Senators Rumors: Ottawa's Next Netminding Move After Disastrous Season In Goal

After a dreadful season between the pipes, the Ottawa Senators are rumored to be looking at upgrading the position this offseason, not surprisingly. How's this for a crazy—and unacceptable—stat: The Senators gave up a goal on the first two shots of the game more than 20 times this season, according to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun. Yikes.

We know that the Sens "kicked the tires" on Boston Bruins' goalie Linus Ullmark at the deadline, and now it's quite likely they'll return to those discussions as we approach the NHL Draft next month, though as Garrioch notes, there will be a lot of competition in those talks.

This past year, Senators goaltending ranked dead last (tied) in the entire league in save percentage at .884. They finished 26th in goals against average at 3.39.

Certainly, Joonas Korpisalo was a big part of that in his 49 starts, finishing 50th-ranked in the NHL at .890. In fact, sources report that the Senators tried to trade him back at the deadline, but to no avail. After completing just the first season of a 5-year, $20 million contract, it's highly unlikely that anyone will be interested in him this off-season either, unless the Sens are prepared to eat a huge chunk of that contract, PLUS throw in a sweetener.

Garrioch doesn't feel that a buyout is realistic, however, due to the hefty cost of $10.6M that it would take.

Ultimately, he suggests that the best bet to clear space to acquire a better solution in goal (be it Ullmark or somebody else) is to try to find a team that's willing to take backup Anton Forsberg off their hands. With just one season remaining at a $2.75 million cap hit, that should be doable.