The Ottawa Senators have acquired Ryan Callahan’s contract and a 2020 fifth-round pick from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for goaltender Mike Condon and a 2020 sixth-round pick.
Callahan has one year remaining on his contract, but won’t suit up for the Senators. In June it was reported that the forward was diagnosed with a degenerative back disease and it was recommended that he no longer play hockey. He’ll be on the long-term injured reserve for the 2019-20 season.
After the diagnoses, Callahan told reporters that he was feeling the effects of the disease all season.
“I’ve kind of been battling it all year,” Callahan said. “Didn’t know to what extent and after the season I went and saw a couple specialists and after talking to them, it wasn’t easy to hear what they thought was going on and most likely won’t be able to play. It was definitely tough to hear that.”
Callahan spent 13 full seasons in the NHL, playing with the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning. In 757 games, he collected 186 goals, 200 assists and 386 points.
Goaltender Condon fell out of favour in Ottawa last season, after just two games where he let in eight goals. He was sent down to the Belleville Senators where he played just one game before sitting out most of the season with a hip injury.
In 129 career games with the Montreal Canadiens, Pittsburgh Penguins and Senators, Condon has a record of 45-58-17 with a 2.80 goals against average and a .905 save percentage.
Lightning Clearing Cap Space
With the trade, the Lightning are preparing to sign restricted free agent Braydon Point. Callahan carries a cap hit of $5.8 million, even though his salary for the 2019-20 season is $4.7 million. With the Senators placing him on long-term injured reserve, the insurance will cover 80 percent of that.
Condon has a cap hit of $2.4 million, but as CapFriendly pointed out, if sent down do the minors the hit would only be $1.325 million.
With the moves, and the re-signing of Vezina-winning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy yesterday, the team has $10.1 million in cap space for the upcoming season. That should be enough to get their young star, Point, under contract.
Senators Clearing Goaltender Logjam
By moving Condon, general manager Pierre Dorion has cleared up the Senators goaltending logjam. If fact, it looks fairly clear for the upcoming seasons.
In 2019-20, veteran Craig Anderson will be entering the last year of his contract. The 38-year-old will be likely to retire after the season. Playing with him in the NHL will be Anders Nilsson, who signed on for two years earlier this offseason.
The AHL should remain how it was last season, with Marcus Hogberg and Filip Gustavsson in net. The ECHL Brampton Beast will feature Joey Daccord and newly signed Alex Dubeau.
“We believe we have the right mix of goaltenders both for the upcoming season and the future,” said general manager Pierre Dorion following the trade. “We are pleased with how our young goaltenders have been developing in Belleville, so this trade allows us to focus on continuing their growth at a proper pace while keeping two established goaltenders here in Ottawa. Our cap flexibility allowed us to proceed with this trade, which will also benefit us as we continue making adjustments to create a hardworking, exciting team.”
