
NHL Free Agency Draws The Cone Of Silence
Silent Steve?
Stone Cold Steve?
Slow-moving Steve?
Take your pick of nicknames for Ottawa General Manager Steve Staios . . . They all kind of fit after an exceedingly quiet free agent day for the Ottawa Senators.
As my good friend and former NHL executive and player (not to mention, part-time golf tutor for those in need) Timothy Higgins said this week – “You wanna make a splash, you gotta fill the pool first.”
Well, the pool remained relatively dry for Staios and his Senators. Fans clamoring for big-name moves were left twisting in the breeze on July 1st.
No splash.
Not a ripple.
Unless you consider the signing of former Hab, Penguin, Capital, Blue and Avalanche Lars Eller as being notable.
The 36-year-old Dane was the best Staios could summon on an NHL free agency day that could only be summed up as being underwhelming.
(Early today, the Senators announced they’d also signed 24-year-old winger Arthur Kaliyev. The forward has played limited time with the Rangers and Kings and is considered a depth move. He and Staios know each other well as Kaliyev suited up for the Hamilton Bulldogs in 2018; a team where Staios was GM and president.)
We’re not throwing shade on the Senators here. Fact is, outside of the Vancouver Canucks who pulled a rabbit out of their hat in the re-signing of Brock Boeser, none of the Canadian clubs did much of anything. Vancouver also inked stopper Thatcher Demko and pesty Conor Garland on a busy day for the west coasters.
The Leafs did what they did one day earlier when they worked a sign-and-trade swap with Vegas for Mitchell Marner. Edmonton’s biggest move was also accomplished a day early as the Oilers re-signed stud blueliner Evan Bouchard to a mammoth deal.
Montreal did its best work earlier in the week as well, trading for offence from the defence in landing Noah Dobson from the Islanders.
Asked about the perceived silence coming out of Ottawa, Staios had this to say: “I haven’t seen what the other teams have done, and we’re focused on what we’re doing here, and we don’t get distracted by what other teams are doing,” Staios said. “We feel like we have a good plan in place for this group, we’re mindful of this group and their growth and their development.”
As for Eller, certainly Staios would love the see the same type of result that he witnessed last season after acquiring underrated veteran defenceman Nick Jensen from Washington for Jakob Chychrun. Jensen was, quietly, one of Ottawa’s top blueliners in 2024-25.
Eller is likely going to see penalty kill time while anchoring the Senators’ fourth line.
“Going into this free agency was different than last year, where we had more areas that we were looking to address,” said Staios. “And it was comforting going into this year, where really we were looking for one specific area that if we could improve in it, we would.”
THOUGHT, SEEN AND HEARD: So, the Bruins ink Tanner Jeannot to a five-year deal ($3.4 million US per season). Like the player, not a fan of the deal. You give five years and that much cabbage to a fourth-line slugger? . . . Loved the Connor Brown signing by New Jersey. Plays the game the right way and is, by all accounts, a class-A person . . . The Oilers lose both Brown and Corey Perry (signs a one-year contract with LA). That’s a big character loss for a team that should be searching for more of that ilk, not letting it walk . . . This is how drafting well can help you down the road – Logan Mailloux is traded to St. Louis for Trois-Rivieres, Que. native Zach Bolduc. The Habs are so incredibly deep on the blueline, they could give away Mailloux – a particularly good prospect – to land some scoring and character up front. Montreal’s loaded on the defence front, even after losing veteran David Savard to retirement. Simply put, there wasn’t much room for Mailloux (first-round pick in 2021) on the Montreal roster . . . The Leafs sign a game Michael Pezzetta (two years and $1.575 million US). Does this officially signal the end of the road for Ryan Reaves? . . . If Reaves does hang up the skates, watch the rival sport networks scramble to sign him up. The man can talk with the best of them . . . We used to be a major fan of the NHL draft, but the owners decided this year – to save on travel costs – they’d work this one virtually. What a disaster. This one can be put to bed after being way too long (three-and-a-half hours for the opening round?) and seeing way too much Gary Bettman twitching at the platform. This one was memorable for all the wrong reasons.
thegrossgame@yahoo.com
Photo: Courtesy CP