Ottawa Senators GM Steve Staios is clearly a fan of Stanley Cup pedigree.
For the third time this summer, Staios dipped into NHL free agency and nabbed a Cup winner, signing Nick Cousins to a one year contract worth $800K. Last month, Staios signed David Perron, who won a Cup with the St. Louis Blues, and Michael Amadio who won with the Vegas Golden Knights.
Cousins’ win is a little fresher. In fact, he just had his day with the Stanley Cup last week.
Image: @nickcousins27 Instagram
The Belleville-born 31-year-old has made stops in Philadelphia, Arizona, Montreal, Vegas, Nashville, and most recently in Florida, where he won a Cup earlier this year.
Cousins is a buzzsaw forward who can get you 20-25 points, but he’s best known in recent seasons for being a reckless player, making some extremely dangerous hits along the boards. That’s left him open for public criticism from fans and media.
But his teammates and head coaches are glad to have him.
“I love the guy,” Florida Panthers coach Maurice told the Miami Herald back in February. “Teammates love him. We love him. That’s the great part about this sport. It’s a full contact, hotly contested sport. Players then get reputations, whether they’re earned or not. The more success you have, you’ll also have more people dislike you. I’m good with that. I’m good with Nick. I’m good with the way he plays.”
His new head coach, Travis Green, told TSN 1200 radio on Friday that he’s an admirer of the former Panther as well.
“He’s another guy that’s won a Stanley Cup,” Green said. “He’s been in the league a while now, a veteran guy. He can bring a lot to the game – tenacity, and work ethic, and he’s not easy to play against. He can play up and down the lineup and he’s been to the finals. He’s lost in the finals, he’s won a Cup, and I think it’s a great addition.”
It figures that Green would be a fan. During his playing days, Green played a similar on-the-edge style, especially during the Battle of Ontario just over twenty years ago.
Cousins is another veteran addition to a fourth line that was potentially tracking to be very young. While there aren’t many jobs up for grabs at training camp next month, it will be interesting to see who gets that fourth line centre job in Ottawa.
“There are some options at centre,” Green said. “Obviously, Ridley Greig can play centre, Nick Cousins, Zack Ostapchuk, Adam Gaudette, Jan Jenik, Matthew Highmore. There’s lots of guys that can play centre. So we’ll see where it goes.”
The Senators open training camp on September 18th.
