NHL Rumors: Senators Have Eyes On 2 Top-6 Forwards

According to Bruce Garrioch, TSN and Ottawa Senators' contributor, the team may have some interest in Vegas Golden Knights' William Karlsson and Minnesota Wild's Kevin Fiala.

The Golden Knights will be looking to move Karlsson since he should be pushed to the third line center and the team just doesn't have the cap space to keep him around for five more years at $5.9 million AAV. They already have Jack Eichel who they acquired in a trade last season as their number one centerman and Chandler Stephenson who has broken out as their number two. No contending team can afford to be paying a big sum of money like Karlsson is getting to play on the third line.

The Senators are a young team and have the cap space to add an impactful top-six player like Karlsson to their mix as Tim Stutzle is fine with playing the wing at this point in his career. Karlsson would be a strong addition to the Senators and likely not cost as much as the other top-six player they have their eye on since it is obvious the Golden Knights are trying to move money to fit under the cap next season. Karlsson has scored 18 goals and 254 points in 350 games as he broke out once he got a top-six role in Vegas. He is a former 43 goal-scorer and won the Lady Byng Trophy in 2017-18.

As for Fiala, his contract is up with the Wild but he is a restricted free agent. The Wild would love to keep him, but they just don't have the cap space in order to re-sign him on the contract that he deserves and will be given. The team that trades for him would be able to negotiate a deal for the term and dollar value, so it's a much different situation than that of Karlsson's.

Fiala has been a solid offensive contributor for a few seasons now, but he really took another step forward this season by scoring 33 goals and 85 points in 82 games. In this case, he is a winger so Stutzle would be able to continue playing center, and the Senators would be able to easily fit Fiala into their top-six as they try to make the last moves in coming out of their rebuild.

The Senators have the assets to pull off either deal as both the Golden Knights and Wild will be looking for cheaper replacements as they send their player away, likely NHL-ready talent.