Where Are They Now? The Eight Ottawa Senator Regulars Who Won’t Be Back This Season

To varying degrees, every NHL team will head to training camp this month with a different roster than they had last season. But for non-playoff teams like the Ottawa Senators, with a new GM calling the shots, we knew all summer there would be more than a just few changes.

To make way for the new, the club has sent eight of last season’s full-timers packing.

Here are the eight players (minimum 50 games last season) who were voted off Senator Island in the past six months and where they’re playing now.

Vladimir Tarasenko (57 games)

Tarasenko is the only player on this list who wasn’t shipped out this summer. His story goes back to the trade deadline last March. With a no-movement clause and UFA looming, Tarasenko had the Sens over a barrel when he would only agree to be dealt to the Florida Panthers. This allowed him to be closer to family, and as it turned out, win another Stanley Cup. Tarasenko signed with the Detroit Red Wings this summer.

Jakob Chychrun (82 games)

Chychrun was entering the final year of his contract and by his own admission, didn’t have his best season. GM Steve Staios felt he already had enough offensive left-shot defencemen, so he traded Chychrun to the Washington Capitals for his complete opposite – a stay at home right-shot defenceman in Nick Jensen.

Mathieu Joseph (72 games)

Joseph was a fast, solid, third line player here but with the cap becoming an issue, the Sens enticed the St. Louis Blues to take his contract by sending them a third rounder. Along with his sibling, Pierre-Olivier, the Josephs become the latest rendition of The Blues Brothers.

Erik Brannstrom (76 games)

Brannstrom was supposed to make us forget Mark Stone. After 266 games of, uh, not doing that, Brannstrom was allowed to walk into free agency this summer. He signed with the Colorado Avalanche for less than half what he made last season.

Parker Kelly (80 games)

Kelly was always a gamer who was hard not to like. But he, too, was allowed to walk into free agency and was also picked up by the Avalanche.

Dominik Kubalik (74 games)

It’s a little hard to believe Kubalik actually got to play 74 games. Production-wise, as the Senators learned last season, if Kubalik isn’t in the top six or on the power play, there’s not much happening there. Kubalík signed a deal with the Swiss club, HC Ambri-Piotta, last week. The deal includes an NHL opt-out clause.

Mark Kastelic (63 games)

Kastelic’s size and physical presence made him useful on the fourth line but the Sens would like to see their fourth liners hovering closer to 20 points, not 10. He was part of the June deal to bring Linus Ullmark to the Senators, who do have some solid options to replace Kastelic this season.

Joonas Korpisalo (55 games)

Korpisalo was also shipped out in the Ullmark trade. The Senators will pay him $1 million a year for the next four years to be the Boston Bruins backup goalie.

This time last year, all eight of these players showed up at Sens camp ready for full-time duty and now all of them are gone. That’s a lot of man games to yank out of the lineup. But after seven straight playoff absences – quite literally – you have to make room for improvement.

Alas, we hardly knew ye.

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