Dorion says Sens won't move Sogaard, Greig, Kleven
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The Ottawa Senators have won three straight games to pull within five points of a wild card spot and appear to have positioned themselves as buyers as the NHL trade deadline approaches.
Ottawa acquired defenceman Jakob Chychrun from the Arizona Coyotes Wednesday evening in exchange for three draft picks. If the Senators are to make more moves to bring players in ahead of Friday's 3:00 p.m. ET cutoff, it won't involve the young trio of Mads Sogaard, Ridly Greig or Tyler Kleven.
"We're not giving those players up," Dorion said Thursday.
TSN Hockey Insiders Darren Dreger and Pierre LeBrun each reported the Coyotes initially sought Greig and other top prospects from the Senators in exchange for Chychrun but Ottawa was able to hold out for a cheaper price.
Sogaard, a 22-year-old goaltender, has played six games for the Sens this season, going 4-0-1 with a goals-against average of 2.33 and a save percentage of .922. He was selected No. 37 overall in 2019.
Greig was Ottawa's first-round pick in 2020. The 20-year-old has one goal and three assists in 11 games this season for the big club in addition to 24 points in 31 games at the AHL level.
Kleven has yet to make his NHL debut and is currently playing at the University of North Dakota. The 20-year-old defenceman was selected in the second round (No. 44 overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft.
Dorion said he felt he owed it to his players to bring Chychrun in as the team aims to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2017.
"We owe it to the players. Anyone who has watched us the last little while can’t not be impressed with how they’ve played, how hard they’ve worked... They’ve sent me an indirect message, some said it publicly but for us, it was a message from them. Please do something. We believe in this team and I probably shouldn’t say this but I made a promise to Claude Giroux that we’d get a defenceman before the end of the year: we got him a defenceman," Dorion said Thursday.
Chychrun debut coming Thursday on TSN5?
Newly-acquired New York Rangers forward Patrick Kane is expected to debut with the team on Thursday at home against the Senators in a game that can been seen in the Sens region at 7pm ET on TSN5, TSN.ca and the TSN App.
Thursday's game could also mark Chychrun's debut. His status remains unclear and the team has not officially said if he would play or not, though the blueliner did travel to meet the Senators in New York after Wednesday's trade.
The 24-year-old has registered seven goals and 21 assists in 36 games this season. He has not played since Feb. 10, with the Coyotes holding him out for "trade-related reasons."