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Alex Chiasson Announces Retirement

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A long-time middle-six scorer is officially hanging up his skates. Originally announced by himself and then shared by the National Hockey League Players’ Association, Alex Chiasson is retiring after spending a few years off the ice.

The Dallas Stars drafted Chiasson with the 38th overall pick of the 2009 NHL Draft out of the USHL’s Des Moines Buccaneers program. Instead of immediately turning professional, Chiasson joined the Boston University Terriers for the 2009-10 NCAA season one year after they won the National Championship. Unfortunately, Chiasson would fail to reach the Frozen Four throughout his three-year tenure with Boston University.

He still became an effective playmaker at the collegiate level. He finished his NCAA career with 36 goals and 99 points in 108 games before signing his entry-level contract after the 2011-12 campaign. Chiasson started quickly with the AHL’s Texas Stars, scoring one goal and five points in nine contests.

Much of the next calendar year was spent in AHL Texas until Dallas recalled Chiasson in early April of the 2012-13 season to debut in the NHL. After scoring six goals and seven points in seven games to end the regular season, Chiasson became an NHL regular for the next decade.

Chiasson scored 13 goals and 35 points in 79 games during his official rookie season, which would be his last with the Stars. The following summer, he was acquired by the Ottawa Senators organization as a part of the return package for franchise icon Jason Spezza.

Although he became one of the better players from the trade for Spezza, his time in Canada’s capital was mostly disappointing. He finished his tenure in Ottawa with 19 goals and 40 points in 153 games before arduous contract negotiations led to a trade to the Calgary Flames in the summer of 2016.

After a solid year as a depth scorer for the Flames, Chiasson signed with the Washington Capitals for the 2017-18 season. He won his first and only Stanley Cup that year, scoring one goal and one assist in 16 playoff games for the Capitals.

It wasn’t until he joined the Edmonton Oilers that Chiasson experienced the most personal success of his career. During his time with the Oilers, Chiasson scored 42 goals and 78 points in 183 games, including a 22-goal campaign in the 2018-19 season.

Chiasson’s final game came on April 13, 2023, as a member of the Detroit Red Wings one year after spending the season with the Vancouver Canucks. He ended his career with 120 goals and 233 points in 651 games with another four goals and seven points in 37 postseason contests.

All of us at PHR extend our best wishes to Alex as he enters the next chapter of his life.

Senators Recall Jan Jeník, Nikolas Matinpalo

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The Senators summoned forward Jan Jeník and defenseman Nikolas Matinpalo from AHL Belleville on Monday, per a team announcement. Ottawa only has one open roster spot, so a corresponding move must have been made – likely placing defenseman Travis Hamonic on injured reserve, per PuckPedia.

Jeník’s recall is his first of the season and his first as a Senator. Ottawa acquired his signing rights from the Utah Hockey Club on July 3 for depth winger Egor Sokolov.

Two days later, Jeník put pen to paper on a one-year, two-way contract that pays him $775K in the NHL and $190K in the AHL. He did not make the Senators’ roster out of training camp and cleared waivers on his way to Belleville, where he’s sat injured for most of the season.

The 24-year-old has been healthy for 13 games, posting four goals and three assists for seven points and a +4 rating while quickly racking up 38 PIMs. The 6’1″, 198-lb forward has always been a bit of a pot-stirrer, consistently recording PIM totals north of 50 across full junior and AHL seasons.

Jeník has 22 NHL games under his belt, all coming with the Coyotes in each of the last four seasons. The 2018 third-round pick has four goals and two assists for six points with a -4 rating, posting 27 shots on goal while averaging just south of 10 minutes per game.

The Czech winger/center has consistently been out-chanced at 5-on-5, only controlling 45.5% of shot attempts. That’s partly due to Arizona’s conservative defensive-zone deployment of Jeník during his time in the desert, though. He was a much more significant offensive factor in the minors, where he now has 127 points in 178 career AHL games.

Jeník gives Ottawa an extra forward option for tomorrow’s key matchup against the Red Wings. For now, it’s unclear if he’ll draw into the lineup.

However, Matinpalo almost certainly will. The oft-recalled defender projects to play a third-pairing role on his natural right side alongside Tyler Kleven with Hamonic out week-to-week with a lower-body injury. Jacob Bernard-Docker also sustained an injury in Monday’s practice and looks to sit out tomorrow, Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reports.

