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The Ottawa Senators have to decided to take the wait and ‘C’ approach with winger Mark Stone.

While the NHL trade deadline is set for Monday at 3 p.m. EST, the Senators are giving the veteran winger more time to decide if he wants to be part of the rebuild in Ottawa or get moved to a Stanley Cup contender.

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The talk in league circles is that after putting a new offer on the table last week to the 26-year-old Stone, the Senators would like an answer as soon as possible, but they’ve made an aggressive offer to the man they’d like to be their next captain.

Though it’s not known exactly what the offer from Ottawa was to Stone, there’s talk the Senators put options for five- and six-year deals on the table with more money per season than was tabled before the two sides reached a one-year, $7.35-million contract to avoid arbitration last summer.

Owner Eugene Melnyk and general manager Pierre Dorion would like Stone to be the centrepiece of this rebuild. If they can convince him to stick around, he’ll lead the way for top prospects such as Brady Tkachuk, Colin White and Thomas Chabot down the road.