- Depth forward Noah Gregor will be a game-time decision for the Ottawa Senators tonight (X Link). Gregor has missed five straight games for the Senators after scoring two goals and three points in his first 16 contests.
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Senators Rumors
Senators Place Artem Zub On LTIR, Recall Donovan Sebrango
The Ottawa Senators have placed defenseman Artem Zub on long-term injured reserve as expected. In a corresponding roster move, the organization announced the LTIR placement and the recall of defenseman Donovan Sebrango from their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators.
It’s an unfortunate but necessary transaction for the Senators after reports from this weekend indicated that Zub would be out ’for a while’ with a broken foot. Ottawa is likely still looking to add a defenseman via the trade market but will use Sebrango for now.
It’s becoming somewhat of a lost season for Zub. He’s already missed time in mid-to-late October with a concussion and could miss as many as two months due to the broken foot. As arguably the team’s best right-handed shooting defenseman, Sebrango will have big shoes to fill.
He’s in the second year of a four-year, $18.4MM extension originally signed in 2022. He’s tallied two assists over 11 games with the Senators this year and posted a respectable +0.5 E +/- according to Hockey Reference.
The only silver lining to the injury is that Sebrango has a clear path toward making his NHL debut. He was originally drafted with the 63rd overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft by the Detroit Red Wings, making his way to the Senators organization in the trade sending Alex DeBrincat to Detroit over a year ago.
Sebrango, 22, is in his fourth professional season collecting seven goals and 31 points in 184 games between the Grand Rapids Griffins and Belleville. There may be some initial discipline issues (149 PIMs in the AHL) but he allows Ottawa to win more puck battles in the defensive zone.
The Senators don’t play until tomorrow night against the San Jose Sharks which would be an ideal matchup for Sebrango’s first game. They’ll likely play him next to Thomas Chabot or Jake Sanderson to lessen his initial responsibility if he does make his debut tomorrow.
Morning Notes: Daugavins, Norris, Crosby
The IIHF reports that former NHL forward Kaspars Daugavins has retired. The 36-year-old’s announcement caught many by surprise as he has been very productive in recent seasons including this year in Slovakia’s top league Tipos Extraliga, where he has posted six goals and 14 assists in 19 games.
Daugavins was a third-round pick of the Ottawa Senators in 2006 (91st overall) and played seven seasons in the organization, including parts of three seasons in the NHL. Daugavins played 85 games with the Senators before he was plucked off waivers by the Boston Bruins in March of 2013. He played just six games with the Bruins before making his way to Europe the next season. During his brief NHL career, Daugavins registered six goals and nine assists while averaging just over 11 minutes of ice-time per game.
In other morning notes:
- Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff mentioned on Daily Faceoff Live that Ottawa Senators forward Josh Norris has had his name come up in conversations that the Senators have been having, presumably with other teams. Ottawa has struggled out of the gate this season and has failed to live up to expectations once again. Their core is signed to significant long-term deals, and Norris is one player who hasn’t lived up to his paycheck. That being said, moving Norris would be very difficult given his cap hit and injury history. The 25-year-old has been decent offensively this year, posting eight goals and six assists in 21 games while starting 56% of his even-strength shifts in the defensive zone.
- Sidney Crosby’s off-season extension with the Pittsburgh Penguins appears to have done nothing to cool the trade rumors that continue to be pushed out about him. On yesterday’s edition of TSN Overdrive, Bryan Hayes floated out what a potential Crosby trade to the Toronto Maple Leafs would look like. A deal involving the two sides is highly unlikely, given Kyle Dubas’ history with the Maple Leafs and Crosby’s desire to finish his career in Pittsburgh. However, thanks to the Penguins’ massive struggles as of late, a Crosby trade out of Pittsburgh doesn’t look as impossible as it did a month ago. Pittsburgh figures to be busy in the coming months if they don’t turn things around. However, the chances that Crosby is moved remain relatively close to zero.
Upper-Body Injury For Perron
- Senators winger David Perron was a late scratch for tonight’s game against Calgary due to an upper-body injury, relays TSN’s Claire Hanna (Twitter link). The veteran returned to Ottawa’s lineup a little over a week ago after taking time away when his newborn daughter needed to undergo surgery. It has been a rough go on the ice for Perron’s first season with the Sens as he has been held without a point for his first nine games of the season.
Senators Looking To Acquire A Defenseman
In congruence with today’s news that defenseman Artem Zub will miss time with a fractured foot, it’s no surprise that the Ottawa Senators are looking to trade for a defenseman. TSN’s Bruce Garrioch reports that general manager Steve Staios is aggressively pursuing the trade market for more defensive depth.
Garrioch didn’t mention in his report what handedness the Senators are hoping for but it’ll likely be a right-handed shot. Ottawa already has a solid 1-2 punch on the left side of the defensive core, as shown by Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot. It stands to reason the Senators may have already been looking for an upgrade on the right side with Zub and Nick Jensen being the only serviceable top-four options on the right side.
Ottawa has had difficulty keeping the puck out of their net this season but the entire blame can’t be put on the defense. They’ve only allowed 539 shots against in 20 games this season which is good for sixth in the league but 24th in goals against per game with a 3.25 mark. Former Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Linus Ullmark has only managed a .881 save percentage over 12 starts which is a far cry away from his .918 SV% career average before the move to Canada.
Still, the team could certainly use an upgrade on defense if they hope to compete for a spot in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs in a sturdy Atlantic Division. The Senators own an 8-11-1 record on the year and have 62 games left to build momentum.
Ottawa may have a trade partner in the Columbus Blue Jackets whom Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reported yesterday were listening to offers on right-handed shot defenseman, David Jiříček. The Blue Jackets are reasonably looking for another recent first-round pick on their entry-level contract making the Senators a compatible trade partner.
Ottawa may be unwilling to part with a first-round pick for Jiříček but could build a package around forward Ridly Greig. He’s in the last year of his entry-level contract and was drafted two years before Jiříček with the 28th overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft. He scored a career-high in points last year with 13 goals and 26 points in 72 games and could provide more for Columbus if he’s bumped into the top six.
Other options for Ottawa include Cody Ceci from the San Jose Sharks, Jacob Trouba from the New York Rangers, or David Savard from the Montreal Canadiens outside of Jiříček. It appears the Senators will land a right-handed shot defenseman sooner rather than later with how aggressive Staios has been in the market since the beginning of the season.
Senators Reassign Zack MacEwen, Recall Cole Reinhardt
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
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
- TSN Ottawa reported this morning that the Ottawa Senators are without defenseman Artem Zub and forward Zack MacEwen at practice. No additional context was provided regarding the availability of either player for Ottawa’s game tomorrow night against the Calgary Flames. Still, it likely explains the Senators’ call-up of forward Zack Ostapchuk a few hours ago.
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Senators Recall Zack Ostapchuk
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"
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.“