Matinpalo, 26, has only managed one appearance for the Sens this season amid a few moves up and down the NHL-AHL wire. He took a minor penalty and skated 10:24 against the Wild on Dec. 29. Outside of that, the defensive-minded Finn has eight points and a -4 rating in 24 games for the B-Sens.

Senators’ Linus Ullmark, Travis Hamonic Out Week-To-Week

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Ottawa Senators head coach Travis Green issued a laundry list of injury updates on Sunday, captured by TSN’s Bruce Garrioch. Most notably, starting goaltender Linus Ullmark was designated as week-to-week with a back injury. Ullmark hasn’t skated since leaving the team’s December 22nd match against Edmonton early after his back tightened up. He’s missed five games since, and will now continue to sit out through the bulk of January.

Losing their star netminder has been a tough blow for Ottawa to bear. They’ve turned to a mix of Anton Forsberg and Leevi Merilainen in his absence, but totaled a bleak 1-4-0 record and 3.20 goals-against per-game. Ullmark has been far more successful in net, ranking 16th in the league wins (12) and seventh in save percentage (.915). He’s everything Ottawa was hoping for when they traded two players and a first-round pick for him this summer. But with him on the shelf for the foreseeable future, the Senators are once again faced with a lack of goaltending depth.

Forsberg should continue his role of de facto starter, giving him a chance to improve on his .885 Sv% in 12 games this year. But Merilainen will receive the biggest opportunity with this news. He’s spent the season moving back-and-forth between the major and minor rosters, in the mix posting a team-best .901 Sv% in 13 games for the Belleville Senators. The 22-year-old has also set a 2-2-0 record and .884 in his NHL appearances this season, and could earn a big role if he proves to be the piece the pulls Ottawa out of their lump.

Green also shared that defenseman Travis Hamonic will miss two-to-four weeks with a lower-body injury. Hamonic played down to the final minute of Ottawa’s Friday loss to St. Louis, and didn’t seem noticeably limited in his final shift. But he’ll now be out for the long-term, likely opening the door for Jacob Bernard-Docker to step back into the lineup. Bernard-Docker has four points in 25 games this season, continuing his scoring slump after he scored just 14 points in 72 games last season. If he proves a shaky addition, the Senators could also turn towards Nikolas Matinpalo, who has only played one NHL game this season but has scored seven points in 24 AHL games.

In brighter news, forwards David Perron and Michael Amadio have both returned to skating. Both are recovering from upper-body injuries. Perron has been injured for much of the season, only appearing in nine games and not yet scoring for his new club. Amadio has been a bit more impactful, scoring 10 points in 33 games in the mix of Ottawa’s bottom-six. Placing Hamonic and Ullmark on injured reserve would clear the space for Ottawa to activate both forwards.

Senators Reassign Nikolas Matinpalo

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The Senators announced Friday that they’ve reassigned defenseman Nikolas Matinpalo to AHL Belleville. With no corresponding transaction, Ottawa’s active roster is now at 22 players.

Matinpalo, 26, had been on the Senators’ roster since last weekend. He’s been around as an extra option on and off over the past few weeks with Artem Zub sidelined with a foot fracture, but after the Russian veteran returned to action last night against the Stars, his services are no longer needed.

Now in his second season in North America, Matinpalo made his season debut on this latest recall, skating 10:24 and taking a minor penalty in a win over the Wild on Dec. 29. The stay-at-home defender has spent most of the campaign in Belleville, where he has two goals and five assists for seven points with 10 PIMs and a minus-four rating.

Checking in at 6’3″ and 212 lbs, Matinpalo arrived in Ottawa in the summer of 2023 as an undrafted free agent signing from Finland’s Ässät. He skated in four contests for the Sens last year in a depth role, logging a plus-one rating and a pair of shots on goal while averaging a paltry seven minutes per game. He was quite effective in a shutdown role in the minors, posting a team-high +15 rating in 67 games for the B-Sens along with 14 points.

Matinpalo became waiver-eligible this season. Since he’s been rostered for under 30 days and played fewer than 10 NHL games since clearing during the preseason, he doesn’t need them again for today’s transaction.

