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Afternoon Notes: Trenton, Bruins, Senators, Flames

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The Utah Grizzlies will relocate to Trenton, New Jersey for the 2026-27 season, with an announcement set for tomorrow, per hockey insider Frank Seravalli. If true, the Grizzlies will be set to move right after celebrating their 20th season in Utah. In doing so, they will bring ECHL hockey back to Trenton for the first time since 2013. The city previously hosted the Trenton Titans – briefly the Trenton Devils – for 24 years beginning in 1999. The club was red-hot at the turn of the century, reaching the Kelly Cup Finals in 2001 and taking the Cup home in 2005. They featured some incredible hockey names in their history. Stanley Cup winner and Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy presided over Trenton’s inaugural season, and current Utah Mammoth general manager Bill Armstrong coached the team from 2002 to 2004.

The Utah Grizzlies are currently affiliated with the Colorado Avalanche and Colorado Eagles, the latter an ironic twist given the Eagles’ rivalry with the Grizzlies when they were a part of the ECHL. This move would break that tension, and return pro hockey to an upgraded CURE Insurance Arena.

Other notes from around the hockey world:

  • Sticking in the ECHL, the Boston Bruins have announced a three-year extension of their affiliation with the Maine Mariners. The affiliation began in 2021, and marked the first NHL partnership in Maine’s brief history. It was a continuation of a long history of work between the two teams. The Mariners served as Boston’s AHL affiliate from 1987 to 1992, before being relocated to form the Providence Bruins. The ECHL Mariners haven’t found their stride under Boston just yet – losing in the first round of the postseason three times, then missing the postseason last year. They’ll face a very interesting turnaround next season, after losing former player and head coach/general manager Terrence Wallin this summer. Maine hired Rick Kowalsky – aptly, a member of the Kelly Cup-winning Trenton Devils in 2005 – to fill the vacancy. Kowalsky has previously spent four years an ECHL head coach, 10 years as an AHL head coach, and six years as an assistant coach with the New Jersey Devils.
  • Shifting to looming NHL training camps – the Ottawa Senators are expected to bring multiple professional try-outs to the start of their camp, general manager Steve Staios told Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun. Ottawa could use a bit of padding to their depth at all three positions, setting them up nicely to bring in some of the top remaining free agents. The likeliest paths to the lineup will be on the fourth-line wing, where Michael Amadio and Nick Cousins currently reside on the depth chart. Some options for UFA candidates could include 36-year-old wing Max Pacioretty, 30-year-old centerman Tyler Motte, or 31-year-old defenseman Matt Grzelcyk.
  • While Ottawa pursues the PTO market, the Calgary Flames are expected to stay away, per Ryan Pike of Flames Nation. While the Senators will look to vindicate a push to the playoffs last season, Calgary is likely much more geared towards keeping spots open for their emerging youngsters. Players like Rory Kerins, Dryden Hunt, William Stromgren, and Aydar Suniev could all make valiant pushes for bottom-six minutes next season.

Senators Expected To Trade Max Guenette

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After re-signing Donovan Sebrango earlier this week, the Senators are down to one remaining restricted free agent, defenseman Max Guenette.  However, it doesn’t appear as if he’ll actually be signing with Ottawa.  Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the expectation is that the Sens will move the blueliner before training camp begins.

The 24-year-old was a seventh-round pick by Ottawa back in 2019, going 187th overall and he has carved out a respectable career thus far for someone picked that late.  He has gotten into eight NHL games between 2022-23 and 2023-24 where he has been held off the scoresheet in a little over 13 minutes per night of playing time.  Between that time, he has been a key contributor in the minors, including a 40-point campaign with AHL Belleville in 2022-23.

Last season, Guenette was waiver-eligible for the first time and passed through unclaimed in late September, allowing him to return to Belleville.  He suited up in 58 games for them, picking up nine goals and 14 assists.  He received a recall to Ottawa in early January but didn’t see any action with them over the week he was with the team.

The Senators have reshaped the right side of their AHL back end for the upcoming season.  Top prospect Carter Yakemchuk is now AHL-eligible, prospect Lassi Thomson was brought back after he spent last season in Sweden, and Cameron Crotty received a two-year deal in late August.  Those three will likely comprise the right side of Belleville’s back end, leaving Guenette without a spot.

