Dreger: “(Murray) made it be known that Robin Lehner and Ben Bishop are available.”

Last night on That's Hockey, TSN's Darren Dreger was spitballing as to what each of the respective Canadian teams could do this offseason. When he came time to describe Ottawa's philosophy on whether they would continue the path of developing players or potentially splurge on a veteran, Dreger said this:

"It depends on what’s available. If the right veteran is available, then absolutely – I could see Bryan Murray and the Ottawa Senators pushing hard. But young assets being the operative words here, because Ottawa has done a real good job of stockpiling these young, talented players to get to a point where they can make a move.  But keep in mind, this is a really strict budget organization.

There is an outside chance, and people are going to surprised when I say this, that Ottawa does take a run at Rick Nash and the Columbus Blue Jackets. Not to say that Rick Nash has the Ottawa Senators high on (his) list. I’m sure that he would approve playing with the likes of Jason Spezza but when you look at what is necessary to acquire a superstar like Rick Nash, there are few teams that have the young assets (to acquire him) and the Ottawa Senators are one of those few teams.

And Bryan Murray is in a position to wheel and deal and he will go to the goal and has made it be known that Robin Lehner and Ben Bishop are available.

Now what’s the asking price? That’s hard to say. He paid a second round draft pick for Ben Bishop and (Murray’s) not giving him up for less than that, so Ottawa could be a player this week.”

Having already interviewed three goaltenders this past week, Ottawa's interest in drafting another goaltender is pretty transparent. Now with that being said, it wouldn't make much sense for the Senators to move either in a straight up swap for a draft pick. If anything, assuming one of these players is moved, it will likely will be as part of a quantity-for-quality trade package that hopefully nets something better than Rick Nash – an overhyped player whose blend of age (28), salary ($7.8 million for next six seasons), and production (only one 70+ point season in the prime years of his career) should have GMs balking at Columbus' price point in trade negotiations.