Senators To Activate Artem Zub, Anton Forsberg

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1:39 p.m.: Søgaard has been sent down as expected, the team announced. They still need to make another move.

12:46 p.m.: Senators defenseman Artem Zub will return to the lineup Thursday against the Stars after missing well over a month with a foot fracture, head coach Travis Green told TSN 1200 Ottawa. He must be activated from long-term injured reserve to do so, which, along with goaltender Anton Forsberg coming off injured reserve, is a move that will require multiple corresponding transactions. Ottawa has neither the roster space nor the cap space for his activation.

The Sens must open at least two roster spots and just over $1MM in cap space to reinstate Zub and Forsberg. Placing starting netminder Linus Ullmark on long-term injured reserve and returning fourth-stringer Mads Søgaard to AHL Belleville would satisfy both of those requirements, although placing Ullmark on LTIR would rule him out for eight more games. He’s already been ruled out for their next three while dealing with back issues.

Zub, one of Ottawa’s top penalty killers and a top-four fixture, hasn’t played since Nov. 23. His absence ends after 16 games, during which time the Sens have gone 11-4-1 and rocketed back up the Eastern Conference standings and into a playoff spot, at least for the time being.

Since arriving in the Canadian capital as an undrafted free agent signing in 2020, Zub has averaged 20:17 per game and recorded 73 points with a +5 rating in 261 appearances. Injuries have become a recurring problem for the Russian over the past two seasons, though. A concussion kept him out for nine games earlier this season, while a separate concussion, illness, and lower-body issues limited him to 69 appearances in 2023-24.

Zub is expected to slot back into a reduced bottom-pairing role alongside Tyler Kleven as he gets back up to game speed. Jacob Bernard-Docker and Nikolas Matinpalo will serve as healthy extras, unless the latter is returned to AHL Belleville later today as part of Ottawa’s roster shuffling.

They’ll likely want to get Zub back to his usual top-pairing tricks alongside Jake Sanderson as soon as possible. Veteran Travis Hamonic has taken Zub’s place for much of the year to poor results. The Senators control 45.5% of expected with Sanderson and Hamonic deployed together compared to 53.1% with Sanderson and Zub, per MoneyPuck. The pairs generate comparable offense but have a drastic defensive difference, with the Zub pairing allowing 2.02 xGA/60 compared to the Hamonic one allowing 2.73. In terms of actual goals, the Sanderson-Hamonic pairing has been outscored 13-5 at 5-on-5.

Meanwhile, in the crease, Ottawa now has at least one of their regulars back. Forsberg hadn’t dressed for the last six games with a lower-body issue, forcing the Sens to roll out an AHL tandem of Søgaard and Leevi Merilainen with Ullmark also on the shelf.

Before his injury, Forsberg had struggled to the tune of a .889 SV% and -2.9 GSAA in 11 outings with a 4-6-0 record. Inconsistency has been the name of his game – he has a decent 2.95 GAA and a pair of shutouts, but he only has three games this season with a .900 SV% or better.

Forsberg Could Return Thursday

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  • Senators goaltender Anton Forsberg could return to the lineup on Thursday in Dallas, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. He has been out for the last two weeks with what was originally termed as a minor ailment sustained during a pregame warmup.  The 32-year-old has a 2.95 GAA with a .889 SV% in his first 11 starts of the season.  In the meantime, Ottawa is playing this weekend with their AHL tandem of Mads Sogaard and Leevi Merilainen with Linus Ullmark out for their road trip.

Ottawa Senators Recall Nikolas Matinpalo, Place Three On IR

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The Ottawa Senators announced they’ve recalled depth defenseman Nikolas Matinpalo from their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators. The roster move marks the second time in three weeks that Matinpalo has been recalled to serve as the team’s seventh defenseman.

Ottawa had to make additional roster moves given that Matinpalo is the fifth player recalled by the organization in the last 24 hours. TSN’s Steve Lloyd reported that the Senators have retroactively placed David Perron, Anton Forsberg, and Artem Zub on the team’s injured reserve opening up the necessary roster spots. Perron and Zub reportedly returned to practice yesterday meaning Matinpalo’s time on the active roster should be short-lived.