Given his status as a depth defender who will once again have to pass through waivers to return to the AHL, Guenette isn’t likely to command much of a return in a trade.  Instead, a swap for a player at a different position in a similar situation seems like the logical conclusion here.  Given that the teams would want their players to be at camp to learn their systems, it stands to reason that a resolution on this front should come over the next ten days or so.

Senators Re-Sign Donovan Sebrango

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The Ottawa Senators have signed defenseman Donovan Sebrango to a one-year, two-way contract extension, per PuckPedia. Sebrango was one of two remaining restricted-free agents in Ottawa’s system, alongside defender Max Guenette.

Sebrango played the first two NHL games of his career with Ottawa last season. He only managed 20:37 minutes of ice time between the two games, and didn’t record any notable stat changes – but the games were still an important step for the 23-year-old. He has otherwise spent the last five seasons in a full-time, AHL role – spread across games with the Grand Rapids Griffins and Belleville Senators.

Sebrango struggled to produce much on either side of the ice through his early career – netting just 18 points in 135 games with the Griffins. The low scoring seemed set to continue after Sebrango recorded just seven assists in 35 games of his first year with Belleville. But the young defender finally found his groove this season, climbing all the way to 20 points in 50 games with Belleville. That jump in offense, complimented by a gritty, two-way style, earned Sebrango quick attention from the Senators. A one-year extension could be exactly what the young blue-liner needs to build on his momentum from the breakout year. Another hot year could earn him even more NHL ice time, and a much more confident contract offer from the Senators next summer. Sebrango was originally a third-round pick to the Detroit Red Wings in 2020 – after managing an OHL career that spanned 56 points in 118 games.

Nick Jensen Ahead Of Schedule In Recovery From Hip Surgery

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When Senators defenseman Nick Jensen underwent hip surgery after Ottawa’s playoff appearance, it was unclear how long he’d be out for.  While a firm timeline remains unknown, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the blueliner’s recovery appears to be ahead of schedule.

Back in May when he had the procedure, GM Steve Staios stated his intent “to address the club’s defence after learning the extent of Jensen’s ailment.”  That was a clear suggestion that the initial assessment would be that he’d miss some time at the start of the upcoming season.  He indeed addressed the right side of their back end at the draft with the acquisition of right-shot blueliner Jordan Spence from Los Angeles, shoring up their depth on Jensen’s side of the ice.

Jensen’s first season with the Senators was solid despite the fact he played through the injury in the second half of the year as well as the playoffs.  Acquired as part of the return for Jakob Chychrun last July, he got into 71 games during the regular season, picking up 21 points while logging over 20 minutes per contest for only the second time in his nine-year career.  He was held off the scoresheet in their six playoff outings against Toronto while averaging a little less than 21 minutes per contest.

Suffice it to say, Jensen is a key part of Ottawa’s top four on the back end while the upcoming season is also notable for him as he’s in the final year of his contract that carries an AAV of $4.05MM.  He’ll be wanting to demonstrate that he’s fully recovered and worthy of a new agreement that could push past the $5MM mark but as Garrioch notes, hip surgeries generally carry a recovery time of four to six months.  If things went absolutely perfectly, he could be ready by the end of training camp but given Jensen’s importance to the team, erring on the side of caution and not rushing him back might make the most sense in the long run, even if he is ahead of schedule in his recovery.

Shane Pinto Extension Not Expected Before Start Of Season

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Despite expressing a desire to sign a long-term extension with the Ottawa Senators when he became eligible on July 1st, there’s currently no such agreement in place for Shane Pinto. In a recent interview with Steve Warne of The Hockey News, General Manager Steve Staios doesn’t expect this to change anytime soon.

In the interview, when directly pressed on extension negotiations between the team and Pinto, Staios said, “I think what we’ve decided on is we’re gonna let the season start and not have Shane distracted with (contract talks). But I guess the best way to put it is (we’ve had) preliminary conversations – positive ones – that lead me to believe that there will be a deal done at the right time. And that’s really all I can report on that.”

