The Senators have added goaltender Leevi Merilainen to their roster ahead of tonight’s game against Utah with Linus Ullmark not quite ready to return from a muscle strain, the team announced. Left-winger Cole Reinhardt has been reassigned to AHL Belleville to keep the roster at the 23-player limit.
Ullmark was projected to make his return to the lineup tonight after the team sent No. 3 goalie Mads Søgaard back down to the minors over the weekend. But he’s evidently not quite 100%, and he’ll be held out again tonight in line with previous reports that the Sens are operating with an abundance of caution in returning their new starter to game action.
That’s left Anton Forsberg in charge of the crease for now, and his underwhelming showing last season has continued. Forsberg has a 1-1-0 record in three starts and has struggled to the tune of a .863 SV%, 4.16 GAA, and -2.6 GSAA. Søgaard didn’t do any better in his brief look, conceding four goals on just 17 shots in last week’s wild 8-7 win over the Kings. He then sustained an injury in a game with Belleville after being returned there Sunday, so it’s now Merilainen who gets the call to back up Forsberg tonight against Utah.
Merilainen, 22, has just two games of NHL experience. The Sens’ 2020 third-rounder got into a pair of contests in 2022-23 when injuries decimated their goaltending depth, and it was certainly earlier in his development than they anticipated him seeing NHL ice. He managed a .878 SV% and 4.23 GAA, conceding 1.3 goals above average.
Last year was the Finn’s first in North America full-time. He did okay in an extended run with Belleville, logging a .906 SV% and a shutout in 24 appearances. But he starred at the ECHL level for the Allen Americans, where he posted a .926 SV% despite seeing a heavy workload shot-wise in 13 games.
The 6’3″ netminder has a good glove hand and helped Finland to a silver medal back at the 2022 World Juniors. So far this year for the B-Sens, he has a 3.47 GAA, .852 SV%, and a 2-1-0 record in three appearances.
Reinhardt, meanwhile, has been between leagues this season as roster flexibility allows. He hasn’t yet managed to make an appearance for Ottawa in 2024-25, but he has torched the minors with five points in three games for Belleville. The 24-year-old passed through waivers unclaimed during the preseason but remains an intriguing depth scoring option, so Ottawa won’t hesitate to have him in the minors whenever necessary to delay the expiry of his temporary waiver exemption.