Ottawa management announces a trade with the San Jose Sharks.

Acquired by
C - Ryan Strome (2011: 1/5 - 0 Games)
C - John Gaudreau (2011: 4/104 - 0 Games)
Jordan Nolan, $0.4m (2012-2014)
Dany Heatley, $4.4m (2013-2016)


Traded to
C - Mark Scheifele (2011: 1/7 - 7 Games)
Viktor Stalberg, $2.2m (2013-2014)
Danny Cleary, $2.0m (2014-2015)
Paul Martin, $1.0m (2012-2014)
Marc Staal, $1.6m (2013-2016)

Sens make this trade to free cap space for critical contract extensions in the near future.

We take on an expensive underperforming player in Heatley and acquire 3 young and talented forwards as we re-stock our MiLR. Ryan Strome was the key to making this deal happen. We were not going to do this trade without Strome in the package!

We have seen Scheifele play and are not certain his ceiling is as high as we had hoped. The other players we ship to San Jose are veterans but also underperforming and we have better options to start nightly.

Thanks to the Sharks organization. We wish all the former Sens players all the best with their new team.

- Ottawa

Ottawa management sees the value in holding onto two players that play key roles for our team and will sign them to extensions.

Center Lapierre's highest ranking was 95th in 2012-13. He gets a 3yr deal $1.6 Million.

RW Read's highest rank was 61st in 2012-13. Read gets a 3yr deal $1.8 Million.

Ottawa management will buyout the remainder of Dave Dziurzynski's contract.

We also take Marc Staal off LTIR and insert him into our active roster.

Thanks

- Ottawa

$0.4 Million

added team icon 13 Sept 12th

STATE OF THE NATION
A year removed from an all out rebuild and a last place finish, Ottawa ended the 2012-13 campaign as the 10th best team in the league.

Management has the Sens headed in the right direction and were the team to beat in the Eastern Conference last year.

Dealing the first overall pick in the 2012 entry draft landed Ottawa two critical ingredients to their present and future success in Sens starting goaltender Braden Holtby and franchise goalie of the future Andrey Vasilevsky whom the team drafted with the 14th overall pick they received from Washington.

Other key players in the Sens success were Subban's Norris winning breakout season, Mike Del Zotto's emergence as a premier blueliner, Dennis Wideman's resurgence as a PP monster and Matt Read's consistent point production until his season ending injury.

The departure of Jason Garrison as Ottawa used it's only Amnesty buyout will be damped by the free agent signs of Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov to considerably less expensive deals.

PROSPECT ROUNDUP
Last year, Holtby stepped in to fill the goaltending void in Ottawa and management expects him to be on place for the foreseeable future or until Vasilevsky supplants him in a few years.

The Senators have a Grade A crop of prospects waiting for their big break and for a number of them, that could come as early as this season.

Here's a look at the five biggest prospects for the Sens:

Vasilevsky - Drafted by the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning could conceivably steal the starters job from Holtby but will likely remain in the Konrinental Hockey League for another year of seasoning.

Mark Scheifele was drafted by the NHL's Winnipeg Jets 7th overall in 2011 and appears to be ready to contribute as a top 6 winger this season if he can show that he can hold his own against bigger, stronger, faster NHL defensemen.

Jacob Trouba is yet another prospect from the NHL Jets system taken 9th overall in 2012. Trouba may need to gain some experience at the minor league level before earning a full-time job with the parent club.

Colten Teubert saw his career stall in 2012-13 but looks to compete for a bottom pair role. Failing that, Teubert could be better off with another team as he has shown his play both with and without the puck are both FNHL and NHL ready.

Vladislav Namestnikov is another highly regarded prospect currently in the Lightning's farm system. After dropping in the 2011 NHL entry due to the Russian factor, Namestnikov has demonstrated his commitment to reaching the parent club and is expected to be an exciting two-way winger when (and if) he arrives as he is considered too small to play his natural position of Center standing at 5'11".

2013-14 OUTLOOK
Ottawa looks to be a serious Stanley Cup contender with a good mix of veteran leadership and youthful talent.

Opponents should expects high scoring match-ups and possibly another blockbuster trade to go along with their recently completed deal that saw Patrick Sharp coming over in exchange for Mike Richards and Brian Campbell, which was on the heals of a deal with the Jets that netted Joe Pavelski.

$0.5 Million