The Ottawa Senators have sprinted out to a 5-1 start, but the picture isn’t spotless. They’ve done it without their top pairing of Artem Zub and Jake Sanderson, and they lost William Eklund in game four of the season to what appears to be a few months-long absence.
Even with that, Ottawa still sits 13th in the league in goals scored. That’s a solid number, but with Eklund sidelined and Sanderson unable to drive offense from the blue line, there’s room for help.
That’s where the Philadelphia Flyers come in. They’re still looking for their first win at 0-5-2, and the pressure on Rick Tocchet keeps building.
Starting this far back is a rough place to be, especially in a Metropolitan Division that looks tougher than it did a year ago. If the Flyers end up making pieces available, Ottawa would be a natural buyer.
The most obvious name is Travis Konecny. At 29, he’s the kind of winger Ottawa fans would instantly warm to: relentless, competitive, and a regular source of offense.
He’s the sort of player who can live around 20-plus goals and 65-plus points, and his style would fit well alongside Tim Stützle or Dylan Cozens by bringing some edge and easing the playmaking burden on both. Konecny is in the second season of his eight-year, $8.75 million deal, one that runs until he’s 36.
Philadelphia would almost certainly ask for a major return, but he’d be a strong fit for Ottawa’s core. According to the Daily Faceoff, though, there seems to be a growing sense of frustration surrounding Konecny.
Owen Tippett is another name that makes plenty of sense. The 27-year-old winger would be easier on Ottawa’s cap at $6.2 million, and it would likely take fewer assets to pull off a trade for him than it would for Konecny.
He’s been remarkably steady as a scorer, posting 28, 27, 20, and 28 goals over his last four seasons, while usually settling in near the 50-point range. Tippett also brings more size and even more physicality than Konecny.
At 6’1”, he put up a career-high 155 hits last season. His best weapon, though, is speed.
Tippett ranks in the 97th percentile league-wide in top skating speed and the 99th percentile for bursts between 20 and 22 miles per hour, one percentile ahead of Tim Stützle. With that blend of finishing and pace, he’d be a strong fit in Ottawa’s top six.
Then there’s the swing-for-the-fences option: Matvei Michkov. When he arrived in the league, he put up 63 points in 80 games and quickly looked like the next Russian superstar.
Tocchet’s arrival as head coach changed the tone around him, though, and Tocchet is known for tightening the screws offensively in the name of team defense. That approach has worked for some players; Stützle in Ottawa is one example.
Michkov still managed 51 points in 81 games last season, which is respectable, but his ceiling remains enormous. He’s dynamic, creative, and constantly trying to manufacture offense out of thin air - exactly the kind of player Ottawa doesn’t have enough of on its other lines.
He also recently cleared his social media of anything tied to the Flyers and would likely welcome a new start.
Big trades this early in the season don’t happen often, but the logic is there for Ottawa. Acting now could keep the price from climbing later, and any of these three would bolster the top six while potentially becoming part of the Senators’ core for years to come.
In Other News...
Senators Rough Night At Home Just Raised A Bigger Concern
A three-game winning streak disappeared in a hurry at home Tuesday night, and the Senators never found much of a foothold in a 7-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues. Ottawas offense was limited to goals from Claude Giroux and Fabian Zetterlund, part of a night in which the club generated only 17 shots and spent too much time chasing the game.
The bigger concern, though, was at the other end, where Samuel Ersson made his first home start for Ottawa and was quickly overwhelmed. The backup goaltender gave up seven goals on 26 shots, leaving the Senators with an unsettling result that went well beyond a single bad outing and into the kind of performance that can start asking harder questions about the overall direction of the team. [Read more 🡒]
Ottawa Letting Leevi Merilainen Go Looks Tougher By The Week
Leevi Merilainen keeps giving Vancouver a reason to lean on him, and the latest example came in a game against the New York Islanders. With Thatcher Demko sidelined, the young goaltender stepped into a bigger role and helped keep the Canucks competitive even after they gave up two quick goals late in the first period.
Merilainen finished with 35 saves as Vancouver clawed back to tie it in the second period before the Islanders pulled away in the third. For Ottawa, which let Merilainen get away, the early returns keep making that decision look harder to justify each time he gets a meaningful chance to play. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Blue Line Still Has A Problem As Injuries Keep Lingering
In a stretch where injuries keep reshaping lineups across the Atlantic Division, the Senators are watching their own health picture closely after Ridly Greig exited a recent game with a strain. Ottawa has not offered a firm update on his status, which adds another layer of uncertainty at a time when the club is already tracking absences elsewhere around the division, including Buffalo being without Rasmus Dahlin, Tyson Kozak and Alex Lyon for its next game against Toronto.
For Ottawa, Greigs availability matters because he has been a regular part of the mix this season, taking on meaningful minutes and contributing in a supporting role. The concern now is less about one game than about whether the Senators will be able to keep their forward group intact as Philadelphia continues to deal with blue-line injuries and the ripple effects of these lineup holes keep growing. [Read more 🡒]