NHL Trade Rumors: Ottawa Senators in a Win-Win Situation Approaching Deadline

By far one of the coolest stories of the 2011-2012 NHL season is the rise of the Ottawa Senators. They managed just 74 points all of last season, third-fewest in the Eastern Conference, but they already have 56 this season with more than two months to play.

So, barring any kind of epic collapse, a return to the postseason is all but assured. And if Paul MacLean can keep working his magic, the Senators may very well make a run at the Stanley Cup this season.

The question the team has to answer now is whether or not they should go out and get additional help to aide the process.

Senators owner Eugene Melnyk hinted this is a possibility when he spoke to Toronto’s Fan 590 on Monday.

“If we continue on our road and we’re healthy, we’ll certainly look at doing something prior to the trade deadline and, at the very least, we’ll be looking at doing something," said Melnyk, per the Ottawa Citizen.

So as strange as it may seem, the Senators could very well approach the trade deadline as buyers. Pretty cool once you consider how so many industry experts were picking them to finish last in the Northeast Division.

The Senators have the pieces to be buyers at the deadline, make no mistake about that. They have a lot of young players who are playing well this season, and you can rest assured that some of them are already being coveted in front offices across the league.

But therein lies the rub. You have to give up something good to get something good, and the Senators don't necessarily have to do that seeing as how the going is already good.

As Melnyk put it, there's no point in "screwing around with a good thing." The team's brass doesn't need to fix what ain't broke.

Ultimately, Melnyk says it will be up to the players.

“But if they are behind it, this is the one time you let the players speak and they’ll tell you in a heartbeat, yeah, we need this and we need that and that’s it," he said.

The Senators really can't lose no matter what they do. If they make a deal to bring in a talented player or two, their chances of making a run at the Stanley Cup will get better by default. If they don't make a move, they'll be banking on the tidal wave they've ridden all season to get them to the finals anyway.

Even if the Senators fall short, this season will still have been a victory. They'll still have their young players, and they'll know for a fact that their rebuilding phase is well ahead of schedule. They can easily sit back and trust that things are going to be better in 2012-2013.

Either way, you're going to want to keep an eye on the Senators in the coming weeks. Their actions will determine whether the time to go for it all is now or later.