Savard unlikely..but

How great would it be to see one of the best Ottawa born players in the game today suiting up for his hometown team? However, that player would have to be in good health and his contract must not be cumbersome. For these reasons, the Sens interest in Orleans native Marc Savard will be lukewarm at best, but let's look at the numbers to at least make the argument.

The soon to be 33 year old centre is just starting a new 7 year contract with an annual cap hit of just over 4 million dollars. A bargain for the 8th highest scoring centre in the league since lockout. I'm not suggesting a trade here as it would make no sense, but just to put Savard's numbers into perspective, 6 years Savard's junior, Jason Spezza is 6th on the same list, 7 points ahead of the Boston pivot with a 7 million dollar cap hit.

Savard is signed for two more years than Spezza but the last two years are worth .525m per season. In fact the 3rd last year of Savard's deal (which would be the last year of Spezza's) is only worth 1.5m. On paper, Savard is signed through his 39th birthday, but in reality it's only until he's 36. The last 3 years of his contract could be bought out for a cap hit of .283m for 6 years. Spezza's contract also tapers off as it goes but the last year of his deal still plays the then 32 year old 4 million dollars.

As mentioned the point here is not to suggest a trade involving the two point producing centres but to point out when you look closer at Savard's contract, trading him shouldn't be as tough for Peter Chiarelli as some might think. However, despite Ottawa being one of the team's Savard has waived his no trade clause for, I still doubt there is a deal to be made. The Bruins would likely have to take back a contract the Sens would like to shed. With Savard's list expanding to 5 teams on Thursday, Chiarelli might not have to go down that road as he peddles a high scoring centre with a great cap number that teams could essentially walk away from in 4 years.