The news of positive preliminary talks is a good sign that Pinto will ultimately sign an extension with Ottawa; the phrase ’distraction’ has different implications altogether. It doesn’t necessarily mean that Pinto won’t re-up with the Senators, but the use of that word implies the team is willing to wait until next offseason to work out the specifics.

There’s no real reason for Ottawa to rush, as Pinto will become an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent next summer while still being three years away from unrestricted free agency. With Ottawa’s salary cap situation becoming increasingly tight due to the younger players on the roster receiving new contracts, it seems risky for the Senators to delay serious negotiations with Pinto. Gaining cost certainty now would be a more prudent decision.

Ultimately, Pinto will decide his fate. He rebounded nicely last season after missing half of the season in 2023-24 due to his violation of the NHL’s sports wagering policy. Appearing in 70 games for the Senators, Pinto scored 21 goals and 37 points, averaging 17:33 of ice time with a 16.5% shooting percentage. Additionally, he was sneakily productive on the defensive side for a player who’s considered a goal-scorer, finishing fifth on the team among forwards with a 91.0% on-ice save percentage at even strength.

During Ottawa’s brief run in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs, he was relatively unremarkable. However, he had a standout performance in this summer’s IIHF World Championships, where he scored two goals and recorded 10 points in eight games, finishing with a +9 rating for Team USA. Due to his performance on the international stage, Pinto was included in Team USA’s orientation camp roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics, but he is unlikely to make the final roster.

Outside of Pinto’s expiring $3.75MM cap hit, Ottawa will have an additional $15.45MM coming off the books next summer, assuming they don’t sign anyone to an extension throughout the 2025-26 season. This means that should Pinto have an explosive campaign, the Senators will have the funds to reward him financially. Still, it would be wise for the team to make that commitment sooner rather than later, as Pinto’s long-term price will only continue to increase if he has a successful year.

Senators Reach Affiliation Agreement With ECHL Allen

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  • The Senators announced that they have reached an affiliation agreement with ECHL Allen for the upcoming season. They had previously been affiliated with the Americans in 2022-23 and 2023-24 before Utah stepped in and became their affiliate last season, leaving Ottawa without an ECHL squad.  Now, the situations have been reversed with the Sens getting their affiliation back while the Mammoth look like they won’t have one in the 30-team league.

Senators Sign Cameron Crotty, Jan Jenik To Two-Way Deals

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The Senators announced this morning they’ve signed depth defenseman Cameron Crotty and Jan Jeník to two-way deals. Crotty’s is a two-year commitment, while Jeník’s is just for one. The pair will now vie for positioning on Ottawa’s depth chart during training camp.

Crotty, 26, only has a pair of NHL appearances to his name. Originally a third-round pick by the Coyotes in 2017, he made his NHL debut for them in 2023-24 before getting into a game with the Wild last year. The Boston University product is a 6’3″, 212-lb stay-at-home righty and captained Minnesota’s AHL affiliate in Iowa last season, recording 10 assists with 56 PIMs and a -7 rating in 64 appearances. He logged just 5:08 of ice time in his lone NHL appearance for the Wild, their penultimate game of the regular season against the Canucks.

With Crotty being at least 25 years old and having at least three seasons of professional experience with fewer than 80 NHL games played, he qualified for Group VI unrestricted free agency for the second straight summer after completing his two-way deal with the Wild. The two sides did not agree on a reunion, and he’ll now take his talents north of the border to serve as a capable call-up option if the Sens need some defensive muscle.

While Ottawa has seen some turnover among its complement of depth defensemen this offseason, that’s unlikely to produce the opportunity for Crotty to capture a roster spot in camp. Even with fellow righty Nick Jensen potentially on the shelf to start the season after undergoing a lower-body surgery, the Sens would have Artem Zub, Jordan Spence, and Nikolas Matinpalo as their top three righties, with 2024 No. 7 overall pick Carter Yakemchuk also expected to compete for a job. Even among their depth options already in the system, like Max Guenette and 2019 first-rounder Lassi Thomson, would presumably receive priority over Crotty.

As for Jeník, the soon-to-be 25-year-old was under Ottawa’s control as a restricted free agent. He got into a pair of midseason games for the Sens in 2024-25, going pointless with two hits and a -1 rating. It was his first season in the organization after the club acquired his rights from Utah last offseason and promptly re-signed him.

