The Senators have moved out a couple of veterans already recently in defenseman Nikita Zaitsev and forward Tyler Motte. While they haven’t completely thrown in the towel yet on trying to make the playoffs, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that at least three teams have shown interest in acquiring veteran winger Austin Watson. Those three are all Western Conference squads in the Stars, Kings and Avalanche.
Watson is in his ninth NHL season and is having an atypically quiet year offensively, scoring just four goals and two assists in 53 games while his playing time has dipped to just above 10 minutes a night. However, he’s only one year removed from a 10-goal campaign. The 31-year-old continues to play a physical game, picking up 120 hits along with 63 penalty minutes, and that’s what’s likely to draw attention from elsewhere. He’s in the final season of a three-year deal that carries a $1.5M AAV, and he’ll become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Playoff-bound teams are often looking to shore up their depth forwards at this time of year, and adding some grit for the playoffs is also a trait that is often coveted. So it’s no surprise that some teams are calling about Watson. Those three teams are quite familiar with him from his days in Nashville as well. He’d be no more than a fourth-liner on any of those squads, though, so if the Senators do wind up moving him, they’d likely be limited to receiving no more than a mid-round draft pick for his services.
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