Dec. 27: All three are back on the active roster today, as well as Søgaard, the team announced. Both Forsberg’s and Ullmark’s status for tomorrow’s tilt against the Jets is thus in doubt. They only had three open active roster spots, so there’s one corresponding move that’s yet to be announced, likely placing Forsberg on injured reserve.
Dec. 23: The Senators made a trio of demotions today after finishing up their pre-holiday break schedule last night with a 3-1 loss to the Oilers. They reassigned all of goaltender Leevi Merilainen, center Zack Ostapchuk and left-winger Cole Reinhardt to AHL Belleville, per the team’s communications department.
Whether these transactions get reversed when Ottawa returns to play on Saturday against the Jets depends on the health of wingers Michael Amadio and David Perron, who are dealing with head and upper-body injuries, respectively. Merilainen was on the roster to relieve backup netminder Anton Forsberg, who’s missed the last four games with an undisclosed injury and is out indefinitely. However, starter Linus Ullmark left last night’s game with a back issue after the first period and didn’t return. If neither is good by the weekend, they’ll need to recall a second netminder from Belleville, Mads Søgaard, and Merilainen again.
Merilainen had been on the roster since Dec. 15, when Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reported that Forsberg had sustained an injury and wouldn’t accompany the team on their road trip. Ullmark’s injury meant the 22-year-old was forced into action on back-to-back nights after allowing four goals on 25 shots in Saturday’s overtime win over the Canucks. Between the two appearances, the Finnish native has allowed six goals on 39 shots faced for a .846 SV% and 3.72 GAA.
The 71st overall pick of the 2020 draft, Merilainen spent all of last season in the minors but made his NHL debut in 2022-23, posting a .878 SV% and 4.23 GAA in two late-season starts. The 2022 World Junior Championship silver medalist is now in his third AHL season with Belleville, where he has a decent .908 SV%, 2.65 GAA, three shutouts, and a 20-11-5 record in 41 games. 13 of those appearances have come in 2024-25, posting a .901 SV% and 2.43 GAA with one shutout for a 7-2-4 record.
Ostapchuk has been a frequent flyer on the transaction wire this season. Today’s reassignment ends his sixth recall of the campaign, during which he’s played 20 games in Ottawa and nine in Belleville. The 21-year-old, who the Sens picked 39th overall in the 2021 draft, has three assists with seven penalty minutes while averaging a paltry 9:11 per game. He’s won 48.1% of his draws, recorded 42 hits, and blocked seven shots while controlling 49.0% of shot attempts at 5-on-5. The 6’3″, 205-lb forward has a goal and seven assists with a +5 rating in his nine minor-league showings after recording just 28 points in 69 AHL games last season.
Reinhardt has also moved between leagues quite often but hasn’t received nearly as much use at the NHL level as Ostapchuk has. The 24-year-old Calgary native does have something that Ostapchuk doesn’t this season in the NHL, though – a goal. He’s added an assist for two points in six NHL appearances this season, his first since making his big-league debut in the 2021-22 campaign. He’s averaged 8:39 per contest and recorded 16 hits. Down on the farm with the B-Sens, he leads the team with 1.23 points per game (16 in 13 contests).
Ostapchuk is waiver-exempt and will remain so through the end of this season, but Reinhardt isn’t. Since he’s been on the active roster for fewer than 30 cumulative days since last clearing waivers and has played less than 10 games, he can return to Belleville without being exposed to the wire again. The Sens’ active roster is now at 20, and clearing the trio’s cap hits has also allowed them to exit their LTIR pool for the time being and start accumulating cap space once again.