The Ottawa Senators are still hunting for a forward who can slide into their top six, and with summer dragging on, the market is only getting thinner. That makes Seattle Kraken winger Jared McCann stand out as the kind of target that actually fits.
McCann checks a lot of boxes for Ottawa. He’s 30, he’s coming off five straight 20-goal seasons, and he put up 40 goals in 2022-23. He’s also entering the final year of his five-year, $25 million deal, with a $5 million cap hit this season, which makes him a pretty efficient add for a team looking to score without blowing up its books.
The appeal goes beyond the numbers. McCann is a shoot-first forward with solid speed and enough edge work to create space for himself. In Ottawa, he’d be the sort of running mate who could line up with centre Stützle and help open up the ice for goals.
There’s also the contract wrinkle. McCann has a modified no-trade clause with a 10-team list, though being born and raised in Ontario could mean Ottawa isn’t on it.
And even if it is, the Senators have some selling points of their own. They’ve made the playoffs in back-to-back seasons, and a move to a team where he could play in a bigger role would be attractive to plenty of players.
Seattle’s side of the equation matters too. The Kraken have been taking a hard look at where they’re headed after making a strong push for Jason Robertson, only to see him reject an eight-year, $15 million contract. But Seattle still doesn’t look like one Robertson away from contention, and a broader reset could be coming around its younger players.
If that’s the direction they choose, then moving aging pieces for value makes sense, and McCann doesn’t really fit a team trying to build for the future. That could open the door for a deal built around Senators prospects Logan Hensler or Jaxon Cover as a starting point.
The Senators, after all, have said this offseason that they "have no intention of taking a step back."
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