from Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun,

“As far as I know Bouwmeester is not the guy that Jacques Martin is offering up,” said a league executive yesterday. “Bouwmeester is the guy they’ve got to build that team around. I haven’t heard his name being offered around in a trade, not even once.”

Instead, the group of blueliners Martin is trying to deal is a lot less attractive to NHL GMs. The indications are anybody can have Florida defenceman Mike Van Ryn, who is scheduled to make $3.35 million the next two seasons, for just a draft pick…

The Senators held brief discussions with C Jason Williams, but are studying other options for a Top 6 forward.

more on the Sens…

added 10:31am, via Bruce Garrioch at Off The Posts,

I took plenty of calls from people asking me Saturday if the Senators had signed Jason Williams.
The quick answer: No.
The reality: They held one brief conversation with Williams and decided to go in another direction. The Senators simply can’t afford to sign anybody to a contract at the moment....

Antoine Vermette’s agent Allan Walsh has denied his client has asked for a trade and wants to work out a long term deal.