Djibril Touré has signed a new contract with the Ottawa Senators.

Meh

There's a limit to the number of contracts a team can have and I'm not sure why a team would use one of its six remaining contract slots on this player.

he big

What a great signing for the Sens, getting Pinto to take a *checks notes*........ wait a minute........ That's not Pinto!

Keep in mind that, right now, this maximum ELC is assumed, rather than set in stone.

I like it. Ottawa likes handing out these deals to guys who impress as invites. On the surface, I totally get it. He's only 20, and he's a 6'7, 215lbs RHD who can skate. Not a whole lot of upside, but if you can take that standout physical skillset and teach him to defend like a pro, you've got something every GM wants on the 3rd pair.

Do I think it's likely that they get NHL quality out of him? No, probably not. Will I spend a lot of time imagining the destructive force of a 3rd pairing of him and Tyler Kleven? Yeah, probably?

Say that name 5 times fast.

Did you see him as a 17 yr old turning 18? I can understand it, if you did. Then you waited and waited before signing him. Mr Toure played on a strong Sudbury team, its not like his teammates didn't help him with his point totals, see his previous seasons of playing hockey. If Sens would be planning on him being a stay at home project player, I can also understand that.... but why not look at the winning teams first? Peterborough, North Bay, Seattle, Kamloops, etc... ?? And how the frig did Sens miss on 2nd highest scoring player in the BCHL on winning club, to go for players who've just been introduced to OHL?

6'7" with 91 Penalty minutes. I like the pick up based on that alone.

you're right there is and its 50 paid but teams have a 90 reserve list, and right now Sens are sitting at 65...\\\ according to C.F.

Awesome signing, but it's not Pinto.

The Senators only had 5 picks in the 2023 draft. Most of those were in the 7th round. Their earliest pick was in the 4th round. Additionally, they do not have a deep prospect pool. For a team that has come out of a long rebuild, they did not accrue the same level of prospects that most other teams do. They averaged about 7 picks per draft since the rebuild started in 2018. So it isn't as if the rebuild allowed them to restock the cupboards by all that much. They did an exceptional job at drafting a core of top-end players like Stutzle, Sanderson, Tkachuk, etc - but did not build up as much organizational depth as would usually be expected in a successful rebuild.

This is because they were unable to capitalize on their cap space due to the combination of a restrictive budget, and an owner who needed cash flow through ticket sales. Meaning, they couldn't go scorched earth. They had to make trades like a 2nd round pick for Derek Stepan, or make moves like holding on to Mark Stone and Matt Duchene throughout the season rather than trading them at the draft in their contract year, when they likely would have commanded the biggest return.

The short of it is, they are unlikely to have issues with their contract limit during the 3 year period of this contract because they simply don't have a higher-than-normal amount of players who will come from the reserve list and command ELCs. The Senators have nobody on their reserve list to sign until 2025.

On a side note, this is not a random signing. Toure played in Carleton-Place and Hawkesbury. Basically, in the Senators backyard. Who knows what his Junior career might have looked like if things weren't so fragmented due to COVID. Had the 2020-21 season not been cancelled, perhaps he would have ended up in the CHL earlier, and by extension maybe he ends up drafted. He is a late bloomer. It's a free 7th round pick basically.

Ottawa's answer to Arber Xhekaj?

I do like this Arber Xhekaj name and how it's pronounced. Montreal has a beauty there.