Senators’ defenseman Thomas Chabot has been the subject of trade rumors recently.
Despite speculation, Ottawa’s GM Steve Staios firmly denied any internal discussions about trading Chabot. He clarified that since taking over from Pierre Dorion in November, Chabot hasn’t been considered for a trade. However, changes to the defense lineup are still on the table. Erik Brannstrom might not get a new contract and could become a free agent soon, while Jakob Chychrun is also involved in more credible trade talks with one year left on his deal.
Chabot has four more years on his contract with an $8M cap hit. He signed an eight-year extension worth $64M in 2019 but hasn’t been in Norris Trophy conversations since then. Starting July 1, he can block trades to ten teams. Jake Sanderson now gets more ice time than Chabot and seems like the future star defender for Ottawa. The team wants to strengthen its right-side defense to support both players, making left-shot Chychrun less critical. They are interested in Chris Tanev if he becomes available next week and already have Artem Zub as a strong partner for Sanderson.
Team Changes and Future Moves:
Ottawa is trying hard to improve after missing the playoffs again last season. Their defense ranked 26th out of 32 teams in 2023-24, so they’re making bold moves already. They traded away Joonas Korpisalo, who didn’t meet expectations after signing as a free agent last year. He’s heading to Boston along with a first-round pick and forward Mark Kastelic.
In return, they got Linus Ullmark, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner! Fans will likely be excited about this change because it shows the team’s commitment to getting better fast.
Some might wonder how these changes will affect team chemistry or if they’ll lead to more wins next season .
What do you think? Are these moves enough for Ottawa to turn things around?