Matinpalo is in his second year with the Senators organization signing back-to-back one-year contracts out of the Finnish Liiga. He was a quality two-way defenseman for the AHL Senators last year scoring four goals and 14 points in 67 games with a +15 rating. He went scoreless through his first seven AHL postseason contests but still finished with a positive +1 rating.

The Espoo, Finland also debuted in the NHL last year skating in four games for Ottawa from late October through early November. He was rarely used during those contests shouldering seven minutes of ice time a night on average but still found the time to deliver four hits.

He’s had a small uptick in scoring this year in the AHL with two goals and seven points in 23 games but isn’t expected to greatly extrapolate on last season’s totals. He’ll continue to serve as Ottawa’s seventh defenseman for the time being with the team four games through a nine-game road trip.

Perron And Zub Return To Practice, Amadio Out For A While

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  • Senators winger David Perron (upper body) and defenseman Artem Zub (foot) both skated today as they work their way back from their respective injuries, notes Sportsnet’s Alex Adams (Twitter link). The veterans each last played back on November 23rd when they sustained their respective injuries.  Meanwhile, winger Michael Amadio (head) is expected to be out for a while according to head coach Travis Green.  It’s unlikely that Perron and Zub will be available to return right away given Ottawa’s four recalls earlier today but the fact they’re both skating suggests they’re getting closer to suiting back up.

Linus Ullmark Out At Least Five More Games With Back Injury

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The Senators will be without star starter Linus Ullmark for at least two more weeks. Head coach Travis Green told reporters that Ullmark won’t travel with the team on their upcoming five-game road swing as he nurses a back issue. The soonest he could return to the lineup is Jan. 9 against the Sabres (via TSN 1200 Ottawa).

That means Ullmark will likely be landing on injured reserve to accommodate the recall of goaltenders Leevi Merilainen and Mads Søgaard from AHL Belleville this morning. No. 2 option Anton Forsberg, who’s listed as out indefinitely with an undisclosed injury and hasn’t dressed since Dec. 14, will travel with the team and thus will return to action sooner than Ullmark. Green said. He’ll likely remain on the active roster for now, although since he’s missed more than seven days, it wouldn’t be an issue for Ottawa to place both Forsberg and Ullmark on IR if necessary to open up an additional roster spot. However, they need to make one IR placement today, as their active roster count sits at one over the limit after this morning’s recalls.

The news hits pause on a promising first season for Ullmark in the Canadian capital after being acquired in a blockbuster deal with the Bruins during the Stanley Cup Final. The 31-year-old Swede has a 12-7-2 record with a .915 SV% and 2.38 GAA through 22 starts and one relief appearance. That’s good for 9.2 goals saved above expected, per MoneyPuck. That would be the highest mark an Ottawa netminder has posted since Craig Anderson’s 10.6 in the 2016-17 campaign, coincidentally the last time the Senators secured a postseason berth.

If they end their playoff drought this season, Ullmark will be a big reason why. He has them in a position to do so, sitting eighth in the Eastern Conference with an 18-14-2 record and 38 points. MoneyPuck currently gives the Sens a 66.1% chance of holding onto their playoff spot, while Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic gives them a 64% chance. Those numbers drop slightly with Ullmark (and Forsberg) out of the picture for the next couple of games, but if Ullmark is ready to go by the time the Sens return home, it shouldn’t be a season-altering absence.

Ullmark has already had one injury-related absence this season, missing four games with a muscle strain back in October. Ottawa went 3-1-0 during that time but allowed 3.5 goals per game, managing enough goal support to buoy themselves during Ullmark’s absence. The 2023 Jennings and Vezina Trophy winner is in the final season of a four-year, $20MM contract he signed with Boston as a free agent in 2021 but has a four-year, $33MM extension on the books to keep him in Ottawa through the 2028-29 campaign.

Until Forsberg is ready to return, it’s Merilainen’s and Søgaard’s crease. Unfortunately, neither has been promising in their short looks at the NHL level this season. Merilainen has allowed six goals on 39 shots faced for a .846 SV% in one start and one relief appearance, while Søgaard allowed four goals on 17 shots in a relief appearance against the Kings on Oct. 14.

Senators Recall Four Players

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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.

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