The Ottawa Senators announced today that netminder Hunter Shepard has been reassigned to the club’s AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators.
The move places veteran goalie James Reimer in a position to be the Senators’ No. 2 goalie behind Leevi Merilainen until Linus Ullmark is ready to return to the active roster. Ullmark skated with the Senators yesterday, and head coach Travis Green expressed optimism that Ullmark would be “hopefully approaching getting back with the team.” Ullmark has been on personal leave since late December.
Reimer is a veteran of 525 NHL games, and although he had a tough debut game for the Senators’ AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators, his quality 2024-25 performances suggest he’ll be able to hold his own as a stopgap NHL netminder. Reimer posted a .901 save percentage across 22 games last season with the Buffalo Sabres.
As for Shepard, this reassignment returns him to Belleville, where he’s split time with two other netminders. Shepard won back-to-back Calder Cup championships as a member of the Hershey Bears in 2023 and 2024, backstopping the Bears to the title as their No. 1 goalie each time. He hasn’t been able to translate that success to Belleville thus far, posting an .897 save percentage in 12 games.
Shepard was mostly a backup netminder during his stay on the Senators’ NHL roster, appearing in just one game. Although he didn’t play very much, Shepard did earn a real financial benefit from his recall. His one-year, two-way deal carries a $775K NHL salary and a $400K AHL salary, so he saw a notable pay raise during his time spent in Ottawa.
Now back in Belleville, he’ll hope to string together some quality performances in order to potentially earn another NHL recall, or at least position himself most favorably for his upcoming unrestricted free agency.