2025 NHL Trade Deadline Odds and Rumours: Senators finally poised to be buyers

No one is saying the Ottawa Senators are Stanley Cup contenders, but there’s no question they’ve taken a step forward this season and they have a chance to clinch a playoff spot. Ottawa likely won’t break the bank to snatch the top trade target available, but they should be (to some degree) buyers at the deadline and they certainly won’t be sellers.

Let’s go over what the Senators could be planning.

2025 NHL Trade Deadline Tracker: Latest moves, updates and rumours

Targets

Ottawa badly needs to add scoring and speed to their roster. Yes, easier said than done, but it’s a priority if they’re going to take the next step and earn a postseason berth.

Ryan Donato would do a lot to help Ottawa. He’s scored 22 goals on a terrible Chicago team and his $2 million cap hit is very manageable. Plus, as a UFA, Donato should be cheaper to acquire as a rental.

There will be a lot of competition for Pittsburgh’s Rickard Rakell, but he’s worth the effort. Rakell’s about to hit 30 goals on the year and he’s signed for three more seasons after this one, so it’s more justifiable to pay a bigger price for him.

The Sens don’t have a great penalty kill (19th in the NHL), so Luke Kunin from San Jose could be a fit. Kunin isn’t the best name out their, but he’s fast, has some scoring touch and he’ll help out on the PK.

Picks over prospects

Ottawa will have to forfeit their first-round draft pick in either 2025 or 2026, so it will be interesting to see how they leverage that at this year’s trade deadline. It’s their biggest trade chip, so you have to think they bite the bullet and just commit to one year or the other.

Trading draft capital is mostly what the Sens will need to rely on. They don’t have a great prospect pool outside of Carter Yakemchuk, but they do have a former first-round pick they could dangle in Jacob Bernard-Docker. He’s consistently been a healthy scratch, so it seems like it’s time to move on from the 24-year-old.