The waiting was the hardest part for Nick Cousins.
Thankfully, it all worked out in the end after the pesky centre signed a one-year, $800,000 U.S. deal with the Ottawa Senators Thursday with the opening of training camp set for Sept. 18 at the Canadian Tire Centre.
After winning a Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers in Game 7 of the final series against the Edmonton Oilers on June 24, a week later the 31-year-old Cousins was thrust onto the free agent market on July 1
Since then, he’s gone through a whirlwind of emotions, he went from the highest-of-highs by winning the Cup to wondering where his next stop in the NHL might be while waiting to sign a new deal.
Now, that the Belleville native is preparing to join his new teammates with the Senators for informal skates in Kanata next week, Cousins couldn’t be more excited.
“It’s been a long couple of weeks here,” Cousins said in an interview with Postmedia Friday. “With the excitement of winning, and the last game being June 24, all the fun we had after winning, then being thrown right into free agency, the process dragged out maybe longer than I anticipated.
“But, at the end of the day, I’m in a good spot. I’m happy to go a team that wants me, they’re excited to have me and that was important for me.”
Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, has put his stamp on this roster during the off-season. It started with the hiring of head coach Travis Green in late-May and continued with a remake of the group on the ice.
Staios acquired top goalie Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins, signed veteran forwards David Perron and Mike Amadio as free agents plus the club acquired veteran blueliner Nick Jensen from the Washington Capitals in exchange for Jakob Chychrun.