Earlier in the year, news broke that the Ottawa Senators were parting ways with their namesake charitable foundation to start fresh. While the news was not greeted particularly positively by fans of the team or commentators league wide, the team pushed forward without changing course. This week, they made their first move to win some of that goodwill back, naming Chris Phillips as Executive Director of the new Senators Community Foundation.

Phillips, of course, had his jersey retired by the team this past season in what was a truly memorable ceremony. A career-long Senator, Phillips represents the very best of the organization. Getting him on board is a major win for the team as it looks to create an atmosphere of legitimacy around the new foundation. Few players, if any, have had such a longstanding impact on the community.

The previous version of the team’s affiliated foundation has rebranded as the Ottawa-Gatineau Youth Foundation.

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Ever since the Senators were announced as lottery “losers,” there has been speculation that Pierre Dorion might look to move up into the first overall spot. Crazy social media trade ideas have been floated. Discussion boards have gone wild. Now, it looks like the speculation has gone mainstream:

According to a report by Lisa Dillman from the Athletic there's plenty of speculation that #GoSensGo is going to offer #3 and #5 to #NYR for #1 overall. I highly doubt Pierre Dorion would do this. This would be a ridiculous overpayment in my mind and a huge mistake. pic.twitter.com/L74cHs90IE

— Derek (@DLee075) August 14, 2020

It's difficult to articulate how bad of an idea this would be for Ottawa. From both a basic arithmetic and draft pick valuation perspective, 3 + 5 is much greater than 1. Trading for first overall in a blockbuster move like this would certainly generate buzz and attention, but the long-term fallout would be significant. The rebuild to date has been executed with clear purpose and precision. Pulling the trigger on a move like this would undo so much of that work.

Let me know your thoughts on the potential move mentioned above. Would you be willing to make that trade? Is the right to draft Alexis Lafreniere worth giving up a Byfield/Stutzle AND a Raymond/Rossi/Drysdale in your mind?

As always, thanks for reading.

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