It has been a busy first month on the job for new Vancouver Canucks general manager Ryan Johnson, who has had to find executives to work alongside him and identify the team’s next head coach. He will then have to worry about the draft, and after that, what to do with some of the veteran players on the roster. And there appears to be a team interested in one of their forwards.

According to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen, the Ottawa Senators have expressed interest in Canucks forward Jake DeBrusk:

“Two league sources told the Ottawa Citizen in the last 24 hours that they believe the Senators are among a group of teams that have shown interest in Vancouver Canucks winger Jake DeBrusk,” Garrioch wrote. … “The belief is that the Senators’ off-season priorities include a top-six forward, a top-four right-shot defenceman and a backup goalie.”

DeBrusk, 29, scored 23 goals and 19 assists for 42 points in 81 games while averaging 16:52 minutes per game. The Edmonton, Alberta native found most of his success on the power play, scoring 19 of his 23 goals with the man advantage. The lone game DeBrusk missed last season was due to a healthy scratch by Adam Foote, and he saw his role on the team dip all the way down to the fourth line at times.

Garrioch mentioned that the belief is that the Canucks ‘may not be seeking much in return because they would like to get out from underneath the contract.’ DeBrusk has five years remaining at $5.5 million per season, along with a full no-movement clause for next season before shifting to a modified 15-team no-trade list for the final four years of the deal.

For the upcoming draft, the Senators were awarded their first-round pick back after the Evgenii Dadonov trade mishap stripped them of it. As a result, Ottawa’s first-round selection is locked in at 32nd overall, and they are not permitted to trade the pick. The Senators do not have a second-round pick as part of the Jakob Chychrun trade made back in 2023, but retain three third-round picks – 72nd overall (FLA), 87th overall (OTT), and 91st overall (DAL).