The Carolina Hurricanes may have done the hard work of holding onto almost all of last season’s Stanley Cup group, but the roster won’t stay intact forever. One name that now looks increasingly likely to move on is Jalen Chatfield.
David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported yesterday that Carolina and Chatfield’s agent, Darren Ferris of Quartexx, tried to work out an extension, but the talks never got to the finish line. Pagnotta said there “have been no talks since” and added that the “inkling right now is that [Chatfield] is headed to free agency.”
For a player who arrived as an undrafted free agent out of the Canucks organization and climbed through one season with the Chicago Wolves, that next step could be the biggest payday of his career. Chatfield won a Calder Cup in Chicago, then carved out a steady role in Carolina as a quick, aggressive defenseman who fits the way Rod Brind’Amour wants his blue line to play.
His skating has allowed him to get on pucks fast and make himself useful as a reliable secondary piece on defense. At 30, he may be in position to land a life-changing contract - just perhaps not from the Hurricanes.
Elsewhere in the East, the NHL Department of Player Safety handed Ottawa Senators forward Nick Cousins a $4,091.49 fine, the maximum allowed under the CBA, “for unsportsmanlike conduct towards an opponent while on Ottawa’s bench” in last night’s win over the Florida Panthers.
That game was chippy from start to finish, with nearly 30 penalties split between the teams. Cousins is no stranger to discipline issues, either, having picked up multiple fines during his 733-game NHL career.
Florida forward Matthew Tkachuk also got hit with supplemental discipline, receiving a $5,000 fine, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for roughing Ottawa’s Dylan Cozens. Tkachuk was assessed three penalties in the game, which featured his brother, Brady Tkachuk, drawing constant chants from a hostile Ottawa crowd. He remains one of Florida’s top players and has 15 points in 10 games this season.
In Other News...
Senators Rough Night Just Became A Bigger Goalie Problem
The Senators trip through San Jose turned into a rough night in more ways than one, with the Sharks earning their first regulation win of the season in a 6-2 result. Ottawa had already been dealing with shaky results in goal, and the loss came with another reminder of how quickly the position can become a story of its own. Colin Graf paced San Jose with a goal and an assist, while Yaroslav Askarov turned aside 39 shots to help steady the home side.
Ottawas bigger concern, though, came after the final horn, when Linus Ullmark was moved to injured reserve following a lower-body injury suffered the night before. The Senators have been trying to sort out their crease for weeks, and this only adds pressure on the rest of the group to hold things together in the short term. It leaves the club facing a stretch where every save matters a little more, and where the uncertainty in goal may now be as much a lineup issue as a performance one. [Read more 🡒]
Ottawa Fans Have A 67s Breakout Worth Watching Closely
The 67s have turned an opening-night setback into a fast start, running unbeaten through their last six and climbing to a 7-1-2 record. What has made the surge especially notable is the way the offense has come together around Spencer Bowes and Filip Ekberg, with Bowes providing the finishing touch while the two have found real chemistry as the season settles in.
There is more behind the record than just scoring, too. Ottawa has gotten steady goaltending from Jaeden Nelson and rookie Noah LaGambina, along with dependable work on the back end and a penalty kill that has pushed the club into the upper tier nationally. For Senators fans following the organizations development pipeline, the 67s are giving them plenty to track beyond the box score. [Read more 🡒]
Senators Waste Chance To Build Momentum In Frustrating Sharks Loss
A chance to keep building momentum slipped away in San Jose, where Ottawa came up on the wrong end of a 6-2 result despite spending long stretches in the offensive zone. The Senators finished with a 41-26 edge in shots and got goals from Tim Stutzle and Jordan Spence, but the scoreboard never reflected how much time they spent pressing. Instead, the Sharks found timely answers and got the kind of goaltending they had been waiting for from Yaroslav Askarov, whose saves repeatedly kept Ottawa from flipping the game.
For the Senators, the frustrating part was not just the final margin but how many openings went unclaimed. San Jose picked up its first regulation win of the season, while Ottawa was left to wonder how a night with that much puck possession still turned into a lopsided loss. It was the sort of game that can linger, especially for a team looking to turn decent play into actual points. [Read more 🡒]