Senators choose calculated aggression over all-in deadline push

OTTAWA — In arguably one of the quietest trade deadline days ever, Steve Staios got his work done, just not on deadline day.

There was no deal made 27 seconds before the buzzer, as the Ottawa Senators' head honcho did last year in acquiring Fabian Zetterlund.

Instead, Ottawa got Warren Foegele, 29, in an exchange for a 2026 second-round draft pick and swapped conditional third-round picks with the L.A. Kings. At the same time, David Perron said farewell, heading back to Detroit for a conditional fourth-round pick.

Staios’ bottom line: Foegele is fast, Perron is not.

“I think if you ask our coaches, you hear about pace all the time and sprinting, and I think that's what makes us a difficult team to play against when we're on our game, and so certainly, Warren brings that along with the rest of our group,” said Staios.

Foegele is having a super bad campaign, with only seven goals and nine points in 47 games. But he is coming off two straight 20-plus goal seasons and is signed through 2027, with a $3.5-million cap hit. Meanwhile, Perron was on an expiring contract.

If Staios wanted Foegele this off-season, it likely would have cost him a first-round pick he didn’t have.

"I think if he was on a 20-goal pace this year, he wouldn't have been available,” said Staios.

Foegele can also kill penalties, a very valuable tool for a team short of natural penalty killers, a reality head coach Travis Green has mentioned on numerous occasions. It's a reason Ottawa sits third last on the kill. The Senators' forward group also isn’t the fastest, and Foegele was an analytics darling before this season. He could be an excellent fit with Shane Pinto and Michael Amadio on the third line. Foegele’s hockey life could improve moving from a listless L.A. situation to Ottawa.

Who doesn’t want to go from L.A. to Ottawa? According to PuckPedia, Foegele had a five-team no-trade list; clearly, Ottawa wasn’t on it.

Don’t get your skate laces twisted either: Perron was a very useful player on the second to fourth lines, and in 2025-26 has been a better player than Foegele. Don't forget, Perron also scored Senators owner Michael Andlauer's favourite goal of the 2025 playoffs. The 37-year-old's unforgettable game-tying marker in Game 6 against the Toronto Maple Leafs will be remembered for the roar that ensued at the Canadian Tire Centre, one not felt in almost a decade.

However, Perron has not played since Jan. 20 after undergoing sports hernia surgery, and admitted on Sportsnet’s trade deadline panel that it wasn’t all sunshine and goals for the 19-year vet.

“I’m not sure the fit was ever all that perfect for me on this team, but at the same time, they provided me with a great chance to come in and do my thing.”

Many in the Senators fanbase wanted a more aggressive deadline, but with the team currently out of a playoff spot, it made more sense to rejig.

There remains belief in the team, and moneypuck.com still gives Ottawa a 44 per cent chance of making the playoffs.

But going big or going home was never on the cards for Staios. The organization’s future was decimated by Staios’ predecessor, as Pierre Dorion went all-in with moves like the Alex DeBrincat and Jakob Chychrun trades. Down the homestretch, Foegele is still a large bargain on a player hoping to redeem his form, given that the team currently does not hold a pick in the first or second round of the draft for the third time since 2022.

“We don't have the benefit of those draft picks accumulated over time, so we have to be strategic on how we continue to build the team,” said Staios.

Trading picks for short-term gain once again for a player like Foegele with little term is a bold move, but not a desperate, ill-judged one either. Second-round picks can hit or be quickly forgotten; unfortunately, the latter has become all too common in the nation’s capital in the past decade.

In essence, the Foegele deal cannot result in an overpay, as the Linus Ullmark and Zetterlund trades are currently shaping up to. As moves that cost Ottawa a first- (Ullmark) and second-round (Zetterlund) pick.

Ottawa’s usually coy head decision maker recognized Ullmark’s role in Ottawa’s league-worst team save percentage.

“I know what the numbers are, but goaltending is the toughest thing (to evaluate),” said Staios. “I think that we have to evaluate when we're going through our process, because there's good goaltenders that go through bad stretches or years where they're not playing up to expectation.”

If the Senators had even middling goaltending, they’d be maybe four to eight points clear in a playoff spot, rather than four points out.

“I think we can all agree that we're a better team this year than we were last year, and the belief is, if we continue to play this way, we're going to give ourselves a good chance to get in,” said Staios.

That’s why the manager didn’t entertain selling potentially tradeable rentals such as Claude Giroux and Lars Eller.

Since Jan. 23, the Senators are the NHL's best team in goals against per game at 2.27, and in their last 10 games, they are 7-1-2 and creeping towards a playoff spot.

All season, the Senators have underperformed due to a lack of glove saves, but there is fair reason to believe this latest version of the Senators is good.

Staios explained that if they were four points safely in a playoff spot rather than four points out, he’d be looking to add similar players to the unrestricted free agents he currently has.

However, likely because of its lack of assets due to Dorion’s past moves, Ottawa could not do what it took to add that preeminent right-shot defenceman it desperately needs. We’d be foolish to see Justin Faulk go to Detroit for a first-round pick and not understand why Staios could not match that offer.

He’d tell you otherwise.

“I know a lot has been made of the right shot of the defence,” said Staios. “But we do have an Olympian that's not in the lineup right now. So, when you ask about depth and variability as well, with (Nikolas) Matinpalo.”

Matinpalo is a serviceable defenceman with an Olympic medal, but his insertion into the lineup wouldn’t single-handedly change the Senators' fortunes.

Ultimately, the Senators had a tough hand. It wasn’t a bold deadline, instead Staios went for a buy-low move, a far cry from the past, but if the Senators miss the playoffs again, was it worth it?

Adams' Apples

Stephen Halliday was scratched from the Senators' game against Calgary on Thursday. Staios says the scratch in Calgary was a "coach's decision."

“We really needed a win, so we put Kurtis MacDermid, and I think we just went off the record with MacDermid in the lineup.”

Call us slightly dubious, as MacDermid played 2:02 and was on the ice for Calgary’s lone goal. Elliotte Friedman mentioned Halliday as a player to keep an eye out for ahead of the deadline.

First-round pick

Staios was asked whether he believes the Senators could get back their first-round pick for the botched Evgeni Dadonov trade in 2021.

“I think if those conversations are going on, I don't know about it.”