Thomson Returns Versus Lightning
- The Senators welcomed back one of their injured defenders today as Julian McKenzie of The Athletic noted (Twitter link) that Lassi Thomson was cleared to return from his lower-body injury. The 25-year-old was an injury recall earlier this month and then was injured less than five minutes into his season debut on Monday. He took the place of Jorian Donovan in the lineup; Ottawa will now have to decide if they want to convert Donovan’s recall to a regular one (counting against their post-deadline limit) or return him to AHL Belleville.
Projecting Jordan Spence’s Contract Negotiations
Senators defenseman Jordan Spence is in his first year with the team and has proven himself to be a worthwhile gamble after Ottawa acquired him last summer from the Kings in exchange for a 2025 third-round pick – 67th overall – and a 2026 sixth-round pick. He has become an absolute steal for the Senators, as Spence has continued his strong possession game and is headed toward a career-high in points.
That’s not bad for a 25-year-old right-shot defenseman who still has plenty of upside. That being said, Spence is a restricted free agent this summer. After counting just $1.5MM against the cap this year, he is headed for a healthy raise.
The talk about Spence when he joined the Senators was that he was sheltered in Los Angeles. This year in Ottawa has been much the same story. Spence has mostly played third-pairing minutes but is averaging a career-high ice time of 18:02 per night, with well over 20 minutes a game in the Senators’ last ten games. That said, Spence still starts 70% of his shifts in the offensive zone, which indicates very favorable usage.
The challenging part for the Senators in the negotiations is that Spence will want to be paid like a top-four defenseman, and all indications suggest he should develop into one fairly quickly. However, if you’re Ottawa, you’d prefer to see him log significant top-four minutes before paying him a salary that reflects that role. That’s the risk for the Senators, but with fellow defenseman Nick Jensen done for the regular season and unlikely to return this summer, Ottawa might get a decent opportunity to assess Spence’s abilities while he plays on the second defensive pairing.
As was previously mentioned, the Senators have been relying on Spence more than usual lately, and he has been up to the challenge with five points in his last five games. But offensive capabilities aren’t really the concern when it comes to Spence, and if you look at the data from last year and this year, Spence has been outstanding.
Last year with Los Angeles, Spence led all Kings defenders in goal share and expected goal share, and he surprisingly led the entire league in expected goals against per 60. This season, it’s been more of the same as Spence leads the Senators in expected goals percentage, and he has posted the Senators’ top three results for defensive pairings with all three of his defense partners this season (Thomas Chabot, Jake Sanderson, and Tyler Kleven).
Some will criticize Spence for being prone to turnovers, say he needs to be sheltered because he’s not strong in his own zone, or point to the healthy scratches at the start of this season. However, since those scratches, Spence has been as reliable as they come, and defensively, he’s excellent at puck retrieval and moving the puck out of the zone. It’s also not Spence’s fault that head coach Travis Green is using his skill set more in the offensive zone.
So, who are some of Spence’s comparables? That’s where it gets tricky, given how unique the situation is with Spence and the ever-increasing NHL salary cap. A potential comparable for Spence could be former teammate Sean Durzi, who is now with the Utah Mammoth. Durzi signed a four-year, $24MM contract extension back in 2024 when he was 25 years old, but that $6MM AAV is likely too high for Spence, even though it’s a two-year-old contract.
Durzi is a better offensive player than Spence, had a longer track record of NHL success at the time he signed, and played top-four minutes consistently. Given all of that, it’s likely that Spence signs for less than Durzi if he opts for a medium-length deal.
A more recent comparable, though also on the higher end compared to Spence, is J.J. Moser of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Moser has just signed an eight-year deal worth $54MM that comes on the heels of a career-best year this season. He is another two-way defenseman who posts excellent underlying numbers and had a 60% expected goals share at the time of signing, ranking third in the entire NHL. The main difference between Spence and Moser is that Moser has a proven track record of playing in the top four, which suggests Spence is unlikely to reach the $6.75MM AAV that Moser received.
If talk of a salary in the $6MM range for a player who has mostly played third pairing throughout his career seems excessive, that’s because it probably is. Nonetheless, as the salary cap rises, so do player salaries, and $6MM is considered high; however, projections for Spence are not far from that figure. AFP Analytics predicts a four-year extension for Spence this summer with an AAV of $4.94MM. In the short term, they’ve projected a one-year deal at $1.7MM, but given that former Senators defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker recently signed a two-year deal at $1.6MM annually, that estimate might be outdated.
If the Senators sign Spence to a multi-year deal worth $5 million annually, there will surely be sticker shock across the league, but considering Spence is only 25, has significant upside, shows solid two-way metrics, and is just two years away from becoming a UFA, the amount isn’t unreasonable given the current inflated salary cap.
Senators’ Thomas Chabot Undergoes Surgery, Out Six To Eight Weeks
Bad injury luck has struck at the worst time for the Ottawa Senators. Top defenseman Thomas Chabot will have to miss six-to-eight weeks after undergoing surgery to address a broken arm, per Bruce Garrioch of The Ottawa Citizen. Chabot suffered the injury on a cross-check from New York Rangers captain J.T. Miller in the first period of Monday’s game. A two-month timeline will likely keep Chabot out until at least the Eastern Conference final, if the Senators make it that far.
