Ottawa Senators 2023-24 Opening Night Roster

-The Senators intend to run a 22 player roster with Forsberg as the backup goalie. But to get there they need to first assign Forsberg to the minors in order to max out LTIR.
-Forsberg will start the season in the minors for cap reasons related to LTIR. Sending Forsberg down allows the Senators to get back 1.125M in cap space because Forsberg's contract exceeds the threshold for buried players. Forsberg is very unlikely to be claimed due to his previous injury, his outstanding term, and how little cap space there is to go around in the league. (Alternatively, they could keep Forsberg in the NHL and use Brannstrom as the body to send down temporarily, but I think Brannstrom would be more likely to get claimed.)
-Currie and Mandolese are also not going to stay on the roster. They are only there to max out the Senators cap hit so that when they place Voracek and Little on LTIR, they are as close as possible to the 83.5M ceiling.
-Pinto will sign a 2 year 1.8M AAV contract. Lafreniere is a comparable. Lafreniere has played 3 full pro seasons and averaged close to 20 goals. Lafreniere is also a much bigger name as a former 1st overall pick. Pinto has 1 pro season and is a 10.2(c) RFA, which gives him very little negotiating power. A 1.8M AAV contract on a 2 year deal seems in line with other comparable contracts. It would bridge Pinto to arbitration and give the Senators some breathing room before having to sign him.
-Note that the lines and D pairings aren't meant to reflect who will play with who. It's only meant to reflect who will be on the roster for cap reasons. I will not guess what lines the Senators will use.
-After opening night when the Senators can send down Currie and Mandolese, and recall Forsberg, they will have a 22 player roster with 407k of cap space. They will be in LTI for the entire season so that cap space will not accrue towards the trade deadline.


The Joseph to Arizona trade makes sense because Arizona is a budget team who are trying to win hockey games. Little and Voracek cost them a similar salary to what they would pay Joseph. Ottawa is no longer a budget team. They are going to be right at the ceiling of the cap, so going into LTI has less ramifications for them. Moving Joseph with a 2nd to acquire Voracek and Little and place them on LTIR means that the Senators can run with a 22 player roster and have enough cap space to sign Pinto to a 2 year deal at what should be market value for a 10.2(c) RFA with the resume of Pinto. Lafreniere has a stronger resume, wasn't a 10.2(c) RFA, and he only got slightly more than what I am proposing for Pinto. As far as Joseph's term is concerned, Arizona could ride him out for a season and if he doesn't work out, attaching a 2nd round pick to him should be enough to dump his remaining 2 years of term. Additionally, Ottawa could consider retaining up to 400k on Joseph while still making this roster work, but I think they would be reticent to retain due to his term.

Outstanding post

I have been playing around with the roster to try and figure out ways to max out the 83.5M with LTIR. I didn't realize this auto-saved my changes.

Sending Forsberg down was the original idea, but the Senators could also simply set a 22 player roster and probably get within 100k of the cap ceiling without having to waive anybody who they wouldn't waive anyways. The big problem with that is that 100k could end up as a big deal with LTIR. For example, let's say they play a player who makes 775k on LTIR and need to call up a new body. Squeezing out an extra 100k would allow them more options. Otherwise, they have to recall someone making league minimum.

A loophole, which other teams have used, is to sign a player to a 2-way contract with the exact cap hit needed to hit 83.5M. If I recall, Tampa Bay did this. The idea is that the player is going to stay on the AHL team all year, but they get assigned to the NHL roster for opening night instead of the player who actually made the team. So lets say Kelly Parker earned the final forward spot, but at 762.5K, it would leave the Senators 20k short of hitting the cap ceiling before placing their injured players on LTIR. They would sign a veteran pro to a 2-way contract with an NHL salary of 782.5k. Assign them to the opening night roster instead of Kelly. Then when they are legally able to, they send the AHLer down and recall Kelly. Of course, Kelly could be claimed on waivers, but that's a low risk proposition.

If I recall, the NHL has certain rules in place about how long a team must wait before changing the opening night roster, but in a situation like this, the 13th forward being different won't matter much.