Also, Ottawa's piece of business this weekend was trading Marian Gaborik and Anders Nilsson and a 2021 2nd round pick for Derek Stepan, Braydon Coburn, Cedric Paquette, and a 2022 2nd round pick. So 2 players who weren't going to play for them for 3 that will and they just pushed a draft pick out a year. Not bad. They even traded insured money for money they'll actually have to pay out. Stepan, Coburn and Paquette aren't exactly needle movers, but they'll also provide some experience and grit which the Sens are clearly trying to surround their kids with. They are all also upcoming UFA's so they can be turned into even more picks.
They will stink again this year but I'm fascinated to see how this rebuild goes. I don't think anyone has ever torn it down to the extreme they've gone to. They made 6 top 61 draft picks this year, including 2 top 5 picks. 3 more picks in the top 2 rounds in 2021 and 2022. Already a strong prospect pool and they'll only add to it. Very little long term cap commitments on their books. If they can get Melnyk to step aside and just spend to the cap and let hockey ops do their thing they could really be something.