Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Trade out of Ottawa ‘obviously real at this point,’ says Methot

Marc Methot

Marc Methot

AP

After spending this season embroiled in contract negotiations -- ones that often stalled -- Marc Methot knows his time in Ottawa might be coming to an end.

And soon.

“I hope it settles quick,” Methot said, per the Ottawa Citizen. “And I’d be lying to you if I said I wasn’t thinking about it every single day. This kind of stuff is hard to ignore, the potential of being moved is obviously real at this point. It’s no secret that I want to stay here. At this point, I’m leaving it all to my agent and the team to settle it.

“All I can do right now is play.”

Methot, 29, will reportedly have one final shot at an agreement with Ottawa later this week, when agent Mike Liut meets with Bryan Murray to try and hammer out a new deal. The meeting comes with Methot now fully recovered from a back injury that sidelined him for most of the season; the veteran rearguard has looked good since returning on Jan. 8, playing in 13 games while averaging over 21 minutes per night.

As is often the case with stalled negotiations, money and term are at the center of the Methot situation. Earlier this year, reports surfaced that he was looking for a five-year deal with an average annual salary of $5 million; the Sens, a fiscally tight team with an internal salary cap, want to lock him in for less and could see greater value in trading Methot than re-signing him.

And there have been rumblings of interested suitors. The likes of Detroit and Anaheim were reported to be in the mix, and it stands to reason more teams could join them -- Methot is a big-bodied, experienced guy than can chip in offensively; last year, he recorded career highs in goals (six) and points (23) while averaging nearly 22 minutes per game.