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I want to give a quick shout out to former Ottawa Senator Mark Stone who is getting married today in Las Vegas to fiancee Haley Thompson a Brockville native. I have a few close friends attending today, so it will be interesting to hear the stories on what should be a great day for Stone! Oh and Thompson’s sister Jamie, is married to former Sen Cody Ceci. There will be many familiar faces from Stone’s days in Ottawa, celebrating his big day today!

Now, finally some news regarding those “other” two RFA’s the Sens need to sign that nobody talks about. I am told, talks regarding RFA Filp Gustavsson have picked up as of late. Sens GM Pierre Dorion has four RFA’s to deal with and crossing one name off his list sure would be nice with the month of August coming to end. Management has tabled a three year offer to Gustavsson and he still has one more year of waiver exemption, so this really gives the team flexibility as he potentially gets more NHL action this coming season. It will be easy to call him up/send him back down as needed during the season. Here is hoping the club can get him signed to a three year deal very soon so he can travel to Ottawa from Europe with time to spare before training camp. Any deal he signs, you can be sure the first year will be a 2 way deal due to having another year of waiver exemption.

The club will most likely start the season with Anton Forsberg and Matt Murray as their goaltenders while Gustavsson gets more AHL game action. Naturally anything can happen in training camp/pre-season games, but the club has set themselves up nicely regarding their goaltending situation for the coming season. Gustavsson is a great option to have if one of Forsberg or Murray goes down at all with an injury after looking very comfortable in a small sample size to end last season.

With regards to RFA Logan Brown, it looks more and more like management is going to see how Brown does in the pre-season by giving him every opportunity to make the roster. Brown’s camp wants a fresh start but Ottawa still holds all the cards. Last year really hurt Brown with no pre-season games and then he was injured for most of the season, which has become all too common with him. There have been a few teams that have called on Brown but at this point, low ball offers is all Dorion is going to get at this point so it serves no purpose to trade him for the sake of it unless he is part of a bigger package for RW or top flight center.

Three teams have called about Brown. I am told San Jose has been very intrigued about acquiring Brown. HC Bob Boughner coached Logan in Windsor as did new Sharks assistant coach Rocky Thompson who had Brown for a few years. Coupled with SJ GM Doug Wilson being an Ottawa native with close ties to a few people in the Sens organization, I can see the Sharks interested in Brown. Ottawa and SJ pulled off a few trades over the years, for whatever reason they have been trade partners, making this a possible destination for Brown. St.Louis, no surprise due to the many Ottawa connections both past and present in the organization. From Darren Pang, to Jeff Brown and of course to none other than Keith Tkachuk. But I would put the Blues as mildly interested in Brown. Arizona is one of the teams that has called more than once on Brown. There are a few connections when it comes to Brown and the Coyotes. Andre Tourigny was an assistant coach with the Sens in 2015-16, Brown was selected 11th overall in the 2016 draft so Tourigny would’ve been a part of many draft conversations that year. He also coached against Brown when he was HC of the Ottawa 67’s. The other Ottawa connection with the Coyotes is how Brown and Jacob Chychrun are best friend’s, with Jacob being taken 16th overall in the same draft as Brown. I found this piece from the Ottawa Citizen six years ago that is worth a read. Link below. With all three teams, Ottawa wouldn't be getting much in return for Logan but if he were to be packaged with another player maybe the Sens could get some help at RW!

https://windsorstar.com/sports/hockey/best-friends-logan-brown-jeff-chychrun-follow-in-their-fathers-footsteps

So Sens fans, do you think Logan gets one last training camp/set of pre-season games to prove himself or does he get traded before camp? Would you like the 3 year deal for Gustavsson? I always enjoy the discussion and do my best to jump in throughout the day when time permits.

Lastly, it will be great to take in tonight’s home game for the Ottawa Redblacks! Go RNation!
If you are going, depending on the restrictions in the stadium, drop me an IM and maybe a few of the readers can meet at halftime at the game. For sure, the next road game, a few of us on here gather at a different sports bar in town and I hope others gather with us.

Thanks for reading.
Kevin

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