Senators sign Anthony Duclair and acquire a draft pick on Monday morning.

Monday morning as it turns out has been a pretty good day for the Ottawa Senators.

The Senators announced today that they had come to terms on a brand new deal with veteran forward Anthony Duclair, a player that had something of a career revival after joining the Senators organization during the 2018 - 2019 National Hockey League regular season. Duclair proved to be an effective player for the Senators, recording 8 goals and 6 assists for a total of 14 points over his 21 regular season games under the Senators umbrella. 

The good news for the Senators here is that it appears that Duclair was willing to bet on himself this season, signing just a one year deal with the team. Although a short term deal by not be ideal for the Senators, the fact that they will get another year of Duclair at the very reasonable cap hit of just $1.65 million for the 2019 - 2020 National Hockey League regular season. It has to be said that Duclair's options were relatively limited here with him being a restricted free agent, as well as his difficulties with a number of teams in the past, but nonetheless this seems like a very reasonable deal for the Sens overall.

All the way across the continent there were some big developments as well this morning, developments that will have a direct impact on the future of the Ottawa Senators franchise. Of course I am referring to the huge news that was leaked this morning regarding star defenseman Erik Karlsson and the San Jose Sharks. According to multiple sources Karlsson has signed a new deal that will pay him an average annual value somewhere in the neighborhood of $11.5 million, making him the third highest cap hit in the entire league behind only Toronto Maple Leafs star forward Auston Matthews and of course Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid.

That is very good news for the Senators as a part of the deal when they traded Karlsson was protection against the Sharks re-signing him to a long term extension. As a result of this deal the Senators will now receive the Sharks second round draft pick in 2021 as well, something that has to make general manager Pierre Dorion and the Senators very happy indeed.