Definitely. While I obviously wish for this to happen, I didn't just pluck this out of the air. This was passed on by a fairly reliable and decently connected person. Just that he's considering Ottawa if he goes to UFA. And I just thought it made a lot of sense for some of the reasons I already mentioned, but here's a full breakdown:

-Local ties. 3 and a half hours away from his hometown, Peterborough.
-Connection to Bryan and Tim Murray
-Less pressure (and better current and future team) than in Toronto if he wants to stay local.
-Ottawa's cap space, and the fact they have to sign somebody fairly big to reach the cap floor.
-He'll get to play with Spezza for a long time. Legit playmaking centre who is probably more skilled than Getzlaf = return to 50 goals potentially (although I think he peaked there). Where could he go with a more attractive piece at centre, who also has the cap space? Def not Toronto.
-Replacement on RW for Daniel Alfredsson as you mentioned.
-He played with Marc Methot for 4 years in London. Maybe they're buddies? No idea (update: confirmed friends).

Honestly, I think the 3 Top landing spots for im are Anaheim, Toronto, and Ottawa. Obviously I can't get into his mind, and I don't know if he actually cares about being close to home, but I can't think of any other teams right now to be in a potential Top 3 for him. Obviously Pittsburgh would be amazing for him, playing with Crosby...but do they have the space?

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