Silver Nuggets: Second line centre trade rumours

Bruce Garrioch wrote last night that the Senators might be considering acquiring Derick Brassard. With Peter Regin injured and Stéphane Da Costa struggling, the club has a need for a second line centre. Brassard has steadily improved from 2 points in 17 games in his first season, to 25 points in 31 games, 36 points in 79 games and 47 points in 74 games last season. So far this season, he has 4 points in 15 games and a -11 plus/minus rating.

He is only 24-years old and could turn out to be a good second line centre. However, he still has another 2-years at $3.2 million a season left on his deal. With Mika Zibanejad expected to make the club next season, and Da Costa also presumably improving, will the club have the room for Brassard over the long term?

What would it take to acquire him? Regin or Da Costa would probably be a part of a deal, as it wouldn't make sense to keep that many potential second line centres around. However, Regin and Da Costa are both on cheap deals and both are restricted free agents at the end of the season, Brassard is a bit more expensive. Considering his salary, and the likely cost to acquire him, I would pass. Another player that has been mentioned is Matt Stajan. Stajan has only 2 points in 12 games this season, and 31 in 76 last season. The two seasons before that, he put up 57 and 55 points. Stajan will be 28 next year and has another 2-years at $3.5 million each. I would definitely pass on him.

Links after the jump. Also, keep in mind that as tonight's game is a 9:00 start, the game thread won't be up until 7:00 p.m.

Tonight's game

• Game preview. (Ottawa Sun, Senators Extra)
• Almost everyone predicts a low scoring game and all but two predict a Calgary win. One of the two is Peter who is going with 3-1 Ottawa. (Senators Extra)

General Sens News

• Can Milan Michalek keep up his current pace and hit 50 goals? Very unlikely but Michalek thinks he can, although he did laugh when he said it. Coming into this season, Michalek had a career shooting percentage of 12.0% while this season he is shooting at a 19.6% rate that is unsustainable. Michalek would have seven goals if he was shooting at 12.0% this season. That is still a 32 goals pace, which would be a career high. (Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Sun)
• Remember when everyone laughed at me for saying Erik Karlsson's arms are getting very big? Well, Elliotte Friedman thinks so too now. Apparently he did a lot of gymnastics over the summer to improve his strength and balance. (CBC)
• When I said last week that despite his disapproval of Nikita Filatov's treatment by the organisation, Alex Fletcher is not me? Well Fletcher isn't making my denial any easier by writing about Erik Karlsson quickly becoming the Senators go-to player and being used in every situation. (Sportsnet Fan Fuel)
• Here is a defence of Nick Foligno that should please some of you. Foligno might not become a true second line player, but Varada is okay with that and points out that Foligno is around the same age as Colin Greening. (Welcome To Your Karlsson Years)
• How Swedish are the Sens? Even our American goalie used to have a Swedish name. Our number one goaltender used to be Craig Andersson. It was never his legal name though and the NHL made him drop the extra 's'. (Sportsnet)