Ottawa Senators Reportedly Trade Gregor and Ostapchuk For San Jose’s Top Goal Scorer Last Season

The Ottawa Senators reportedly pulled off a second trade just before the 3:00 PM deadline on Friday afternoon. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Sens have acquired San Jose Sharks winger Fabian Zetterlund, their top goal scorer last season.

The Sens would also get minor league center Tristen Robins, and a fourth-round draft pick in exchange for forward Noah Gregor, forward Zack Ostapchuk and a 2025 second-round draft pick.

Almost two hours after the close of NHL trading, the deal had not yet been confirmed by the Senators or the Sharks. Some years, the wait in the queue takes longer than others.

Zetterlund would be the centrepiece of this trade. He’s 25 years old and was a third-round pick of the New Jersey Devils. He spent the last two and a half seasons with the Sharks, scoring 24 goals to lead the Sharks last year and is roughly on pace for a similar total this season.

Zetterlund is strong on his skates at 220 pounds and skates well for a big forward. As TNT analyst Paul Bissonnette put it today, he’s built like a cigarette machine.

The thing fans will notice most is his deadly quick release that Travis Green will probably put to good use on the power play.

Gregor was solid for the Senators and returns to San Jose, the team that drafted him. Ostapchuk, while still developing, has the potential to be a good bottom-six forward in the NHL. But it can’t be ignored that neither player was contributing offensively. They both played over 40 games in Ottawa and in those 80+ games, they combined for 10 points.

All in all, GM Steve Staios did a fine job at the deadline, upgrading the roster despite being handcuffed by cap constraints and not draining very much from the club’s already shallow pool of prospects and picks.

Acquiring Zetterlund adds some much-needed offensive depth to the Senators’ middle six. He’s in the final year of his contract, but still under team control as a restricted free agent this summer.

The downside, however, is that after two consecutive seasons of scoring over 20 goals, Zetterlund will be looking for a big raise on his current $1.4 million salary.

Robins is a 2020 second pick by the Sharks (56th overall) but hasn’t emerged yet as a scorer in the AHL, much less the NHL. So he likely represents a contract the Sharks needed to move out. But who knows? Almost everything else that’s come out of the 2020 NHL Draft has spun into gold for Ottawa. Maybe (with apologies) a change of address gets Robins rockin’.