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Senators Reassign Zack MacEwen, Recall Cole Reinhardt

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Nov. 25, 2:16 p.m.: The Senators confirmed that they’ve reassigned MacEwen to Belleville. They replaced his roster spot by recalling left-winger Cole Reinhardt. The 24-year-old had an assist in a pair of appearances earlier this season and has 14 points (5 G, 9 A) in 11 games with the B-Sens this season, leading the AHL club in scoring.

Nov. 25, 1:03 p.m.: MacEwen cleared waivers, Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reports. He can now be assigned to Belleville.

Nov. 24: The reason behind Zack MacEwen’s absence from this morning’s practice has now come to light. The Ottawa Senators organization has placed MacEwen on waivers to reassign him to their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators.

MacEwen is no stranger to AHL hockey. He spent the first several years of his professional career with the Utica Comets of the Vancouver Canucks organization scoring 37 goals and 96 points in his first 155 AHL contests.

He even spent a few games with the AHL Senators last season scoring two goals and seven points in 10 games. Still, his time with the Senators organization has been mostly spent in Ottawa.

He’s primarily been a mildly-used depth forward for the Senators. Since signing a three-year, $2.33MM contract with the Senators in 2023, he’s scored four goals and six points in 49 games while averaging 6:59 of ice time per game.

It’s unlikely he’ll get claimed over the next 24 hours but could provide value to some teams. He has a league-minimum salary of $775K and has managed 150 hits in a season twice. For a team looking to add physicality to their bottom six for virtually nothing — MacEwen fits the mold.

Senators’ Artem Zub Out “A While” With Foot Fracture

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Senators defenseman Artem Zub sustained a foot fracture Saturday against the Canucks and will miss significant time, Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reports.

Zub may have sustained the fracture while blocking a shot from Vancouver defenseman Carson Soucy, although he didn’t leave the game and ended up logging over 20 minutes of ice time for the third time since returning from a concussion earlier this month. It looks like his second long-term absence of the season after missing nine games due to that concussion, his second in as many seasons, limiting him to 11 of Ottawa’s 20 games this season.

It’s another bit of bad news for the Sens, who have dropped four games in a row in regulation and now sit seventh in the Atlantic Division with 17 points and an 8-11-1 record. Their .425 points percentage is sixth-worst in the league, only ahead of the Predators, Canadiens, Penguins, Blackhawks, and Sharks. At the season’s quarter point, it’s a tough spot to be in for a team that had high hopes of ending their seven-year playoff drought, which has a 67.3% chance of stretching to eight, per MoneyPuck.

Zub has been a minute muncher for the Senators ever since arriving from Russia as a free agent in 2020. The 6’3″, 204-lb righty has consistently played a top-four role and averaged 20:17 per game over his 261-game career, although he’s on pace to average a career-low 18:19 this season.

When in the lineup this season, he’s been far less effective than usual. He has two assists through 11 games and has a -7 rating, the first time he’s trending toward ending the season in the red in his career. He’s also averaging only 1.45 hits per game compared to 2.01 last season and his possession numbers have tanked with a career-worst -7.2% relative Corsi share.

Veteran Travis Hamonic will play a top-pairing role alongside Jake Sanderson in place of Zub, per TSN 1200 Ottawa. The Sens play tonight at home against the Flames as they try to avoid extending their losing skid to five. They’ve gone 3-7-1 in November after starting the season 5-4-0.

Artem Zub, Zack MacEwen Not Skating At Practice

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Senators Recall Zack Ostapchuk

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The Ottawa Senators have recalled forward Zack Ostapchuk. He was assigned to the minor leagues just under two weeks ago, fitting in three games and three points with the AHL’s Belleville Senators before returning to the top lineup. Ostapchuk serves as an alternate captain for Belleville, where he has eight points in nine games this season.

