As teams jockey for playoff position and prep their line-ups for the upcoming trade deadline, Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk is sticking to the plan.

“You have to stick to the plan,” said Melnyk. “You can never plan on where you’ll end up as far as No. 13, No. 10 or No. 7. You do stick to the plan: Growing from within and draft well. We came into this with a three-year plan. We went the hard way. That’s the only way. You rid yourself, if you can, of very expensive old players who aren’t producing. You bring in hungry young kids that will do anything to continue with (their) NHL career.”

Melnyk says that it’s not part of the plan to overspend just to finish out of the playoff picture.

Speaking with Sportsnet Radio Fan 590 on Monday, the owner said that spending a lot on players at the trade deadline is not part of his agenda this time around. Part of the plan may be to move some expensive veteran contracts, with the likes of Sergei Gonchar and/or Filip Kuba potentially up for discussion.

GM Bryan Murray, however, has said that no changes are necessary to the club’s nucleus.

“As tempting as it may sound, nothing changes,” said Melnyk. “You spend a boatload and you come in No. 9. You look like an idiot. You’ve got to be prudent and patient. Continue to be focused. Do we want to be the belle of the ball? We want to. (But) we’re not going to gamble the future for short-term gain. (We) won’t blow money to get to the second round.”

Gonchar, for his part, has been making his case to stick around. The 37-year-old doesn’t want to be moved and thinks things are going in the right direction in Ottawa. He hasn’t been approached about waiving his no-movement clause – yet.

“I’ve been in the league for a long time. It’s been mentioned more than once,” he said on Sunday. “If you look at the way we played last year, to the way we’re playing this year, we’ve made a huge step forward. We’re making progress pretty much every game and I like the direction that we’re going. This team is going the right way.”

There are a lot of potential buyers for the likes of Kuba and Gonchar, though, and Murray has apparently been taking calls. Gonchar has a year left on his contract and could fetch a young defenceman and some picks, a suitable exchange to free up the bread to keep Eric Karlsson (a restricted free agent come summer) in the fold with a probable $5.5 million deal. But Gonchar has been serving as a mentor to Karlsson, so upsetting the apple cart may not be in the cards – yet.