The 6’2″, 200-lb winger was also an Arizona third-round pick, one year after Crotty in 2018. He has the leg up on his former Coyotes teammate in NHL experience, though, recording a 4-2–6 scoring line in 24 appearances dating back to the 2020-21 campaign. He had an underwhelming performance in the scoring department for AHL Belleville last year, with 29 points in 52 games and will now look to build on that as he looks for more NHL opportunities.

Jeník should qualify for Group VI status next summer as long as he stays under 80 career NHL games, which would require him to log 56 appearances in the upcoming season.

Snapshots: Belleville, Lightning, Tullio, AHL

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In the wake of groundbreaking news regarding a new NHL arena, the Ottawa Senators have also announced a three-year extension of the Belleville Senators’ lease agreement with Quinte Sports and Wellness Centre. The deal additionally includes the option to extend for an additional five years, effectively gluing the AHL Senators to Belleville until between 2030 and 2035.

Ottawa will make a confident move to keep their AHL club just a few hours away. This news comes despite the fact that Belleville has ranked in the bottom-three of AHL attendance in each of the last two seasons, with an average of 2,823 fans each game per HockeyDB. Belleville did come closer to 3,000 fans per game this season, and will look to cross that mark with a new commitment to the city.

Their one-ice performances have fluctuated in their eight years of existence. The Baby Sens have made the postseason only twice, though they did finish first and third in their division in 2020 and 2021, when the postseason was either cancelled early or outright. The club has shown glimmers of hope, and should only improve as Ottawa continues to stack their depth chart.

Other quick notes from across the NHL:

  • In more arena news, the Tampa Bay Lightning have announced a new name for their home base shares Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times. The arena formerly known as AMALIE Arena will now be named Benchmark International Arena, after naming rights were sold to the Tampa-based acquisitions firm. Details of the sale were not revealed, other than that it will run for multiple years and include $3MM in nonprofit contributions to the arena. Amalie Motor Oil Company, who held the naming rights since 2014, will continue to serve as a corporate partner of the Lightning.
  • Right winger Tyler Tullio will continue his journey across the AHL. He has signed a contract with the Tuscon Roadrunners for next season, per Tony Androckitis of Inside AHL Hockey. Tullio was traded to the Buffalo Sabres in 2024, as part of the deal that swapped top prospect Matthew Savoie for pro center Ryan McLeod. He spent 30 games with the Rochester Americans, before being loaned to the Calgary Wranglers for the rest of the season. He totaled 15 points in 43 games this season, just narrowly below the scoring pace he managed when he scored 21 points in 54 games in 2023-24, or 26 points in 63 games in 2022-23, with the Bakersfield Condors. Tullio was a fifth-round selection in the 2020 NHL Draft and should provide a nice boost of speed to Tuscon’s lineup.
  • The AHL has named Stephen Thomson as their new Vice President of Hockey Operations, per NHL.com’s Mark Divver. Divver adds that Thomson will be responsible for overseeing on-ice operations, including management of officials and disciplinary processes. Thomson has been with the AHL’s league office since 2022. He will replace Hayley Moore, who left for a role with popular agency Quartexx Management. The AHL also announced that Jeff Jordan has been hired as the Director of Hockey Operations and Central Registry after spending the last five years with the Springfield Thunderbirds. The league has also promoted Michael Demarin to Senior Manager of Hockey Administration and Governance; and Shannon Chiras to Manager of Hockey Operations.

Ottawa Senators Finalize Purchase Of LeBreton Flats Land

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The idea of a new stadium for the Ottawa Senators is finally coming to fruition. Earlier today, the National Capital Commission (NCC) and Capital Sports Development Inc. (CSDI) announced the agreement of purchase and sale of the LeBreton Flats (roughly 11 acres of land) to the Senators.

It’s a major step in the right direction for the Senators to move on from the Canadian Tire Centre, which broke ground in 1994 and opened in 1996. The Canadian Tire Centre has been the home of the Ottawa-based franchise since the team’s relocation from the Ottawa Civic Centre.