Ostapchuk has also appeared in six NHL games this season. He recorded one assist – his first NHL point in 13 games through this season and last. He spent the bulk of last season in the minors, scoring 17 goals and 28 points in 69 games. He’s in just the second year of his pro career, after a prolific career in the WHL. Ostapchuk played his rookie junior season in 2019-20 and played through his draft year in 2020-21 – combining for 59 points in 66 games, good enough to earn the 39th-overall selection in the 2021 NHL Draft.

Ostapchuk took on the Giants’ captaincy in the proceeding 2021-22 and held onto it until a midseason trade in 2022-23. He scored 72 points in 81 games with the Vancouver ‘C’ on his chest, and looked even better on a dazzling Winnipeg Ice roster where he managed 38 points in 34 games.

The Senators aren’t likely to need Ostapchuk right out of the gates. Instead, the top prospect will likely serve as an extra forward behind red-hot scorer Adam Gaudette on the fourth line. Ostapchuk will again be searching for his first NHL goal if, or when, he slots back into the Senators lineup.

Staios: Senators Players "Need To Step Up"

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Paul is now in his fourth season in the Bay after parts of seven years with the Senators. The Ontario native has emerged as a crucial middle-six weapon, posting 105 points in 200 games while averaging north of 16 minutes per game and winning 53.5% of his faceoffs.

  • A 3-5-1 rut in November has the Senators below .500 yet again and at considerable risk of extending their playoff drought to eight years. Don’t expect general manager Steve Staios to make a blockbuster move to bail his club out, though, saying Wednesday that “each individual in the room needs to step up” in order to get Ottawa back on the right track (per Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch). “For us to figure out as a group why that’s our record is what we’re trying to unlock,” Staios said. “For most games, the team looks and feels not only like a competitive team but a playoff-looking team. We’ve proven against good teams.“

David Perron Returns To Senators

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Senators winger David Perron had been away from the team for a better part of a month for a personal reason.  Speaking with reporters today including Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch, the veteran revealed that his newborn daughter had to undergo surgery to remove a tumor.  However, things have improved enough to allow the 36-year-old to return to the team.

Perron signed with Ottawa on the opening day of free agency back in July, inking a two-year, $8MM contract with a partial no-trade clause.  The Sens reshaped part of their forward group over the offseason with Perron being the most notable addition alongside Michael Amadio, Noah Gregor, and Nick Cousins.

Perron got off to a slow start, certainly understandable given the circumstances.  He was held off the scoresheet in his first five appearances while averaging just 13:26 per game, his lowest ATOI since his rookie campaign back in 2007-08.  Nonetheless, his return will be a welcome one.

While Perron made the trip to Carolina, it’s not a guarantee that he will suit up as the Sens could elect to wait one more game, allowing him to get a couple more practices in before officially returning to the lineup.  He remained on Ottawa’s active roster during his absence so the team doesn’t need to make a roster move when he is indeed ready to play.

Senators Reassign Zack Ostapchuk, Shane Pinto To Return

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Senators center Shane Pinto will indeed make his return to the lineup tonight against the Maple Leafs, TSN 1200 Ottawa confirmed. While he was never on injured reserve and didn’t need to be activated, the team still announced that Zack Ostapchuk was returned to AHL Belleville this morning after being recalled yesterday for insurance if Pinto couldn’t play.

It’s a lovely birthday present for Pinto, who turns 24 today. The 6’3″ center has been out of action since sustaining an undisclosed injury against Utah on Oct. 22.

Late last month, head coach Travis Green declared to reporters that the team had designated Pinto as week-to-week. He’s been on the verge of returning for the past few days, with TSN 1200 Ottawa also relaying Monday that Pinto would be a likely option in Toronto tonight.

Pinto had one goal and two assists with a -3 rating through the season’s first six games. He recorded 10 shots on goal and averaged 17:31 per game while winning 44.4% of his draws. Pinto also continued his upward trend in the possession department, controlling a career-best 54.7% of shot attempts at even strength. Ottawa fared far worse without Pinto on the ice, only controlling 47.2% of shot attempts.

