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Senators GM Murray: Philips, Neil, Methot could all be dealt

Jake Roth / US PRESSWIRE

The Ottawa Senators have been a more formidable hockey club under new head coach Dave Cameron, but their mid-season improvement probably comes too late for the Senators to realistically climb back into the race for a playoff spot.

So expect the Senators to be sellers at the NHL Trade Deadline on March 2.

"I've had a couple of calls already to see if we're going to do certain things," Senators general manager Bryan Murray admitted to Wayne Scanlan of the Ottawa Citizen this week.

Those certain things could include trading long-serving veteran players like gritty forward Chris Neil and defensive defenseman Chris Phillips. If he's going to make those sorts of deal though, Murray is going to make sure the players are eager to make a fresh start first.

"The two Chrises you have to talk to," Murray said. "They deserve that.

"Before I'd even suggest trading either one, I think, from their length of service here, the type of people they are, what they bring to the locker room, it would be a long discussion with them."

The club could also deal Marc Methot, but whether he's dealt or not will largely depend on whether the club can make progress with the pending unrestricted free agent defender on a possible contract extension.

"If we can compromise a little bit each way we can get it done," Murray said of negotiations with Methot. "If we don’t, it will be difficult."

While Murray is willing to deal some of his veterans, he's still likely to wait for a stretch longer to see if the club can show signs of clawing their way back into playoff contention. If that doesn't happen, the club is open to making significant changes and promoting younger players from their American Hockey League affiliate, the Binghamton Senators.

"Maybe one or two of our guys want to go to a contender and have a chance to win a Cup," Murray continued.

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