Canadian team strongly linked to Vancouver Canucks' top winger who wants no part of rebuild

Ottawa has over $16 million in projected cap space. DeBrusk carries a manageable $5.5 million AAV through 2031.

He scored 23 goals for a historically bad Canucks team that went 25-49-8, and he has publicly stated he wants no part of a rebuild.

Bruce Garrioch reported earlier this season that the Senators would be interested in DeBrusk, and Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos recently noted that getting DeBrusk to waive his full no-movement clause is not expected to be difficult.

The price tag from Vancouver's new GM Ryan Johnson likely starts with a draft pick or young forward prospect.

Here is the problem nobody is connecting. DeBrusk's season-long totals obscure a massive split in how he generated offense.

According to The Hockey News, 16 of his first 19 goals this season came on the power play.

He went weeks during the winter without an even-strength goal, and his season-long plus-minus finished at a brutal minus-31.

Ottawa already has elite power-play weapons in Tim Stützle, Brady Tkachuk, and Drake Batherson.

What the Senators actually lacked was 5-on-5 scoring depth. Carolina swept them in four games partly because Ottawa managed just four even-strength goals across the entire series, with only two players finding the net.

Power plays shrink in the postseason. Referees swallow whistles, and the teams still standing are the ones generating offense at even strength.

DeBrusk's late-season hot streak - nine goals in 13 games to close the schedule - papered over months of invisible even-strength play.

Steve Staios should be asking whether $5.5 million is better spent on a forward who drives play when the sides are level.

Ottawa's window is opening. Spending assets on a player whose greatest skill duplicates what they already have could set the timeline back instead of accelerating it.

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