The Ottawa Senators have had one of the quietest opening weeks in free agency, and general manager Steve Staios says that is largely by design: he is waiting on Claude Giroux.
Speaking after the market opened, Staios said the Senators have been “unwavering” in their message to the veteran forward, that Ottawa offered him a contract as far back as before the trade deadline, and that a spot remains reserved for him, per NHL.com and The Hockey News. Giroux, for his part, wanted to look around — but has not closed the door on returning.
Ottawa’s lone signing of consequence so far is goaltender Samuel Ersson on a two-year deal, a sensible piece of crease insurance. Beyond that, the Senators sit with roughly $5 million in projected cap space, per PuckPedia, while fifteen of their own unrestricted free agents remain unsigned around the league.
The sensible take here is that this is a reasonable bet with a real cost attached. Giroux has been Ottawa’s most reliable forward contract since he arrived — a right-shot faceoff anchor who stabilizes whichever line needs him and mentors a young core that still needs mentoring. Waiting for a player like that is defensible. But free agency is a market with a closing window, and every day spent holding space for Giroux is a day the alternatives sign elsewhere. If he returns, the patience reads as loyalty rewarded. If he leaves in mid-July, Ottawa will be shopping for a top-nine forward in a picked-over aisle with the same $5 million everyone knows it has.
The grounded read: the Senators are not being idle, they are being leveraged — and by a veteran they publicly cannot replace, which is not a negotiating posture so much as a confession. This young core took a real step last season. Whether the follow-up begins with continuity or a scramble now rests with a player weighing his last big decision carefully, as he has earned the right to do.
