through next season at a cap hit of $4.6 million. Garrioch believes trade talks could heat up on Chychrun if the two sides are not aligned on the figures for a potential contract extension.
Sitting last in the Eastern Conference with the 15-24-0 record, it has already been a season of change in Ottawa with the club parting ways with general manager Pierre Dorion in October and head coach D.J. Smith last month.
The Senators are on track to miss the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season.