Sergei Gonchar's time in Ottawa ends abruptly with trade to Dallas
So much for that debate.
The Ottawa Senators have announced that Sergei Gonchar's rights have been traded to the Dallas Stars for a conditional 6th round pick.
Gonchar is finishing the final year of a 3-year, $16.5M deal that saw him get paid an average of $5.5M a year. He will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season, and is rumored to have a large offer in place from Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL. Gonchar played for Metallurg during the lockout. It's highly likely that the pick is conditional on Gonchar signing with the Stars.
Gonchar was a valuable member of the Senators while he was here, and general manager Bryan Murray pointed to his offensive abilities as the reason he was targeted over departing defenseman Anton Volchenkov. There was a great deal of speculation over whether he would be re-signed by the team thanks in large part to a stretch of play where he set the team assists-streak record.
That speculation is now ended. Gonchar is not part of the team's future plans.
