The Ottawa Senators made two big moves last summer to improve the roster and try to move on to the second stage of their rebuild. They acquired Alex DeBrincat just before the draft, without touching the team's current core to complete the trade, and added excellent veteran Claude Giroux on the free-agent market. This did not work out as expected during the season, as the Sens were never really in a position to qualify for the playoffs. Next season will be a defining one for Ottawa, as the expectations will undoubtedly be to make the post-season, and no margin for error will be accepted by the organization's fans. However, team GM Pierre Dorion may already be in a bind with DeBrincat becoming a restricted free agent this summer. According to Bruce Garrioch, who covers the Senators, the 25-year-old forward has no desire to sign with Ottawa and could be traded again in the draft. As a reminder, the Senators must make a qualifying offer of $9.0 million to DeBrincat, in order to retain his rights as a compensated free agent, if they have not agreed to terms on a new deal by the deadline. That would be a solid turnaround for the Senators, who are desperate to move to another level next year and make the playoffs. In 82 games this year, he has 27 goals and 66 points. He could draw a lot of attention on the trade market if Ottawa makes him available in the draft. <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/TSN_Sports/status/1646935478317228036?fbclid=IwAR2awXTH8axbzeJi3Kh-Q5UDkLQNeIPGxS7b_rub5K7T9DkO1aW8vaCZsog'> </a></blockquote></div>