The Senators have signed right winger Jan Jeník to a two-way deal, according to a team announcement. The deal carries a $775K cap hit and NHL salary with a $190K AHL salary. Ottawa acquired Jeník’s signing rights – he was an RFA – from Utah in a swap Wednesday that sent forward Egor Sokolov the other way.
Jeník, 24 in September, was selected by the Coyotes in the third round of the 2018 draft out of his native Czechia. After splitting the beginning of the 2018-19 season between the first and second leagues in the Czech pyramid, Jeník arrived stateside midseason to play junior hockey with the OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs. It would be another season and a half before he made his NHL debut, receiving a brief two-game call-up during the shortened 2020-21 season. He got off to a hot start, scoring in back-to-back games against the Sharks while averaging 12:05 per game.
However, it wasn’t a sign of things to come. Jeník spent much of the next two seasons in the minors, where he produced well with 47 points in 51 games and 23 points in 30 games in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns with AHL Tucson. It didn’t result in much NHL opportunity, though, as he made only 15 appearances during that time in which he scored twice and added an assist with a -6 rating. That led Jeník to reportedly seek a trade the following summer before eventually relenting and signing a two-way deal to return to Arizona for 2023-24.
Last season again yielded little NHL opportunity for Jeník, limited to one assist and a -1 rating in five games while averaging a paltry 8:23 per contest. His point-per-game production with Tucson also took a hit, decreasing to 0.65 (36 points in 55 games) after putting up 0.92 and 0.77 the prior two years. Now, he officially joins a Senators squad that’s lost some scoring depth this summer, giving him a chance to compete with players like Angus Crookshank, Zack MacEwen and Zack Ostapchuk for a roster spot during training camp. He would require waivers to head to the minors if cut, but he cleared last fall without incident.