2 Top Free Agents Linked To Senators

The Ottawa Senators have some decisions to make this offseason. There are some talks with Claude Giroux about coming back even though his production is going to decline as he's 37 years old. There have also been rumours circulating that the Senators might explore trading Drake Batherson around the 2025 NHL Entry Draft as well.

If one or both of these come true, there will be a big hole to fill in the top-6 for Ottawa and a couple of top free agents could do the trick in filling that hole for many years. Both Nikolaj Ehlers and Brock Boeser are in their prime and are going to get seven-year deals from someone. There is a very low chance Boeser returns to Vancouver and not a great chance that Ehlers re-ups with the Winnipeg Jets now that he can make a free decision on where he wants to play.

Ehlers has scored 20+ goals in eight of the past nine seasons, only failing to reach that mark in 2022-23 because he played 45 games. He just put up 24 goals and 63 points in 69 games and wants top line minutes on his next team. Boeser has 23+ goals in six of the last eight seasons, missing one of those times because he only played 57 games. This was considered a down year with 25 goals and 50 points in 75 games as the 28-year-old had a career year in 2023-24 with 40 goals and 73 points. A bad team brings many players down and that's what happened with Boeser.

Giroux makes sense to move on from if he doesn't take less money, but not Batherson as he has two years left on his deal at $4.95 million AAV and just put up 26 goals and 68 points. He is a home grown talent. There are some other signings that have to be made, so it will be interesting how the Senators go about adding without losing too much in the process to get better.

Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images