The Senators came into the midseason mark well below where ownership wanted them to be. With a mandate from ownership the team's G.M went on a mission to trying and improve the team for this season. With a handful of deals the team has been completely transformed.

Starting off the flurry of deals was a swap where Josh Manson left the Senators and headed to Tampa Bay for Melkker Karlsson and a 4th and 5th round pick. A small move where the team could improve there draft pick totals looking into the future. 

Karlsson was quickly moved alongside Cedric Paquette and a 2nd and 7th round pick they were headed to Toronto and in return the Senators recieved Justin Abdelkader + a 3rd round pick. Abdelkader is a player we really liked and brought in to help the team for the remainder of the season. 

Brain Strait was also aquired from LA for Rasmus Rissanen in a move to bring in a veteran ufa dman to Ottawa to replace Manson.

The Next move was a blockbuster seeing Matt Murray Jonathon Quick Brandon Dubinsky Brandon Manning and 6 prospects headed to St.Louis in return the team got the top goalie asset in our league in Braden Holtby along with UFA superstar Joe Pavelski at half salary and a pair of 3rd round picks. Landing a franchise piece like Holtby was a big win for the Senators management and they hope adding Pavelski with him will give the team a huge boost going into the second half of the season. 

Two Days after the first blockbuster, the team came together on another with Ryan Johansen, Tyler Johnson, Nick Bjugstad leaving Ottawa and heading to Edmonton. Coming back to Ottawa were forwards Derek Stepan, Nick Bonnino, and Niklas Backstrom, along with a third round pick. At the time Backstrom was to finish the season with the Senators and help Ovechkin bust out of his season long slump, however Backstroms time in Ottawa was short and was later moved. Stepan is a guy we really liked adding to be the teams 3rd line center position while he is the topline center for his NHL team he comes with a good offensive and also defensive game he was a nice pickup for our team. Bonnino has been hurt since before he was dealt to Ottawa and the Senators are excited to get him back into a third line job and top unit PK role as soon as he is healthy.

On the same night as the Backstrom blockbuster the team had began negociations with the Coyotes regarding a Stamkos vs Backstrom type deal but settled on making a smaller move where Carl Soderberg and Brain Strait were sent to the Coyotes for Dmitry Kulikov and Leo Komarov. With soderberg being a 2yr piece the team like recieving a solid dman like Kulikov in return on him. Komarov with solid ratings was told by management he wouldnt be spending too much time in Ottawa. 

The next day saw a small but important move for the Senators moving out David Wohlberg for backup goalie Al Montoya, With Al we at least have a solid option for remained of the year behind Braden who can spell him a couple games while still giving the team a good chance to win and also allows us to use Juse Saros in the farm for the season.

The Senators then turned and sent D.Kulikov to the Vancouver Canucks for steady Dman Justin Braun. With Kulikov getting injured in his first game with the Senators we felt immediately that he wasnt the steady 3rd pairing rugged dman we would need. Bringing in Braun was a big move as it rounded out the teams top 6 D-Men and brought in a guy who paired with M.Vlassic NHL on the Sharks shutdown pairing will bring that same defensive attitude to the Senators in the BRHL2.

Leo Komarov was the next out the door and was headed to Carolina in return the Senators received veteran center Mike Fisher, With the team looking to make a push following the arrival of Holtby and Pavelski we traded years of service for a player we feel is elite 4th line center and PK specialist. 

On the 30th of January the teams management swung two deals that ended up being a blockbuster moves. First J.Drouin was moved to the LA Kings in exchange for O.Klefbom, Z.Kassain, and a 3rd round draft pick. Moving Drouin wasnt an easy decision but we had klefbom and kassain already packaged up in a franchise changing deal. Moving to Phoenix were Niklas Backstrom, Oscar Klefbom and Zach Kassain along with a 3rd and 4th round pick. In return the Senators recieved Steven Stamkos and Tyson Barrie. Bringing in a longterm star like Stamkos was a big move for the team. Barrie is on one of the best contracts in entire brhl2 and is a great top 4 dman for the team and will run a powerplay unit. 

With a touch of cap room after the flurry of deals the Senators Aquired Andrew Shaw and a 7th round pick for Nick Foligno, Derrick Pouliot and a 5th round pick. Liking Shaw's game enough the team moved out some solid pieces to aquire his gritty game with 70+ sc-pa-ph combination on a longterm 2.25mill salary. 

The final move the team has made in a 19 day trade bender was a huge deal that saw three pieces that had recently been aquired shipped out of town. Steven Stamkos, Justin Abdelkader and Andrew Shaw all headed to the RedWings organization and in return Jonathon Toews, Matt Duchene and Anton Lander were welcomed into the nations capital. Toews-Duchene we hope provide a little more balanced scoring threat than Stamkos provides. We didnt like moving Shaw or Abdelkader as both solid rated 2-3 line guys but had to in order to complete the deal. 

All in all the trade frenzy was a crazy time for the team but with an 8-2 record in our last 10 games things look to be changing in Ottawa. 

Into town are- Joe Pavelski, Braden Holtby,  Tyson Barrie, Jonathon Toews, Matt Duchene, Derek Stepan, Nick Bonnino, Justin Braun, Mike Fisher, Al Montoya, Anton Lander, 3rd, 3rd, 3rd, 5th, 5th. 

leaving- ryan johansen, tyler johnson, jonathon drouin, matt murray, jonathon quick, nick bjugstad, josh manson, cedric paquette,carl soderberg, marcus foligno, brandon manning, brandon dubinsky, david wohlberg, derrick pouliot, rasmus rissanen, 2nd