Ottawa Senators general manager Steve Staios said, “It was eerily quiet” leading up to the 3 pm ET NHL Trade Deadline on Friday.
Having acquired forward Warren Foegele from Los Angeles a day prior, Staios and his staff felt comfortable with their current group moving. The Senators currently trail the final Wildcard playoff spot by four points with 21 games remaining and are 7-1-2 over the past 10 outings.
“We took the approach with this deadline, that it was an opportunity, like always, to try and make our team better. So we looked at just about everything. You know, at the end of the day, we feel very good about our team, the direction that it’s moving, the way we’ve been playing more recently, in particular,” noted the Senators GM.
“It wasn’t like we approached this deadline with caution. We were aggressively looking for areas or ways to be able to improve our team at the end of the day, whether the players weren’t available to us, or what it might have been, we feel comfortable with our group. Some of the players that we looked at certainly weren’t an upgrade to what we had here and the depth of our group.”
The belief heading into the trade deadline was the club was seeking to add a top-four right-shot defenseman. Jordan Spence was acquired at the Draft from the Kings as a stopgap while Nick Jensen rehabbed from his offseason hip surgery to fill that role. Jensen returned earlier than anticipated, but at times, while playing admirably, there hasn’t been the consistency which was on display last season. Theoretically, neither is a second-pair d-man at this juncture of their careers. And that leaves Nik Mantipalo, who hasn’t been in the Senators’ lineup since representing Finland at the Olympics.
“I know a lot’s been made of the right shot defense, but we do have an Olympian that’s not in lineup right now. So when you ask about depth and variability as well with Matinpalo, when he is in the lineup, can play on the left side,” commented Staios.
Heading into the deadline, the Senators were minus their 2026 first-round pick. Staios touched on whether it hampered Ottawa’s ability to make a substantial move.
“I think it’s certainly different than other teams, everybody’s in different phases, but we don’t have the benefit of those draft picks accumulated over time, so we have to be strategic on how we continue to build. The team and I think we’ve done a good job. My scouting staff’s here, you know, they bust their tails all year to be able to give me the information to be able to make some decisions. And we’ve been mindful of the picks that we put out and where we put them out where. But I’m not saying we weren’t. If we were in on something that we wouldn’t look at that as well. So there’s certainly some strategy to it, looking for value players and at the right time of their career, and the fit within us as well.”
Staios has belief in his team as do the players. Results may not show, but the group thinks it’s better on the whole when compared last season’s club which finished with 97 points.
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“I think we’ve been very consistent with our approach, and it’s a process-driven approach. I think there’s great confidence within that locker room on how good of a team that we could be. They push each other every day. I mean they come to work, and I think we’re all proud of that. Hasn’t been they haven’t been disheartened by that. They’re not pleased, but I know they’re not disheartened or lost any belief in the team because of where we are in the standings. It’s just it’s a really tough division, as you can see.”
On the newest Senator Warren Foegele
Added Thursday, Warren Foegele is the type of player the Senators have been missing. The Markham, ON resident was acquired from the Kings, which included a swap of 2026 conditional third-round picks. In addition, Ottawa sent their 2026 second-round pick, originally owned by the Buffalo Sabres in the Dylan Cozens/Josh Norris 2025 deadline trade to Los Angeles.
Foegele is a heady, fast skater who uses his six-foot-two, 205-pound frame to go to the net. The 29-year-old is also strong on the penalty kill. Foegele has been a good luck charm of sorts throughout his eight full campaigns. He’s never missed the playoffs and was a key component in the Edmonton Oilers drive the Stanley Cup Final two seasons ago.
Having scored 24 and 20 goals the past NHL campaigns, Foegele got off to a slow start this season after sustaining a shoulder injury in October. He had played 174 consecutive games prior to being injured.
So how was Staios able to procure Foegele for a low return? Offensively, the left winger has only seven goals and two assists in 47 games this season.
Foegele’s Kings’ linemates, Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore, were also having down years. Danault had not scored all season when he was dealt to the Montreal Canadiens.
In an interview on TSN1200, Foegele hinted system issues likely contributed to the lack of production,“You kind of look at the style, you know, being from playing in LA, we are a very defensive team that sits back and waits for the teams to create turnovers. By watching the Senators. I like that there. It looks like they’re really aggressive, and they play good sound defense too.”
On his acquisition of Foegele, Staios explained, ” He adds a little more speed to our lineup. There’s some variability with this player on where he can play on a line and what he can bring to a team…We’re a team that likes to get to the forecheck and get in quick. And certainly, I think if you ask our coaches, you hear about pace all the time and sprinting, and I think that’s what makes us a difficult team to play against when we’re on our game. And so certainly Warren brings that along with the rest of our group.”
The Senators GM noted if Foegele had scored 20 goals this season, he wouldn’t have been available. The former Kingston Frontenac has one year remaining on his contract which carries a $3,5 million cap hit.
Senators move Perron
To fit Foegele into the lineup, one player had to leave, and that was forward David Perron.
In the final year of a two-year contract, Perron was dealt to the Detroit Red Wings from whence he came. The 37-year-old was Ottawa’s Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy nominee in 2024-25. The forward missed time early last season attending to a family matter, and then sustained a back injury. This season, he underwent sports hernia surgery prior to the Olympic break and is still not quite available to play.
Perron admitted Friday on Sportsnet that in the end, the Senators may not have been the “best fit” for him.
Staios on trading Perron; “David was a good player for us. Brought a little bit of what we needed at the time with what David brings with his experience and competitiveness. At a time where this group was continuing to grow, we’ve certainly taken that next step as a group, but we felt like getting a guy like Warren into the lineup that could play the right and left side and get in on the forecheck, gets the front of the net. Big body fits our style of play.”
AHL trade
While the Senators didn’t make an NHL-level swap at the deadline, the club dealt Belleville Senators forward Wyatt Bongiovanni to the Hershey Bears in exchange for former Ottawa 67’s forward Graeme Clarke. Having played three games for the New Jersey Devils in 2023-24, Ottawa will be Clarke’s fourth NHL organization. The Devils’ 2019 80th overall selection has registered 15 goals and nine assists in 50 games for the Washington Capitals AHL affiliate this season.
Looking to the future
Steve Staios did mention that, though there weren’t an abundance of deadline deals, seeds were being planted for this offseason, where conversations may pick up where they left off.
And on the spectre of the NHL replenishing their 2026 first round pick, “That is not in my area, if you know what I mean. I think if those conversations are going on, I don’t know about it, I’m managing the team under the circumstances as they are not.”
