Leaks emerge on monster trade coming in Ottawa

On Wednesday, the Ottawa Senators pull a move to create cap space. They traded second and fourth-round picks to the Chicago Blackhawks to move defenseman Nikita Zaitsev for future considerations.

According to team insider Bruce Garrioch of PostMedia, this is just the start. The move allowed GM Pierre Dorion to clear $4.5 million salary off the books and acquired flexibility to bring in a blue liner.

The Senators keep chasing a playoff with just one week to go ahead of the trade deadline. And they’re also on the hunt of a a right-shot top-four defenseman.

As Garrioch points out, Dorion has been trying, but no luck so far. However, following the Zaitsev trade, leaks emerge that the Senators might finally be getting close to pulling off a monster trade.

“Dorion has held serious talks or at least kicked the tires on every blue liner available, most notably Jakob Chychrun of the Arizona Coyotes and Matthew Dumba of the Minnesota Wild.”

The Senators currently have $17.998 million in cap space to work with, while forward Josh Norris ($7.95 million) and goalie Anton Forsberg ($2.75 million) sit on injured reserve. They would have the room to take on Chychrun or Dumba, and even make a splash during the summer’s free agency.

However, Pierre LeBrun reported on Thursday during Insider Trading on TSN that the Senators have stepped out of the Chychrun sweepstakes.

“[Dorion is] looking for defence, but he’s also looking for help at centre if he can pull that off before the deadline. The one player I’ll tell you that Ottawa does not appear to be in on right now is Jakob Chychrun. I know a lot of people have linked Ottawa to Chychrun, the price has just been too high for Ottawa’s liking at this point. It can change with one phone call, but right now the Senators are not in on Chychrun.”

With the clock ticking and the Sens being one of the rare teams still fighting for a playoff spot with cap space, we might get a surprising trade coming soon to Ottawa.

Stay tuned.

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