You may be right, but I just don't see the Sens doing that & looking to add NHL players to this roster especially given they said that they want a young team. IMO they continue to build from the draft which is why I think more picks in other drafts becomes important to them. I don't see this team competing next season & possibly the season after that. They have too many passengers on this team now that they must move on from & that takes time from a bottom feeder team.
An organization with an owner with a willingness to spend would seize that opportunity. I have seen others talk about this, the Sens have a golden opportunity to speed up the rebuild and start competing sooner than later. They could benefit from having many key players on their ELCs or RFA contracts for years. But Melnyk won't have the financial balls to do that
You say they want a young team and it's true, of course, but it's also possible to acquire young players... Look at how 23 y/o Duclair was acquired, can't say the price was heavy too as he came with two 2nd round picks for a UFA to be middle-6 scoring forward. This is not the perfect example as he was more a reclamation project but look at the age guys like Tyler Seguin, Filip Forsberg and Seth Jones were acquired for example. With the cap not raising for a few years, some teams will be forced to make some sacrifice. Getting a 23-25 y/o player wouldn't screw up the rebuild at all and the guy wouldn't be too "old" for the Sens.
In fact, I don't see them doing much until after the Seattle expansion draft when I think they start really trying to field a playoff team. I think we are 3 to 5 yrs away from this team competing for a playoff spot & eventually a SC. And that's why I think they move on from so many players currently on their roster to younger & cheaper players as they lock in their stars of tomorrow BT, Norris, Batherson, L. Brown, Formenton, Pinto, JBD ...
This is crazy but you can possibly be right. But that would mean that the rebuild was a major failure and if Melnyk is still the owner by then and there is no new arena downtown (or at least underway), the Ottawa Senators franchise could be in serious trouble and a threat to be moved. I know the league would rather not do that but you have to be able to follow financially to be in the NHL. The cap will continue to rise after the covid effect. Unless Ottawa's economy expands differently during that period, having Melyk, no downtown arena and a losing team for a almost 10 years, I don't see how the Sens revenues could be enough to justify having a NHL team.
In 5 years, Chabot, Balcers and White will be 28 y/o, Connor Brown will be 31 y/o, Duclair, Paul and Wolanin will be 30 y/o, Batherson and Brown 27 y/o, Tkachuk will be 25 y/o so the clock will already be ticking for the new guard and the window of opportunity might end up being very short. So basically, you'll have to rebuild the rebuild like I have told you in another post
Of course they are going to move on from several players still on the roster (Tierney, Ryan, Anisimov, Zaitsev, Reilly, Nilsson), but like it or not,
the future lineup is already shaping up. OF COURSE, not ALL prospect/young players will be in the line-up in 5 years... I don't understand the point in even saying that, it's captain obvious materials but you can expect most of these guys to be there :
Tkachuk
Batherson
Norris
Formenton
Pinto
Top-3 pick
top-5 pick (if they take another forward of course)
Chabot
Brannstrom
Thomson
JBD
Many guys with question marks : Brown? Brown? White? Duclair? Balcers? Abramov? Chlapik? Paul? Hawryluk? Abramov? Gruden? Crookshank? Wolanin? Zub? Jaros? Guenette? Maybe a few others might make a case...
Some of the guys with question marks WILL be there.
Finally, I have no idea why you say this : "that's why I think they move on from so many players currently on their roster to younger & cheaper players"...
I mean, they JUST DID THAT. Of course, there's still a few vets and a few placeholders on the team so it is not a "finished product" but like I am trying to tell you, they are NOT going to rebuild the rebuild, like you seemed to imply initially with 57% of the roster coming from the 2020 draft.