The Senators are also facing injuries to defensemen Lassi Thomson (day-to-day) and Dennis Gilbert (two to three weeks), per Garrioch. Thomson made his season debut in Monday’s game against New York but only played four minutes. Gilbert served a bottom-pair role through five games in mid-March but hasn’t played since Saturday’s win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Senators will have a slight silver lining. Defenseman Jake Sanderson has returned to skating at practice and will join the Senators on their upcoming two-game road trip to Florida, per Garrioch. Sanderson has been out of the lineup since March 7th, missing nine games since. He routinely plays upwards of 24 or 25 minutes a night when fully healthy, a role that could increase as Ottawa looks to make up for Chabot’s absence. Sanderson leads the Senators’ blue line in scoring with 11 goals and 48 points in 62 games. It has been a career-year for the 23-year-old, who won an Olympic Gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics in addition to scoring at the highest pace of his NHL career.
But even with Sanderson progressing towards a return, the Senators will be losing major firepower with Chabot on the shelf. The alternate captain was a focal point of the lineup after Sanderson was injured, even playing 31 minutes of ice time in Ottawa’s regulation win over the New York Islanders on Saturday. Chabot has nine points in his last 12 games, dating back to the last day of February. His hot streak has brought him to 31 points in 55 games this season, a scoring pace well on par with Chabot’s trend of 45-point seasons.
Chabot faced injury at multiple points this season, including missing 13 games between November and December. He has found his way back to consistent performance in the new year, netting 10 points in 16 January games, followed by nine points in 16 games since the start of February. It was a difficult season, capped off by a long-term injury at the worst time, but the year will support Chabot’s hold over a starring role on the Senators’ blue line leading into next season. He could also spur the bad luck with a quick recovery and a return to Ottawa’s playoff run, if the team can stay alive until he’s back.
Ottawa rotated its defense pairings with both of its star blue-liners out of Tuesday’s game against Detroit. Artem Zub and Jordan Spence filled the main play-driving roles, each receiving roughly 11 minutes of even-strength ice time in the process. The openings also made room for top defense prospect Carter Yakemchuk to make his NHL debut. He scored two points, a goal and an assist, in the effort. Yakemchuk could become a focal point of the Senators’ blue line until Sanderson is back to full health. He leads all AHL rookie defensemen in per-game scoring this season with 10 goals and 36 points in 50 games. Yakemchuk is well-known for his all-out style, focused on throwing big hits and driving the puck 200 feet.
Senators, Gabriel Eliasson Agree To Terms On Entry-Level Deal
The Senators announced Wednesday that they’ve agreed to terms with defense prospect Gabriel Eliasson on a three-year, entry-level contract that starts next season. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Eliasson, 19, was the 39th overall selection in the 2024 draft, going early in the second round. The pick warranted a fair amount of detractors at the time. He was a consensus third-to-fourth-round threat by most rankings and, although NHL teams favored him more than the public sphere, he was still taken several spots north of his #55 slot in TSN’s Bob McKenzie’s polling of NHL scouts that year.
The left-shot Swede checks in at 6’7″ and 220 lbs. He has the skating ability to pair with that to create good defensive impacts, but is limited virtually everywhere else, keeping him squarely as a bottom-pairing and penalty-killing threat if he cracks the NHL.
As such, Eliasson didn’t even earn a mention on Scott Wheeler of The Athletic’s ranking of Senators prospects this month, although he was listed at #10 by Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff last offseason. His standing in their pool likely didn’t improve this season. He’s spent the last two seasons in North American juniors after playing his draft year in his native Sweden, but has managed just a 5-10–15 scoring line with an even rating in 124 games for the OHL’s Barrie Colts. He was also the OHL’s most penalized player this season, with 122 penalty minutes, and earned the same honor twice in two different Swedish junior leagues during his development.
Eliasson had previously committed to the University of Michigan. That ship had likely already sailed, but he’s officially no longer eligible to jump to the NCAA as a freshman next year after inking his NHL deal. He’ll instead report to AHL Belleville to begin his pro career in the fall if his Colts remain in the postseason picture past the end of Belleville’s current season.
Senators’ Thomas Chabot, Lassi Thomson Out “For A While” With Injuries
Ottawa Senators defensemen Thomas Chabot and Lassi Thomson each left the team’s contest against the New York Rangers tonight with an injury, per an official announcement.
After the Senators’ victory over the Rangers in New York, head coach Travis Green told the media, including The Athletic’s Julian McKenzie, that both Chabot and Thomson will “be out for a while” as a result of their injuries. Green indicated the team would be recalling two defensemen from their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators, tomorrow.
The more significant name here is undoubtedly Chabot, who has been Ottawa’s No. 2 defenseman ever since the emergence of Jake Sanderson. TSN’s Claire Hanna reported that Chabot left the ice “in obvious pain” and was “clutching his right wrist” as he headed for the locker room at Madison Square Garden at the end of the first period.
