Chicago would love to give you Seabrook

And they're going to keep on wanting someone to take that deal right up until he retires as a Blackhawk

I honestly see melnyk bringing back Borowiecki. One of the few players melnyk likes and honestly good 3rd pairing LD. Also he will be a good mentor for the kids. If he leaves or retires that sucks. As for the options

Penguins won't move Petterson. He and Marino are a solid pairing and the future of that blue line
Brodin is a possibility but just can't see it
Cernak is a RD so probs not the right choice
Zadorov is fine and could replace Borowiecki in terms of his physical presence
Honestly if Ottawa needs a bottom pairing cheap defense man I could see them targeting Dermott. He and brainstorm could become the next Lindgren/fox or Marino/Petterson. Cause Dermott could work his way into a top 4 role with Ottawa as he gets older

But out of all choices Zadorov is a younger version of borowiecki so I see him as the best option

Just grab anyone from FA you arent trying to win next year

I agree 100% that he should be brought back, but there's been speculation that it might not happen. A couple of the Ottawa beat writers have mentioned that it likely would have been done by now, and a few days ago Boro removed all mention of the Sens from his social media bio. I still think they will get it done, but I wouldn't be surprised if they part ways this offseason.

From a pure hockey perspective, I can see why they'd make that decision. Moving on from Boro, then adding a player who can play with experience in the top 4 makes it much easier to integrate Brannstrom and Wolanin into the lineup full time this coming season without having to give one or the other an unfavorable deployment.

I love Boro, and think he's a solid player and even more a great person that the young players in the team can learn a lot from, but if Ottawa is looking to make a splashy addition this offseason (I think now is definitely the time to do so) it's probably Boro who loses his spot as a result. Chabot and Wolanin are presumably 1LD and 3LD, Zaitsev and Zub will be two of the RD, Branny plays 2nd pair on whichever side, and then top 4 Addition fills that last spot imo. I'd rather have Boro over Reilly as the extra, but Reilly is already signed and I doubt Boro wants to sign a deal to sit after having a career year.

Most of these guys are options who would be a fit now and into the future. If I'm Ottawa, I'd rather trade for a 23-26 year old top 4 guy who can be a piece on the blueline going forward, than overpay for a 28-30+ year old whose best years are behind him.

If he leaves I recommend they look at Zadorov. Basically a spitting image of him in terms of his size and playstyle. He will basically be boro 2.0

It's not really an overpay when you are just grabbing a stopgap then trading them at the deadline. IMO just draft your D-core, Nashville did it and it turned out well.

I just don't think there's a great crop of guys who fit the bill in free agency. You're asking for a guy who is a defensively responsible top 4 Dman, who is willing to sign for just 1-2 years, and is willing to basically waste some of his prime years on a rebuilding team rather than signing with a team who could be in the playoff hunt.

I've been thinking about Zadorov, but I'm just not sold he's an everyday day top 4 guy. I'm not quite sure he's a guy you want playing 18-20 minutes a night. He's kind of a tweener 2nd/3rd pair guy, but I just feel like he might fall more on the 3rd pair side than the 2nd pair.

That said, on paper he's the type of guy I want playing with Brannstrom. 6'6 235 lb bulldozer paired with a 5'9 dynamo.

If you are looking for a young LD I am willing to make the following trade.

OTT
POJ
Jack Johsnon
Bjugstad.

Jack can fill in for 1 year while POJ develops. His buyout after that is the same as playing him. So he's gone.

PIT
WPG 3rd

Could likely get benning from Edmonton. Very good as a third pair option deserving of an opportunity in a top four position which is an opportunity very unlikely to get in Edmonton. Betting could acquire him for very little but a ton of upside as for responsible play. Won’t likely ever see pp time but could end up seeing plenty of pk time which is more of what I’d be looking for in Ottawa’s position.

Your statement that "Graves has a lot of the same positives and negatives as Zadorov", is wrong. Other than the size difference they are actually very different players.

Zadorov is great at defending in transition, but is horrible with zone coverage. For that reason he's very polarising and hard for a coach to manage. Zadorov's offense is also really limited.

Graves on the other hand is very good with zone coverage and generally just plays a steady game while keeping things simple, which makes him very coachable and easy to trust on the ice in all situations. He's also much better than Zadorov at jumping into the play, which is why he is pacing 11 goals and 30 points this season without any PP time.

I'd be willing to entertain Graves or Cernak for Ottawa. Our defense is not that good right now and you can't necessarily just hope that all the prospects pan out. LD or RD, it doesn't matter. They need both. Chabot also needs someone to play with. I'd entertain the idea of signing TJ Brodie in the offseason since he's set to be a UFA.

I should have been more clear with what I meant. The positives and negatives I was referring to were that they are both Big, Defense first players who have somewhat questionable underlying numbers, and I'm not fully confident either is an everyday top 4 option. I should have gone more in depth with Graves, but it was like 3am and I was just trying to wrap things up lol.

I like Graves, but with only one full NHL season I'm not sure it's wise to to pay the price tag Colorado would have on him. They'd be asking for top 4 D return, and there's a distinct possibility that if you take him away from Makar and put him on a much worse team that he falls off.

Similarly, there's a lot to like with Zadorov and if I was more confident in him as a top 4 player on a good team I'd be all over him, but I just can't help but feel he's closer to a number 5 D.

I really don't know that Sens have options in Free agency. The players you would want will want more money and/or term than would make Sense for Ottawa imo. I don't think they should be giving more than 1-2 year deals, and I don't see any top 4 UFA Dmen taking a 1-2 year deal, especially to come to a non playoff team. I think players will look for stability in the face of all the uncertainty going forward.

I find so much of the Sens' future @ d hinges on if Brannstrom ends up on the left or right side. The Sens see him as a LD, but his stated preference is RD. If the Sens get their way we have Chabot, Brannstrom as our top 2 LD, and some very specific needs @ RD (hello Jamie Drysdale). Longer term, I guess we'd see Drysdale, assuming the Sens draft him, and JBD as our top 2 RD with a combo of Lassi, Wolanin, Zub, Zaitsev, Jaros filling out the bottom 6. If Brannstrom moves to RD, then are we smarter to go after Jake Sanderson or fill out our top 2 LD spot via trade/free agency?

I think best case is Branny on the right side. I think there are so many options to acquire a complimentary 2LD to play with him, and it makes you way more balanced overall.

Zads is a solid Defensive Dman when he is fully engaged, he has the ability and has shut down the leagues best.
He just has issues with penalties and consistency being a slow starter every year

Graves is solid, he is defensively sound and has a super high hockey IQ, he is the safer bet as a stead fast guy you can plug into your second pairing and wont be scared for your life. His offence is a bit question mark bc it came on huge this season but he has a big shot and he was finally able to get that on net, so the points started to pile up for him

Murray would be the cheapest on the list and the most likely to acquire, Columbus would probably let him got for a 3rd and might even retain (though Ottawa doesn’t need us to do that) Murray is 3rd pair in Columbus when healthy but is better then that, if he can stay healthy he’s a huge steal for you.

You're likely betting on Brannstrom, Thomson and Bernard-Docker all becoming regular NHL players with what you said. What I'm saying is not signing a guy like Brodie to a 1 or 2 year deal. Some guys are worth signing beyond that point. Plus you're going to need to add a little through trades and free agency to get to the contender status. Most of the focus should be through the draft, but you can't just wait to draft everyone for your team to become a contender. Brodie would likely not be commanding much more than his $4.65 million in free agency. If you can get him on a 4 year deal to play with Chabot, I think he's a much better option than Zaitsev. It also allows those 3 young players to properly develop and earn a spot on the NHL team.