The Senators have recalled center Zack Ostapchuk from AHL Belleville, per a team announcement. He’ll play Ottawa’s final two games of the season instead of Mark Kastelic, who left Saturday’s shootout win over the Canadiens with an upper-body injury.
Ostapchuk, 20, got a brief stint with the Sens last month but failed to record a point in six games. He was returned to Belleville on March 22.
Before and after his first NHL call-up, the 2021 second-round pick showed flashes during his inaugural professional season but has struggled with inconsistency. In 66 games for Belleville this season, he’s scored 17 goals and has added 11 assists for 28 points and a +4 rating. The 6’3″, 205-lb forward has gotten into a fair amount of penalty trouble, too, recording 47 PIMs on the year. Most of his scoring has come in bunches – he has quite a few two-point games this season, but he has also routinely gone more than five games without getting on the scoresheet.
There’s no risk on the Sens’ part of giving him another crack in the NHL lineup for their season-ending back-to-back this week, though. They’re guaranteed a bottom-three spot in the East with a 36-40-4 record, and their final two games are against likely divisional champions in the Rangers and Bruins. It should be a good test for Ostapchuk to see how he fares against contending teams’ depth. He’s expected to center their third line, flanked by Boris Katchouk and Parker Kelly. Ottawa is dealing with a rash of injuries at forward to end the season, including star centers Tim Stützle and Joshua Norris, Kastelic, and depth winger Angus Crookshank.
While Ostapchuk signed his entry-level contract back in September 2021, it only took effect this season after sliding twice. He has two seasons remaining on his deal at a $825K cap hit and is under team control through 2029.