Pinto, the first pick of the second round in 2019, has only played one entire NHL season. He lost most of what would have been his rookie season in 2021-22, playing only five games before needing season-ending shoulder surgery. A half-season suspension for violating the NHL’s gambling policies also took a significant bite out of his 2023-24 campaign. But he played in all 82 games for the Sens in 2022-23, scoring a career-high 20 goals and winning 52.1% of his draws.

The New York native spent most of his time in the lineup earlier this season centering Ottawa’s third line between Michael Amadio and David Perron. He won’t have Perron as his linemate tonight as the veteran remains on paternity leave. However, he will have Amadio and Noah Gregor flanking him, per Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia.

Ostapchuk, 21, has suited up in six games for the Senators amid a flurry of paper transactions over the past few weeks. He’s mainly replaced Pinto as their third-line center without the additional special teams time, averaging 10:25 per game. He recorded his first NHL point, an assist, back in his first appearance of the season against the Blues on Oct. 29. With Pinto back in the lineup, Ostapchuk is likely ticketed for a lengthier stay with Belleville, where he has one goal and four assists in six games to start 2024-25.

Senators Recall Zack Ostapchuk

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  • Nearly 250 miles northeast in Ottawa, the Senators are experiencing better luck on the injury front of late. Shane Pinto, who hasn’t played since October 22nd after scoring three points in his first six contests, could be an option for the team tomorrow night (X Link). If Pinto can’t go, the team announced the call-up of Zack Ostapchuk from their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators, to fill out the rest of their forward core.

    [SOURCE LINK]

East Notes: Ostapchuk, Malkin, Puljujarvi

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The Ottawa Senators have loaned forward Zack Ostapchuk to the Belleville Senators of the American Hockey League. Ostapchuk was recalled earlier this week and has been shuttled back and forth a few times over the last seven days in paper moves that were most likely made to accrue cap space. It’s unknown if this move is for a similar purpose, but it is certainly a possibility.

The 21-year-old dressed in three games this week for Ottawa, going scoreless while averaging just under nine minutes of ice time per game. In six games this season, the former second-round pick has a single assist and carries a plus/minus of +1. The Senators are back in action on Tuesday night against their provincial rivals the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In other Eastern Conference notes:

  • Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette believes that we haven’t seen the last of Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Evgeni Malkin on the wing. The Penguins experimented with Malkin on Sidney Crosby’s wing, and while the results were outstanding (as expected), it made the team extremely top-heavy. Crosby and Malkin were flanked by Rickard Rakell and the threesome dominated in possession and ignited Crosby and Malkin offensively. However, on Friday against the Capitals, Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan moved Malkin back to center in an effort to get the team’s second line going. Vensel believes Sullivan could move Malkin back to the wing again in the future, particularly if the Penguins were to go out and get a second-line center next summer.
  • Matt Vensel writes about Penguins forward Jesse Puljujarvi and his deployment this season. Puljujarvi has been a healthy scratch three times this year for Pittsburgh and has played just over 11 minutes per game. Vensel writes that a lot of people have a bone to pick with how the 24-year-old has been used thus far this season. Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan was reportedly okay with using Puljujarvi earlier in the year when he was producing offense, and it was a palatable trade-off for some of his defensive shortcomings. However, in the last two weeks, Puljujarvi’s offense just hasn’t been there with one point in his past seven games. Sullivan is quoted as saying the details of Puljujarvi’s defensive game haven’t been there and have been slipping.

Shane Pinto Questionable For Saturday's Game

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Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun reported earlier today that Matthews did not participate in this morning’s optional skate. Berube added that Matthews’ recovery is “going in the right direction,” although he also remains doubtful for Saturday’s game against the Canadiens as Toronto closes out a back-to-back. In all likelihood, it appears the captain’s absence will last three games and he’ll return Tuesday against the Senators.

  • Senators center Shane Pinto (undisclosed) could return Saturday in Boston after missing over two weeks, head coach Travis Green told TSN 1200 Ottawa. The club was without No. 1 pivot Tim Stützle in practice today, but that was only due to a black eye he sustained in yesterday’s loss to the Senators and he won’t miss any time. Pinto had a goal and two assists through his first six games of the season before exiting the lineup.

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