Six Ottawa Senator Regulars Who May Have Already Played Their Final Game in Ottawa

usatsi_21762521

Even if they wanted to, no NHL team ever rolls back with the same roster as the season before. Even the Stanley Cup Champions have to make changes. Expiring contracts and the salary cap see to that.

But when your team has missed the playoffs for seven straight years and now has a brand new owner, management team, and coaching staff ready to attack their first off-season together, you can almost count on major renovations.

Except for winger Boris Katchouk, the Ottawa Senators' new decision-makers aren't beholden to any player on the current roster. That was the handiwork of people who aren't here anymore. So, changes are a-comin'. And you can only have changes if some of the old guard is being moved out.

Here are the six Sens regulars who will most likely be wearing different uniforms next season.

Travis Hamonic

Hamonic still has one year left on his contract at $1.1 million. Depending on what happens this summer, he may still be in the mix as a sixth or seventh defenceman. Or the team may opt to turn the page and upgrade. Hamonic is a popular veteran teammate, so the Senators will be as respectful as possible if it comes to that. Hamonic dealt with injuries and played just 48 games this season and only once in the final 26 games.

Erik Brannstrom

Brannstrom is a restricted free agent again and has lost the insulation of former GM Pierre Dorion, who desperately wanted/needed him to develop into an elite defenceman. After 266 games in the league, Brannstrom isn't elite nor a poor defenceman. He's average. Even Dorion struggled to keep the faith, signing him to back-to-back one-year deals. Being so small, Brannstrom needs to make up for it with either great offence or great defence. He's decent at both, but not great. And the capper is this: The Sens already have more left-shot, non-physical defencemen than they know what to do with.

Dominik Kubalik

Kubalik is a tweener. He needs to be in someone's top six, better supported, and working the power play to be an asset. That's not possible in Ottawa, which has better options. Kubalik is undoubtedly not a bottom-six mucker. The Sens will allow him to walk into free agency on July 1st.

Mathieu Joseph

Joseph is coming off a career year with 35 points. He's a solid two-way player with great speed, and two Stanley Cup rings. Postmedia recently quoted a league source who said the Sens are trying to move Joseph before the draft, which is why he makes this list. Perhaps the Sens believe they can adequately replace what Joseph brings for less than his $2.95 million (for the next two years)? That's pretty ambitious, but time will tell.

Jakob Chychrun

Chychrun is entering the final year of his contract and claimed at the end of the season that he hadn't given any thought to staying in Ottawa long-term. He didn't say, "I'm open to discussing it." He said he hadn't thought about it. If Chychrun isn't open to signing an extension, then there's no debate; he has to be moved. And if that's how the wind is blowing, there's a good chance it will happen this summer.

Anton Forsberg

If the Senators are making a change in goal this summer to bring in a new body, then Forsberg is probably the casualty. They'd probably prefer to unload Joonas Korpisalo and his bigger contract on another team, but after this season's stats, that's unlikely. His ten-team, no-trade list isn't helping either. If the Sens bring in someone new, they'll likely hang on to Korpisalo as an expensive backup rather than the out-of-pocket cost of buying him out.