The Ottawa Senators announced a flurry of free agent signings today, including a two-year, two-way deal with forward Hayden Hodgson and a one-year, two-way deal with goaltender Hunter Shepard, per a team release. The terms of those deals are not immediately known. Additionally, the team confirmed the previously reported signing of forward Arthur Kaliyev, along with forwards Wyatt Bongiovanni and Olle Lycksell, whose deals had also been reported earlier.
Hodgson, 29, returns to the Senators organization after appearing in two games with Ottawa and 43 more with the AHL’s Belleville Senators last season. For his career, the 6’2″, 220-pound winger has appeared in nine career NHL games spanning three seasons, producing a goal and two assists.
Bongiovanni, 25, also remains in the Senators’ franchise after appearing in 54 games with Belleville last season, where he produced 22 goals and 33 points. While he has yet to appear in an NHL game, his production last season was a major step in the right direction, as he nearly doubled his previous highs in goals and points at the AHL level.
Lycksell, 25, comes to Ottawa after spending his entire professional career within the Flyers organization, which selected him in the sixth round of the 2017 NHL draft. Last season, Lycksell appeared in a career-high 19 games for the Flyers, registering five assists while averaging 11:53 of ice time per night. In 43 games for the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms last season, he produced 19 goals and 44 points.
Shepard’s one-year deal comes a year after he appeared in 39 games for the AHL’s Hershey Bears, where he compiled a 23-11-4 record, 2.80 goals against average, and a .891 save percentage. The 29-year-old Shepard, who was named an AHL all-star last season, has appeared in five games at the NHL level across two seasons with the Washington Capitals, including one start last season.
Additionally, the Sens signed goaltender Jackson Parsons to a three-year, entry-level contract. Parsons, 20, appeared in 52 games for the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers, registering a 37-12-3 record, 2.24 goals-against average, and a .920 save percentage. A native of Ottawa, Parsons received several key accolades for his play last season, including Goaltender of the Year in both the OHL and the Canadian Hockey League and the Leo Lalonde Trophy as the OHL Overage Player of the Year.