Senators GM Staios looks to improve in off-season after sleepy trade deadline

There are slow trade deadline days. 

And then there are slooooooooooowwwww deadline days. 

The Ottawa Senators had the latter on Friday, failing to make a single deal on the day of the deadline. They did, of course, move winger Vladimir Tarasenko on Wednesday, trading the pending unrestricted free agent to the Florida Panthers for a couple of draft picks. 

The definition of a snoozer day: Ottawa’s only official order of business was to pick up depth winger Boris Katchouk on waivers from the Chicago Blackhawks. 

Considering this was the first trade deadline experience as a general manager for new Senators GM Steve Staios, it was interesting to get his take from inside an operation that seemed to reap so little on the outside. 

At least for the day. 

“I’d say it was productive,” Staios said, on a Zoom call from Los Angeles, where the Senators dropped an overtime game to the Kings on Thursday night. 

“Although it didn’t lead to any results as far as player transactions, except for the waiver pickup with Boris, I’d say we learned a lot about our team and  . . . where other teams are as well, as far as value and that helps us with our plan moving forward.”

Considering this deadline was the first chance to improve this disappointing roster — the draft and summertime being the others — Staios was asked if he was disappointed in not being able to upgrade via trade today. 

The response? It’s all so fresh, Staios and his staff will need a few days to digest what happened and what didn’t. 

“We certainly identified where we wanted to get into the market and what we’re looking to accomplish,” Staios said. 

So, on the outside, what might have the appearance of George Costanza pretending to work at the office during an episode of Seinfeld, was actually a lot of contact with a lot of teams. And that could bear fruit in deals down the road. 

Staios used the word “aggressive" to describe his management team’s approach to certain possibilities and adds that they will be aggressive in the near future to make the Senators better in all facets. 

The GM said that he learned a lot about his team, including that others feel the Senators have good players. 

Sadly, that didn’t translate into moving an unrestricted free agent like winger Dominik Kubalik or other players on the fringes of the roster. 

We surmise that the players other teams covet have more of a standing with the hockey club, including a core player or two which Staios may or may not be willing to move to target a player he feels can complement this group. 

Clearly he wants to add more experience to his team. 

“We’re a good team for stretches of time,” Staios said, nailing a familiar theme. “It certainly is my responsibility to be able to identify that and where we can supplement this roster and help them along.

“I think we’ve shown it as recently as a game last night against an older, more experienced L.A. Kings team and undermanned, how we can compete against the best teams in the league.”

Message to fans: Improvements coming under new management 

The organization continues to ask a lot of Senators fans, who thought this was going to be a competitive season. Now, the management group finds itself asking for further patience, even if it understands fan pain. 

“I share their angst for this team to get to the next level,” Staios said. “We certainly thought outside the box, we were extremely aggressive in some situations to look to expedite the process of the development of this group. Keeping in mind, we weren’t going to do anything rash. 

“I think there’s a lot of things we can do internally much better. And I think that will lead to the off-season and the same aggressive approach to improving this team.”

That point about not doing anything rash is a good one. 

The trade deadline is designed for playoff teams adding depth and for sellers/rebuilding teams seeking draft picks. 

A club like Ottawa that is between those two extremes will have better opportunities to change the look of the roster when the season ends and teams have cap room to spare. 

Katchouk adds size, grit 

The one player Ottawa did add, via waivers, was winger Boris Katchouk, picked up from the Chicago Blackhawks. Essentially, the Sens get a firsthand look at Katchouk, a pending RFA, to decide if they want to qualify him for next season. 

The 25-year-old left winger played in 28 games for Chicago this season, picking up five goals and four assists along with 12 penalty minutes. Katchouk is listed at 6-foot-2, 206 pounds. 

“He’s a dynamic, competitive player with some offensive upside,” Staios said of Katchouk. “For our group, he’ll have an opportunity to come in and give us what he’s got. With our situation and some of the injuries I think Boris is a good fit.”

That opportunity to impress his new team could come as early as Saturday night in San Jose. Winger Parker Kelly had a hearing with the department of player safety regarding his hit on Kings’ defenceman Andreas Englund, a former Senator. 

With Kelly now suspended for two games, Katchouk is expected to suit up against the Sharks.