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Tim Stützle changed agents “to stay in Ottawa”
Credit: Getty Images

Recently, we learned that Tim Stützle had changed agents. Ben Hankinson has been replaced by Claude Lemieux.

Often, a player changes agent when something big is coming up. And often, the something big is either a new contract or a change of address.

This isn’t always the case, but…

In Stützle’s case, seeing him change agents with seven years left on his contract makes people wonder. Is it possible that he wants a fresh start?

Of course, he has publicly denied the rumors. But don’t think he would have publicly said he wanted to be traded. He’s not crazy either.

It’s possible, then, that Stützle simply came to the conclusion that he wasn’t getting along with his agent, but it’s also possible that he wanted a change of scenery and to leave Ottawa.

After all, Kanata isn’t paradise on earth, and on the ice, the club is treading water.

All of which is to say that, when you look back over the past few years, there have been a few guys who have publicly stated that they wanted to stay following a change of agent, but who still put their hands up.

Taylor Hall, Max Pacioretty (we remember that, don’t we?), Matt Duchene and Jack Eichel are four names that come to mind.

With the exception of Duchene in Colorado, the other three played either in Canada or in Buffalo. Montreal, Edmonton and Buffalo are all, for different reasons, on certain no-trade lists. Ottawa follows the same mentality.

Obviously, the Senators aren’t going to trade their top forward. But the change of agent certainly means that something wasn’t working.

After all, you don’t usually fix what isn’t broken. Right?

We’ll have to keep an eye on Stützle and Sean Couturier, who also recently changed agents. But given Couturier’s contract, I don’t think any other team will want him.

Overtime

– Cole Caufield with #13 looks like this.

– Excerpt #21312 mentioning that Patrik Laine is in shape.

– Oh?

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