Senators Considering Many Options At Trade Deadline

The Ottawa Senators are one of those teams who aren't exactly sure where they are going to sit a month from now when the trade deadline is here and how the team will perform the rest of the season. They are reportedly open to both buying and selling at the deadline, per Darren Dreger.

The Senators want a defenceman, even a rental who can be re-signed or be flipped in a month. Acquiring a rental to then flip him would mean they need to pick up the pace and acquire someone soon. On top of searching hard for a defenceman, the Senators are also testing the market on their own UFAs. The UFAs the team has this season are Cam Talbot, Tyler Motte, Derick Brassard, Austin Watson, Travis Hamonic, and Nick Holden. Some of those players won't garner much interest by other teams while others will get quite a bit.

The Senators are .500 right now with a 23-23-3 record but have won three in a row. They lost Josh Norris for the season shortly after he made his return to the lineup. This means they have a good amount of cap space to work with if they are going to bring in help. I mentioned that if they are going to trade for a rental defenceman, it has to be in the next week. Every other decision to buy should wait until the days leading up to the trade deadline unless the Senators start stringing together losses.

They have eight points to make up and six teams to pass to get into a playoff spot. It will be no easy task, but if they are within 4-5 points and maybe have a game or two in hand in the next month, they should be buyers and try to break the playoff drought.