Steve Staios has made one thing pretty clear in Ottawa: he’s still looking for a finisher.
After a busy summer that saw the Senators trade Brady Tkachuk and bring in William Eklund, Andre Burakovsky and goaltender Samuel Ersson, the general manager is still not done tinkering with his roster. On a recent appearance on TSN 1200, Staios signaled that he wants to add a pure goal scorer - and that naturally puts Patrik Laine in the conversation.
That fit is hard to ignore. Ottawa has the pieces, but it still looks like a team that could use a true sniper, especially on the power play.
The free-agent market has thinned out quickly, and with Patrick Kane’s recent signing in Chicago, the list of notable names available has gotten even shorter. At this point, Laine stands out as the last real goal-scoring specialist on the board.
There’s no mystery about what Laine brings. The drawbacks are real: he has been vulnerable at even strength and injuries have been a constant issue.
His last full season came back in 2018-19. But the shot is still elite, and the scoring touch is still there.
He put up 52 points in 55 games in 2023, and he remains capable of producing 30 to 35 goals in a season.
He also showed exactly why he still has value with Montreal, helping the Canadiens reach the playoffs in 2025 with 20 goals in 52 games, including 15 on the power play.
Used the right way, Laine can still swing a game. A third-line role with heavy power-play usage would let Ottawa tap into the scoring without asking him to carry more than he should.
The cleanest setup would be to plug him into the first power-play unit, where Tim Stutzle, Drake Batherson, Eklund and Jake Sanderson already belong. That would even leave Dylan Cozens as a possible fit for the second unit, giving the Senators two dangerous groups with the man advantage.
And the price tag wouldn’t be steep. The idea floating around is a low-risk deal worth about $1 million for one season.
Now it’s just a matter of whether Staios turns the interest into something official.
In Other News...
Kaiden Guhle Could Be The Canadiens Blue Line Answer At Last
Kaiden Guhles path with the Canadiens has been shaped as much by the training room as by the ice, with injuries repeatedly interrupting the kind of steady growth teams want from a young defenseman. Even so, the latest playoff run offered a very different look. Over 19 games, he chipped in eight assists and played with a level of confidence that suggested he was finally settling into the role Montreal has long envisioned for him.
The encouraging part for the Canadiens is that Guhle did not do it alone. His work beside Lane Hutson showed real promise, and the two are expected to keep forming a defensive pair when next season begins. For a blue line that has spent years searching for reliable answers, that kind of chemistry matters, especially when it comes from a player whose development has already been tested so many times. [Read more 🡒]
Jets Fans Can't Ignore The Patrik Laine Reunion Debate
Patrik Laines name always carries a little extra weight in Winnipeg, and for good reason. The former Jets winger was once one of the most electric scorers in the organization, which is why any conversation about a reunion comes with both nostalgia and caution. Since leaving Winnipeg in 2021, though, his career has been defined as much by injuries and interrupted opportunity as by the shot that made him such a dangerous player in the first place.
Montreals handling of Laine only sharpened that uncertainty. He barely got on the ice for the Canadiens, then a core-muscle injury sent him to surgery and kept him out for months, leaving his return to form very much an open question. For Winnipeg, the appeal is obvious: there is still a version of Laine that fits the franchises history and could help in the right role. The risk, of course, is figuring out whether that player is still there at all. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Fans Wont Like Where This Arber Xhekaj Buzz Is Going
Kaiden Xhekaj remains a name the Canadiens still value, but the contract picture around him has not come together yet. The 21-year-old is a restricted free agent for the next two years before he would reach unrestricted status in 2028, and the fact that he did not file for arbitration has left the process open-ended rather than headed toward a clear deadline.
The uncertainty is made a little more noticeable by the way his role shrank last season, with his ice time dipping to a career-low 11:25 in 65 games and dropping even further in the playoffs. Montreal would prefer to sort out a deal and keep the situation from lingering, but for now the sides are still working without a finished agreement in place. [Read more 🡒]