Egor Sokolov has signed a new contract with the Ottawa Senators.

Took them 3+ months to sign a League Minimum contract for a fringe NHL player? Interesting

That's below his QO.

So, it's worth every penny.

Vote yes.

With Camp about to start he ran out of time to negotiate, and given he's on the fringe looking in, had to take a prove it deal.

shocked he didnt push for a higher 2-way minors salary... expected that to be the hold up all this time

It’s below his qualifying offer. Dorion probably had to work Sokolov and his agent to get them to accept

🦈

More likely the hold up was Sharky's camp fighting for a 1 way deal. He should play more NHL games this year than AHL games imo.

I think he's ready to make the jump. Been great for Belleville, time to give him the opportunity to show what he can do in the NHL.

Wrong Sens player

This is a good deal, even if he doesn't play another NHL game ever. He's great in the AHL and that helps your prospects develop in a winning atmosphere. If he is anything more than just an injury call-up, then it is a massive win.

On the other hand, they have $120,000 in cap space and they NEED to sign at least one more player. They need to dump cap space and there's very few teams that can help them out.

It's probably a case where he either pushed for a 1-way deal, or a trade, and he wasn't able to get it.

On the topic of him signing for below his QO, we have seen players take league-minimum before in order to increase their chances of remaining in the NHL. The Senators are going to be right against the cap to the point where a player who makes 775k may get the 12th or 13th forward spot over a more preferable player who makes a few hundred thousand more because they simply may not have an extra 100k-300k to spend on their 21st body. It's pretty clear that they will run with a 21 player roster if there is no other trade.

absolutely, i see him as a top 13 fwd in their organization... but if the team doesnt plan on exposing him to waivers, then there would be no harm in giving him a 1way deal, and clearly they felt opposed to that, which reveals that dorion is more open to waiving him

The Senators would benefit immensely from opening up cap space, but they may not need to dump cap space to sign Pinto and become compliant. They currently have a 21 player roster with 121k of cap space. Capfriendly shows 19/23, but that is because they don't count the IR bodies (but they still count towards the cap). Activating Norris and Forsberg brings them up to 21 without changing the cap situation.

The worst case scenario plan is likely to waive both Brannstrom and Joseph. Both will clear. That will bring give the Senators approx. 2.371M in cap space with a 19 player roster. While Pinto apparently wants 2.5M x 2, Frost and Lafreniere both signed for less than 2.5M. It isn't unrealistic to thin that the Senators might be able to get Pinto down to 2.371M or a bit less.

That would put the Senators at a worst case scenario where they will run with no healthy scratches until an eventual major injury to a consequential player allows them to raise their cap ceiling via LTIR and recall a few additional players because for example if the player hurt has a 2M cap hit, that's enough to recall 2 2-way players instead of 1.

If there is a trade market for Brannstrom, they would open up enough to roll with a 21 player roster, but it isn't guaranteed that anybody will take Brannstrom at 2M. Very few teams have cap space, and he isn't exactly a blue chip prospect at this point. I think it is more likely that Brannstrom ends up on waivers and clears, and combined with Joseph clearing, they use that to open up the cap space needed to fit Pinto in.

Forsberg would be an alternate option to waive instead of Brannstrom, and it night make sense given the kind of injury Forsberg is coming back from. Give Sogaard some more NHL experience as the #2, and allow Forsberg to start games in the AHL in order to get back to top shape. Forsberg would almost certainly clear due to his cap hit, term, and the injury he just sustained. Only a handful of teams could claim him cap wise.

it was never about the cap hit, its about the ahl salary.

Calder trophy candidate.

And by Calder trophy candidate, he's getting 2 3rd place votes

Fine contract imo. League min, so (finally) good job PD.

Nothing wrong with league min