Senators Rumors: Team Close To Re-Signing Defenseman

One thing Pierre Dorion and the Ottawa Senators have been hard at work at is bringing back right-shot defenseman Travis Hamonic. They reportedly recently made him a one-year, low dollar pitch and it seems like it was rejected as Darren Dreger says that Ottawa is going to have to sweeten yesterday's offer to retain him on defense.

TSN's insider notes that the market is always strong for a right shot defenseman and since being a part of the Senators for the past season and a half, Hamonic has put up solid numbers for a bottom-pair defensively-reliable player. He has seven goals, 24 points, an even plus/minus, 79 penalty minutes, three shorthanded points, 181 blocked shots, and 152 hits in 94 games. He logs between 18-19 minutes a night, plays on the penalty kill, and starts a significant amount of draws in the defensive zone.

The Senators' weakest area is the right side of their defense as they have just two options signed that shoot right - Artem Zub and Jacob Bernard-Docker. Zub is a solid fourth defenseman, but Bernard-Docker has played 32 NHL games. The assumption is that Hamonic was offered a low AAV deal because he will likely be in and out of the lineup while the Senators try to get their younger players more playing time. Hamonic could act as a safety net to the inexperienced defenders and the team doesn't have a ton of cap space to work with. We will see if a contract is signed in short order or Hamonic decides against coming back with this situation in Ottawa.