"If you sum up the day, you look at all the assets we were able to acquire, all the picks that we were able to acquire, especially for this year's draft, I think it says a lot," Senators general manager Pierre Dorion said. "It's one of the deepest drafts I can remember."
When the trade deadline hit at 3 p.m. ET, Ottawa (21-30-11) had a total of 13 picks, including three in the first round, in the 2020 NHL Draft, and nine picks in the 2021 NHL Draft.
"They say this year's draft is one of the deepest in a long time," Senators coach D.J. Smith said. "We have three picks in the first round, four in the second. That's a lot of good players coming in over time."
RELATED: [2019-20 NHL Trade Tracker]
The biggest haul of the day for the Senators came in return for trading their top scorer, forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau, to the New York Islanders for a conditional first-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft and a second-round pick in the 2020 Draft. Ottawa will also receive a third-round pick in 2022 if the Islanders win the Stanley Cup.
Pageau has 40 points (24 goals, 16 assists) in 60 games. Over eight seasons with the Senators, he had 182 points (87 goals, 95 assists) and 16 points (12 goals, four assists) in 35 Stanley Cup Playoff games. The 27-year-old became known for legendary playoff performances. He scored a hat trick against the Montreal Canadiens in Game 3 of the 2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal, and scored four goals, including the overtime winner, against the New York Rangers in Game 2 of the 2017 Eastern Conference Semifinal.
Dorion said breaking the news to Pageau was "the toughest call I've ever made as a general manager."
The Senators also acquired a fourth-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft from the Colorado Avalanche for forward Vladislav Namestnikov and a fifth-round pick in the 2021 Draft from the Edmonton Oilers for forward Tyler Ennis.
There was significance in the trades the Senators did not make Monday. Goalie Craig Anderson, who can become an unrestricted free agent July 1, will stay with the Senators for the final 20 games of the season.
"[If] we're going to have this type of team, it's not a bad thing to have a veteran goalie," Dorion said. "Craig never expressed interest to us to move him and we were always going to respect that."
Dorion also said he never intended to trade defenseman Mark Borowiecki, and that the Senators could sign him to a new contract in the offseason.
"I think there's got to be a human side to how we do our business here; everyone knows that Mark and his wife were expecting their first child," Dorion said, noting that he told Borowiecki in December that he wouldn't be moved. "To get the return that we probably would've got for Mark wasn't worth it."
