Thursday LNN: Changes in the Front Office

Maybe the Ottawa Senators are closer to contending for a Stanley Cup than we previously thought. I don't think any of us thought the Toronto Maple Leafs would have a 2-0 lead over the Florida Panthers in their second-round series, but perhaps we can find solace in the fact that the Sens have quickly become a team that could play a competitive series with pretty much any opponent out there.

• As for the other ongoing second-round matchups, Mikko Rantanen carried the Dallas Stars to a 3-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets in Game 1, with his second consecutive hat-trick. The Edmonton Oilers continued to do the lord's work, taking Game 1 over the Vegas Golden Knights by a 4-2 score, while Jaccob Slavin's OT-winner earned a 2-1 victory over the Washington Capitals.
• The PWHL playoffs began yesterday, with the second-seeded Toronto Sceptres securing a 3-2 Game 1 victory over the Minnesota Frost. Julia Gosling, the 6th–overall pick of the 2024 draft, scored a pair of second-period goals, including the game-winner, just 2 minutes apart. The Ottawa Charge will take on the Montreal Victoire in Game 1 of their first-round series tonight at 7:00 pm EST.
• The Utah Hockey Club has announced their new club name – the Utah Mammoth. The name is alright. The logo is dope. Though I would've found it really funny to see them remain the "Utah Hockey Club" to hammer home the fact they weren't much of a hockey club at all back in Arizona.

• The Sens announced on Tuesday that the club has mutually parted ways with associate GM Ryan Bowness, who's contract is set to expire on July 1st. The decision is likely motivated by a desire for Steve Staios to build a front office staff of his own design – Bowness of course being a hire of former GM Pierre Dorion – but other factors could include potential interest in Bowness' services from other organizations, as well as the Belleville Senators missing the playoffs this year.
• In Julian McKenzie's latest for the Athletic, he outlines Staios' to-do list for the upcoming offseason. $17.5M in cap space seems like a lot to work with, but as McKenzie points out, most of that will be spent on new deals for Claude Giroux (who the Sens want back for at least another year), and key RFAs in Fabian Zetterlund, Tyler Kleven, and Leevi Merilainen. The uncertainty of the value of these deals makes it difficult to project how much Staios will have to work with going into free agency, though he probably already has an idea of the salary range for all of them.