According to the Ottawa Sun, the Senators had pursued unrestricted free agent forward Mike Cammalleri, but pulled out when the bidding got too high for their liking.
The Sun suggests the Senators unsettled situation surrounding Dany Heatley may have played a factor in the team's attempts to sign Cammalleri and other free agents.
The Senators had a deal with the Oilers to send Heatley to Edmonton for Dustin Penner, Andrew Cogliano and Ladislav Smid, but Heatley did not waive his no-movement clause.
"Our money was tight. My thought, going into the day, was we would be getting three players (from the Oilers) for one player," Senators GM Bryan Murray told the Sun. "I was still hoping on top of that to get one other forward. So we're left a little short. We still need that other forward.
"But, because of the way things are financially, until I move a player or two, it's going to be hard for me to spend the money. I was in on a couple of players, hoping and anticipating that we would complete whatever Dany requested, and we'd be set to go. I had to drop out of a couple of deals."
Cammalleri ended up signing a five-year contract with the Montreal Canadiens.
Newspaper:
Ottawa Sun