There are several issues regarding the Senators’ continued presence at the Canadian Tire Centre. For one, the stadium is located a fair distance southwest of downtown Ottawa, which makes it unnecessarily difficult to get to with common forms of transportation. In contrast, the LeBreton Flats land parcel is located in downtown Ottawa, adjacent to the Ottawa River, and is only a short walk from Parliament Hill.

Outside of the relatively long distance to the game, the Canadian Tire Centre has suffered the normal wear and tear that would be expected of any stadium that has stood for nearly 30 years. The typical life span of any sports stadium is roughly 30 to 50 years, with those that have existed for longer requiring fairly pricey renovations. Michael Andlauer, the relatively new principal owner of the Senators franchise, has chosen to build a new stadium altogether.

In a statement from the team, Senators’ President and CEO, Cyril Leeder, said, “We are pleased to reach an agreement of purchase and sale with the NCC to take the next step in this process. There are still many more hurdles to clear and we look forward to working with the NCC and other stakeholders to achieve our shared vision of creating an event centre at LeBreton Flats that can be enjoyed by our Ottawa-Gatineau community.“

Snapshots: Tkachuk, Cozens, Red Wings

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The Tkachuk family has dominated late-summer headlines, leading to plenty of opportunities for the three NHL players – retired pro Keith Tkachuk, Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk, and Ottawa Senators star Brady Tkachuk – to sit down with media from across the hockey world. The one throughline from each conversation has been Brady’s desire to stick with the Ottawa Senators. He told as much to ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski, sharing that the team’s push into the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs went far towards proving what the young core is capable of.

The Senators entered the 2024-25 season with one of the youngest rosters in the league – eighth-youngest, to be exact. They blazed through an incredibly successful season despite that, finishing the year with the top Eastern Conference Wild Card and just one point behind the eventual Cup-winning Panthers. Ottawa’s surge was spearheaded by young studs like Tim Stutzle, Drake Batherson, and Jake Sanderson. Those three were the only ones to score more than Tkachuk’s 29 goals and 55 points in 72 regular season games. But Tkachuk showed his importance to the squad when he led the team with four goals and seven points in six postseason games. Ottawa will return a fairly similar squad next season, and with a bode of confidence from their captain, may be able to find their way out of Wild Card standing or beyond the first round.

Other notes from around the league:

  • A key focus of the Senators’ 2025-26 season will be the performance of second-line center Dylan Cozens, who the team acquired from the Buffalo Sabres in a swap for Joshua Norris last Spring. Julian McKenzie of The Athletic shares that Cozens only needs to reach 20 goals, and maintain his all-around impact, to earn find a successful season. Cozens has only crossed the 20-goal mark once in his career – when he pushed for 31 goals and 68 points in the 2022-23 season. But he’s come close at other points, with 18 goals in 2023-24 and 16 goals last year. In fact, Cozens’ five goals in 21 games with the Senators perfectly paces him for a 20-goal performance across 82 games. That should be an achievable step for the 24-year-old centerman, though his goal will certainly be to further prove he can return to the heights of his 2023 scoring. Doing so could give Ottawa an ace up their sleeves as they look to one-up their performance from last year.
  • Years of stocking the prospect pool should begin to pay off for the Detroit Red Wings next season. They can expect three key prospects to emerge in the NHL per Max Bultman of The Athletic, who names forwards Nate Danielson and Carter Mazur, and goaltender Sebastian Cossa, as the young guns likely to break into the Detroit lineup next season. That should be an easy feat for Mazur and Cossa, who have both continuously shown their might at the AHL level. Mazur finished an injury-shortened season with 15 points in 20 AHL games, to go along with 37 points in 60 games in 2023-24. His hard-nosed style caught the eyes of Detroit’s top brass, but a freak injury cut his season down before he could play through a full NHL game. While he returns to the lineup, Cossa will aim to finally make the full-time jump, after serving as a pillar of consistency in the minor-leagues. He posted a .911 save percentage in 41 games last season, well in-line with the .913 save percentage he posted in 40 AHL games in 2023-24, and again in 46 ECHL in 2022-23. Among the bunch, it will be frail playmaker Nate Danielson who will have to show he can pop. Danielson played his first pro season last year, and scored an encouraging 39 points in 71 games. But on a Red Wings roster pushing for all they can get, he’ll need to show he can hold up to increasingly-challenging roles.

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