Senators sale update: Andlauer expects to be the owner ‘by the end of the week’

With a handful of television cameras pointed directly at him, Michael Andlauer stepped up to a podium on Tuesday morning to deliver his first public words in Ottawa.

And the incoming owner of the Ottawa Senators opened with a crucial disclaimer, while addressing players, staff and participants at the club’s annual season-opening golf tournament.

“I probably shouldn’t be here today, officially,” Andlauer admitted.

For the past three months, Andlauer has been trapped in a bizarre ownership purgatory. He was granted conditional approval to purchase the Senators on June 13, but the process to close the transaction has been tedious and tangled in red tape.

But as part of his concise, two-minute speech on Tuesday morning — Andlauer didn’t take questions from reporters — he placed a timeline for when he believes the sale will be finalized.

“Hopefully by the end of the week,” Andlauer said.

Andlauer has only been able to consult and direct at arm’s length on potential moves for the hockey club, but he has had a few direct conversations with players and staff. Senators captain Brady Tkachuk called Andlauer’s energy “contagious” in the few interactions he’s had with the incoming owner.

“His message is how much he wants to win here in Ottawa,” Tkachuk said on Tuesday. “It’s a great feeling that top to bottom, everybody is on the same page with goals and expectations.”

Tim Stützle said Andlauer has been “really, really supportive” and was impressed the incoming owner recently endorsed the decision to sign Jake Sanderson to an eight-year, $64.4 million contract.

“I think Mr. Andlauer played in a big role in getting him signed,” Stützle said. “So it’s definitely awesome to see stuff like that.”

But there is one outstanding contract negotiation that Andlauer has not been able to endorse. As the players gathered for the first official function of the 2023-24 season, Shane Pinto was the notable omission from the gathering.

Dorion offers brief Shane Pinto update

Though he is planning to speak to the assembled media on Wednesday afternoon, general manager Pierre Dorion did offer a brief update on the Pinto negotiations during a conversation on TSN 1200 radio.

Dorion says has been “talking quite a bit over the last few days” with Pinto’s agent, Lewis Gross. And it sounded like there was the slightest touch of optimism in Dorion’s voice as he updated the situation.

“We hope to get it done. We’d like to have Shane in camp as soon as possible. But this is a process and it’s definitely been a process in this case,” Dorion said. “We know our fans want him. We want him here. He wants to be here. It’s just working through it and hopefully there is a resolution sooner than later.”

According to CapFriendly, the Senators have less than $900,000 in space to sign Pinto to a contract for the 2023-24 season. And fresh off a 20-goal campaign in his rookie season, Pinto will likely warrant a contract in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia’s Morgan Frost, who inked a two-year deal with a $2.1 million AAV.

So it will be a challenge to fit Pinto into the opening night roster because a corresponding transaction will have to occur. Dorion did say, “We can put guys in the minors now if they don’t perform,” but burying a player in Belleville just to free up cap space for Pinto doesn’t seem like the ideal plan for the Senators. They’ve done that in recent years with Matt Murray and Michael Del Zotto and it has detonated the relationship between player and team. So that’s always a slippery road to navigate.

And even if the Senators send a player down to the AHL, the most they can save on the cap hit for this season is $1.15 million, based on the CBA rules posted on PuckPedia. So if, for example, they tried to send someone like Mathieu Joseph and his $2.95 million salary to Belleville, they would still be carrying a $1.8 million cap hit at the NHL level on Joseph’s deal. They can bury up to $1.15 million in the AHL, but coupled with the $900,000 they have in space, that still leaves very little wiggle room to sign Pinto to a deal in the $2 million range.

Dorion was asked if he would place odds on whether Senators fans should expect to see Pinto when the team hits the ice on Thursday.

“I don’t want to put odds on it. I’m not a gambling man,” Dorion said. “So we’ll just see what happens.”

Players talk about playoff expectations

On Tuesday, the three members of Ottawa’s most dangerous and potent forward line took a few minutes to speak with reporters. Tkachuk, Stützle and Claude Giroux had electric chemistry last season, with each member of the trio scoring at least 35 goals and setting personal career highs in the process.

And now they return in 2023-24, tasked with trying to push the Senators into the playoffs for the first time since 2017. But all three players were hesitant to put a definitive playoff stamp on the team, fearing the expectations may place too much weight on their shoulders.

“It’s a good question and I’m sure you guys will be asking some questions about playoffs and stuff, but personally you don’t look at the big picture,” explained Giroux. “You start looking at the big picture, that’s when it takes a lot of energy off you and you overthink stuff.”

Tkachuk expanded on this line of thinking by stating the players are going to keep their expectations for the season within their locker room.

“We’re not going to put any external pressure on us. We have a standard belief internally, but we’re going to keep that internal,” said Tkachuk. “If you put a mark on where we think we’re going to expect (to finish), the expectations and the distraction would probably be too much. We have faith and belief amongst each other.”

The captain added that there was no explicit point threshold or playoff position the team is targeting.

“There’s no number, no spot that we’ve got marked,” Tkachuk added.

During his conversation with the media, Stützle conceded, “I think everybody is putting pressure on us.”

Stützle’s most enlightening answer came when he was asked if he could reach the 50-goal plateau this season, after tallying 39 goals last year.

“For me, it’s not solely about putting up 50 goals. It’s more about winning, and we’ve got to win as a team. And that’s the biggest key for me. If I can help score goals, that’s awesome, but in the end I got to be better in my two-way game. I got to be able to play in all situations,” Stützle said. “I think I progressed a lot last year and now it’s just time to win some more games.”