Sens’ Duchene lashes out after the team puts veteran Smith on waivers

More trouble in Ottawa perpetrated by owner Eugene Melnyk’s cheapness…

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Sens’ Duchene lashes out after the team puts veteran Smith on waivers
Zuma Press

In case you missed it, the Ottawa Senators have placed veteran forward Zack Smith on waivers, for the purposes of assigning him to the AHL.

Zack Smith has three years remaining on his deal with a $3.25M AAV, and is on waivers today.


The 30 year old Smith is the Sens’ longest serving player, having played 542 games in a Sens uniform and scoring 85 goals and 165 points along the way. The gritty winger is just two seasons removed from a breakout 25 goal, 36 point campaign in 2015-16, but he had a DREADFUL campaign in 2017-18, scoring just five goals and 19 points in 68 games. 

While today’s news may come as a surprise to Sens fans, word around the NHL is that Sens general manager Pierre Dorion has been trying, unsuccessfully, to trade Smith for awhile now. Today’s news is evidently his final option.

Senators have been trying to trade Zack Smith for some time. Guess this was last resort.


Ottawa tried to trade Zack Smith last season and this summer. He’s now on waivers with 3-years left on his deal. Bit of a surprise, frankly.


According to TSN insider Darren Dreger, there was some interest for Smith around the NHL, but the Sens’ frugality (read: utter cheapness) ultimately nuked any chance of a deal:

There was some interest, but because of salary, Ottawa would have had to take back a contract.


Interestingly enough, today’s news seemed to take Senators head coach Guy Boucher by complete surprise. Check out this coach from the Sens’ bench boss immediately following the news of Smith’s waiving:

Zack Smith was centring Mark Stone and Brady Tkachuk yesterday. Guy Boucher said his plan was to keep him there throughout this week. 
Clearly the coach didn’t see this coming either. 


So much for that plan… thanks Mr. Melnyk. Sens forward Matt Duchene put things a little more bluntly:

Matt Duchene on Zack Smith being placed on waivers “I’ll be honest, it’s a kick in the balls for us.”


"It’s tough because we love Smitty. He is a great leader, he is a great player. Unfortunately, I guess, sometimes in this business, things happen that are sometimes beyond hockey reasons and things like that. It’s tough right now, we are hurting.”


Ouch… man you HAVE to feel for Sens fans these days. It’s only a matter of time really until their only two star players, Duchene and Mark Stone, split town via free agency.