Tarasenko Signed, What’s Next for the Ottawa Senators?

Early Thursday evening, Ottawa Senators’ fans were greeted with a single tweet – “Welcome to the Tarasenk-show.”

With this, the club announced the signing of unrestricted free agent forward Vladimir Tarasenko to a one-year, $5 million contract. The deal includes a full no-move clause.

Senators’ general manager Pierre Dorion was seeking to acquire a proven goal scorer via free agency or trade from the time the organization was aware Alex DeBrincat wouldn’t sign a long-term deal to remain in Ottawa.

In a team press release, Dorion said, “Vladimir’s a natural goal scorer. He’s a dynamic player who can score from anywhere in the offensive zone, as well as an underrated playmaker who’s made a career out of driving offence for he and his linemates. An established performer in the regular season and in the playoffs, we’re thrilled to add a player of his caliber to our lineup.”

Dealt at last season’s trade deadline to the New York Rangers by the St. Louis Blues, the 11-year veteran registered 18 goals, 32 assists in 69 games, adding three goals, one assist in seven postseason outings for the Blueshirts.

The 31-year-old arrives in Ottawa with a lengthy NHL resumé.

One Stanley Cup win

Five 30-plus goal seasons

One 40-goal season

Four All-Star game appearances

Two-time Second Team All Star

Regular Season

675 games  270 goals  304 assists  574 points

Playoffs

97 games  44 goals  20 assists  64 points

Limited to only 42 games due to multiple shoulder surgeries in 2019-20 and 2020-21, Tarasenko was exposed by the Blues in the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft in the summer of 2021.

Not selected, the native of Yaroslavl remained a Blue. Not displaying any signs of shoulder woes, Tarasenko notched 34 goals in 2021-22, reaching career highs in assists (48) and points (82).

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How does the acquisition of Tarasenko affect the current Senators’ lineup?

Tarasenko prefers to play the right side which means one of Drake Batherson or Claude Giroux will likely see a shift to left wing. Giroux is the more versatile forward – capable of playing all forward positions and has done so in the past.

Whether Tarasenko lines up with centre Josh Norris or Tim Stützle remains to be seen. Norris is expected to return to full strength after skating in only five games last season after undergoing shoulder surgery.

It’ll be head coach D.J. Smith‘s job to assess and create line chemistry in training camp.

Tarasenko’s signing also pushes newly-acquired forward Dominik Kubalik to the third line which will only bolster the club’s bottom six depth up front. Kubalik garnered 20 goals and 25 assists with the Detroit Red Wings last season, and has a 31-goal campaign under his belt.

While the Senators’ power play unit was a strong one in 2022-23, the team ranked 25th league-wide in goals at even strength.

How does the signing of Tarasenko affect the Senators’ current salary cap?

Technically, Tarasenko’s $5 million cap hit doesn’t affect the club as the Senators can be a maximum of 10% above the $83.5 million salary ceiling until the opening roster is declared.

However, internally per salary cap website Puckpedia, the team is currently $784,000 shy of the cap ceiling with restricted free agent forwards Shane Pinto and Egor Sokolov still unsigned.

Pinto will receive a contract in excess of $2 million and is guaranteed a roster spot. An eventual Pinto signing will result in a subsequent roster deletion or two by Dorion. Ideally, getting this completed prior to the start of training camp in mid-September will stave off any daily questions.

What happens next is anyone’s guess. But one thing is for certain – for the first time in years, the team is spending to the cap. And it’s a pleasant problem for the Senators’ GM to have.

Honestly just can't wait to watch this all season long‼️#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/zypKWSLjtU

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) July 27, 2023