After getting a first-hand look at him in a game on Saturday, the Florida Panthers have decided to pounce on Ottawa Senators defenseman Donovan Sebrango.
With Tyler Kleven’s return to health, the Sens had eight defenseman on their roster, so they placed Sebrango on waivers on Tuesday with the hopes of sending him down to the Belleville Senators of the American Hockey League. But the Panthers had an injury on their blue line last week, so they needed more depth, and they opted to claim Sebrango on Wednesday.
The news comes after Florida found out Kulikov would miss five months with wrist surgery – a medical prognosis that gives Sens fans shivers right about now. Their captain is expected to miss at least a month with a wrist injury and surgery is still a possibility.
The 23-year-old Sebrango was born in Ottawa and made his NHL debut back in January. He played the first two games for the Sens this season after spending the previous two years in Belleville. He didn’t get a point but did average 15:14 in time on ice. He’s a 2020 third-round pick of the Detroit Red Wings, who traded him to Ottawa two years ago as part of the Alex DeBrincat deal.
Sebrango’s exit means that Javon Moore, who has just begun his NCAA career at the University of Minnesota, is the only asset left who was directly involved in the DeBrincat deal.
The Sens got Sebrango, Dominik Kubalik, a first-rounder, and a fourth-rounder in that trade. Sebrango and Kubalik are now both gone. The first-rounder was packaged up and sent to Boston in the Linus Ullmark deal, but the Sens kept the fourth pick, which they used on Moore.
Looking ahead to Sebrango’s potential in Florida, Uvis Balinskis drew into the lineup on Saturday night against the Senators to replace Kulikov, rounding out the Panthers’ top six. Balinskis played in 76 games for Florida last season, so, for now, Sebrango’s probable role is to beef up Florida’s depth as a seventh D. Their current alignment would look like this:
Forsling-Ekblad
Mikkola-Jones
Balinskis-Petry
Sebrango
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