OTTAWA -- Steve Staios said he's encouraged by the Ottawa Senators' recent turnaround, and the general manager believes "there may be an opportunity" to improve prior to the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline on March 8.
Staios said he's still holding out hope the Senators (18-24-2) can make a run and compete for a Stanley Cup Playoff berth -- Ottawa is 17 points back of the second wild card in the Eastern Conference -- and spoke openly about the possibility of being active on the trade front.
“Am I open for business? I think I’ve had some good discussions with lots of teams,” Staios said Thursday ahead of the Senators' 3-2 overtime loss to the Eastern-leading Boston Bruins at Canadian Tire Centre. “I wouldn’t be doing my job if I wasn’t looking for all opportunities to make this team successful short term and long term. I think the long-term vision is extremely important to keep an eye on here with our group.
"I think that you can’t have enough leadership and experience. I think that’s certainly an area that I’d like to look at. Also, I think we’re looking at complete players as well, 200-foot players. Those are the types of things we’re looking at.
"If there’s an opportunity, the market will dictate. There may be an opportunity here at the deadline. And if not, we’ll continue to work on it.”
One opportunity could involve pending unrestricted free agent forward Vladimir Tarasenko, who scored Thursday and has 32 points (13 goals, 19 assists) in 42 games. Staios said he hasn’t had any discussion with Tarasenko’s camp, but acknowledged, “With where we are in the standings, him becoming an unrestricted free agent, it’s certainly something that we’ll continue to take a look at.”
Staios struck a different tone when asked about Jakob Chychrun, Ottawa's top scorer among defensemen (27 points; seven goals, 20 assists in 44 games). Chychrun was the main piece in a March 1, 2023 trade that brought him to Ottawa from the Arizona Coyotes for a first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft and second-round picks in 2024 and 2026.
“I’m disappointed that his name is out there,” Staios said. "I think when you have these conversations with other teams, I mean, if I’m on the other side looking at our team, I’m asking about Jakob Chychrun as well, so I’m disappointed for him.
"I guess it’s part of the game, but he’s a great player for us, he’s a great young man and loves Ottawa, so he’s going to have to deal with those types of things being out there.”
Staios, who was promoted to GM from interim GM on Dec. 31 to replace Pierre Dorion, who was fired Nov. 1, said the Senators going 4-1-2 in their past seven games following a five-game losing streak is cause for optimism.
“I think this is exactly where I expected this group to get to from a level of compete, discipline and details in our game,” he said. “I think it’s been pretty evident with our play, contributions from everybody in the lineup. It’s starting to really come together.”
Ottawa’s impact players are finding a groove. Center Tim Stützle has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in his past seven games, goalie Joonas Korpisalo is 3-0-2 in his past five starts and center Shane Pinto has two points (one goal, one assist) and is plus-4 in his first three games back after serving a 41-game suspension for activities relating to sports wagering.
Staios said he believes coach Jacques Martin and his staff are “really laying the foundation for what it’s going to take [to get to] the next level.”
Martin sees it the same way.
“Probably over the last four games, I’d say that the biggest difference is getting the players to commit to play with the same intensity and same commitment without the puck as they have with the puck," Martin said following the morning skate Thursday. "The second part, I think they’ve made progress in is their ability to manage a game better. The one thing that they had, and I always encouraged and pushed them to continue, is they played with a lot of emotion. And I think that’s really important, but it’s got to be controlled emotion.
"What got us in trouble in the past was that we didn’t handle the highs and lows within a game very well. I can remember the first game that I coached; I thought we had an outstanding first period, I’d never seen this club control the puck in the offensive zone as well as they did, but at the second period start, I could feel on the bench the guys getting tight, and then the third period was a debacle and we were skating in sand.”
The plan, Staios reassured, remains to have Martin and his staff finish the season and re-evaluate. But at the same time, a search for a permanent coach is underway.
“It’s in process,” Staios said. “I think we’ve kind of put names together that might fit. We’ll go through that. I think the offseason is going to be a great opportunity to take a look at that. Again, I’m extremely encouraged with the work that Jacques and [Daniel Alfredsson] and Jack [Capuano] and Ben Sexton, and now Justin Peters, have done with this group. I’m hoping that this last five-game stretch is something that we can continue to build off of. I think this team is still in the growth phase, they really are, and they’re learning how to win.
“I’m encouraged with the way that we’ve played, that we’d be able to go on a run with this group, if you play with those details. I don’t think that looking at the final result is the way to do it. You’ve got to take it day by day, and I think this group’s doing a really good job of that.”
