If Ottawa was actually capable of attracting the best UFAs in their prime (and have the money to spend to the cap and even bury a player or take on salary in a trade), they could actually be a contender already.
I'm getting very tired of this narrative. Not just from you, it gets repeated over and over on this board. Who are all these prime UFAs that are signing everywhere but Ottawa? The UFA market has been garbage for more than ten years now, almost all of them are overpaid mediocre players.
I'm kind of glad the Sens don't participate in that nonsense. Occasionally a couple of them are pretty good in their first year but after that are a drag if they are signed long term. A few can be good for one year to help a team and I'm ok with that approach.
Okposo keeps getting referenced, isn't he signed for 7 years? My gosh, I wouldn't want him for that long. How about Lucic, terrible.
Or you can dig in the garbage pile for the likes of Radulov. Habs fans may like the shiny new toy for the first 30 games, me, I hate this player. He's already starting to look disinterested to me and I follow the Habs games. I honestly hope the Habs sign him long term, he will be an anchor and a whipping boy in Montreal by the end of the year.
UFAs aren't the answer unless it's for a middle player for a couple of years. I see it as not that Ottawa can't attract the "prime" UFAs, they just choose not to get caught up in the nonsense and I'm perfectly fine with that.