Why Did the Ottawa Senators Select to Signal Former Toronto Maple Leafs Veteran Nikolai Kulemin to a PTO?

Sitting roughly $1.1 million below the salary cap ceiling threshold with some apparent positions of weak point the group may look to handle, it felt like solely a matter of time earlier than the Ottawa Senators‘ entrance workplace negotiated some skilled tryouts (PTO).

This administration employees has broadly been heralded for its persistence and diligence, so it made sense for the group to attend issues out and supply a number of alternatives to gamers the group must be uncomfortable giving assured contracts to.

However…Nikolai Kulemin?

As soon as upon a time, Kulemin was an efficient two-way ahead who had a 30-goal marketing campaign beneath his belt. The Russian winger has not performed within the NHL because the 2017-18 season when he performed 13 video games with the New York Islanders. To place that into perspective, the 2017-18 season was a time when Eric Burgdoerfer was the Senators’ finest German participant and Marian Gaborik was enjoying out the string of his NHL profession.

It has been a minute.

The 38-year-old Kulemin has spent the final six years enjoying within the KHL between Metallurg Magnitogorsk and Salavat Yulaev Ufa. In 46 video games final season, Kulemin recorded 13 targets and 25 factors.

There are a number of hypotheses as to why the Senators would make this transfer. There’s hypothesis that Kulemin’s son can be enjoying hockey in Ontario this season, so he’s exploring alternatives to play near him. One other posits that the transfer may merely be senior vice-president of hockey operations Dave Poulin doing a former participant of his a favour.

After signing Nick Cousins, the Senators have loads of left-shot choices on the father or mother roster. Projecting ahead for Belleville, they’ve a number of left-shot choices of their very own in Angus Crookshank and Zack Ostapchuk. So the Sens could also be permitting him to showcase to different organizations the place higher alternatives could also be out there.

The second PTO that the Senators signed is barely extra intriguing. In bringing Calen Addison to camp, the group introduced in somebody who may legitimately problem Jacob Bernard-Docker and Travis Hamonic for a spot.

Admittedly, the bar for that third-pair proper defenceman spot is so low {that a} alternative stage defenceman may probably characterize an improve.

Addison’s finest season was his 2022-23 marketing campaign, when he tallied three targets and 29 factors in 62 video games. On the floor, the purpose manufacturing is intriguing for a depth defenceman. A deeper look beneath the hood reveals that the Minnesota Wild shot an outlandishly unsustainable 12.86 p.c whereas Addison was on the ice at five-on-five.

The defenceman additionally benefited from spending that season partnered with Jon Merrill – an underrated defensive defenceman who has posted sturdy defensive affect metrics all through his profession per Hockeyviz.

Addison spent final season with the lowly San Jose Sharks, the place he was typically paired with the maligned Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

Clearly, anybody enjoying on the worst crew in hockey with a past-his-prime 37-year-old defensive companion is destined for poor on-ice outcomes. So, with that in thoughts, it’s exhausting to glean an excessive amount of data from a 12 months by which Addison tied for being the 14th least-valuable skater within the league (-1.3 WAR) per Evolving-Hockey.

As cheap as it’s to imagine that Addison benefited from success in 2022-23, it stands to purpose that he’s not as unhealthy as his efficiency was final season both. His true worth lies someplace in between. Rolling the cube on a participant with pedigree (second-round choose, 2018 by Pittsburgh) who continues to be comparatively younger with none strings hooked up is a secure guess.

Addison additionally presents a special talent set than Bernard-Docker and Hamonic. Listed at 5’11” and 180 lbs, he’s extra identified for his puck-moving skills than any conventional defensive traits. At that measurement, he’s truly lighter than former Senators defenceman Erik Brannstrom‘s listed 183 lb weight.

Brannstrom, after all, didn’t obtain a qualifying provide after incomes $2.2 million final season. It’s unknown if the group wished to show the web page on Brannstrom due to the cash or his measurement deficiency. Maybe there was a possibility for Brannstrom to return on a less expensive deal, but when he was allowed to play his off-side, he actually represented an improve on the alternate options.

So, it will likely be fascinating to see how a lot of a possibility can be afforded to gamers like Addison and even Max Guenette.

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