Chabot was spotted after the game with a splint on his wrist, per TSN’s Steve Lloyd.
The main point of concern in Chabot’s case appears to be the fact that his injured wrist is the same wrist he had surgery on in 2024.
The timing of this news is very difficult for the Senators. The Senators ended their lengthy rebuild last season by making the playoffs for the first time since their famous run to the Eastern Conference Final in 2017. The expectation in the Ottawa market was that their postseason berth, which ended with a first-round defeat at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs, was a sign of greater things to come. Ottawa has endured an uneven 2025-26 season, dealing with a litany of on and off-ice challenges.
Green, in his second year as head coach, has guided the team through those challenges and led them into a position where they could conceivably return to the playoffs. They have been on a bit of a run as of late, going 8-2-0 in their last 10 games, and are riding a three-game win streak. But they still sit two points behind the New York Islanders for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, and are one point behind the Detroit Red Wings as well.
Ottawa plays Detroit tomorrow, and has a match up against the Pittsburgh Penguins, a fellow Eastern Conference playoff hopeful, on Thursday. On Saturday, they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning, and still have games against the Buffalo Sabres, Minnesota Wild, Carolina Hurricanes, and Islanders remaining, as well as a second game against Tampa Bay.
In short: their schedule is set to become extremely tough, full of contests the Senators are likely to classify as “must-win.” Because of today’s news, they’re set to play an indefinite number of their remaining games without Chabot, and Thomson.
Losing Chabot has a massive impact on the construction of the Senators’ defense. He plays 22:34 per night, including a notable role on both sides of special teams. He’s scored seven goals and 31 points in 55 games, which ranks second among the team’s blueliners and No. 8 in team scoring overall. With Sanderson sidelined since March 9, Chabot has assumed the role as the team’s No. 1 defenseman.
Sanderson has resumed skating, and is set to return in roughly a week. But his lingering absence means Ottawa will enter its aforementioned set of crucial games this week without their top two defensemen. How Green deployed his blueliners tonight in New York gives a hint as to how Ottawa’s defense might shape up with both Chabot and Sanderson sidelined.
Leading Senators blueliners in time on ice tonight was Jordan Spence, who played in 26:44. The fact that the Senators had seven power plays likely played a role here – Spence will be Ottawa’s top power play quarterback amidst these injuries, but is unlikely to play as much as others overall. No. 3 among team defensemen in ice time was Artem Zub, who skated 23:44. Zub has been the team’s No. 3 defenseman this season and a top penalty killer. He’ll likely receive an even greater workload while the team’s two defensive pillars are injured. Also set to receive a more substantial workload is Tyler Kleven, who played 24:30 tonight and has been Ottawa’s No. 5 defenseman this season, and a secondary penalty killer.
The Senators are also dealing with the week-to-week loss of veteran Nick Jensen to knee surgery, compounding their issues on the blueline. Green indicated the team would be recalling two defensemen from Belleville, and one of those two could be 2024 No. 7 overall pick Carter Yakemchuk. The 20-year-old has yet to make his NHL debut but has 10 goals and 36 points in 50 AHL games this season. Earlier this month, the Senators indicated they’d prefer to allow Yakemchuk to develop at his own pace at the AHL level, but the injuries that have piled up could force their hand.
Outside of Yakemchuk, the Senators do have some other options for a potential recall waiting in Belleville. 25-year-old Samuel Bolduc has played quite a bit since arriving in a trade from the Ontario Reign, and has four points in five games. He offers size (he stands 6’4″ 220 pounds) and has 52 games of NHL experience, all coming during his days with the New York Islanders. He could be an option.
2022 fifth-round pick Jorian Donovan is still waiting on the chance to make his NHL debut, but has developed into a top-four piece with legitimate penalty-killing utility in the AHL. He could get a shot in the NHL given the injuries Ottawa is dealing with, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the team prioritize experience in their call-ups given just how important their upcoming games are.
While Chabot’s status as one of the team’s top defensemen means his injury is more notable for the Senators’ overall lineup construction, the implications are no less real for Thomson. Tonight was the 25-year-old’s first NHL game since 2022-23, but his night ended after just 4:25 time on ice. Thomson was lined up to be one of the real beneficiaries of the Senators’ injury situation, slated to get the chance to show off his talents in some high-stakes NHL contests.
For a player who spent last season in the SHL, and is a pending RFA, that was a massive opportunity. Now, as a result of Thomson’s injury, that opportunity may have slipped away.
Photos courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
Dennis Gilbert Leaves Game With Injury
Ottawa Senators defenseman Dennis Gilbert was forced out of last night’s contest with an apparent injury, one he suffered after being on the receiving end of a big hit by Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Gilbert ended up down on the ice after Ekman-Larsson’s hit, and left the game shortly afterward without returning.
After the game, Senators head coach Travis Green told the media, including Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch, that Gilbert is set to miss some time as a result of the injury he suffered. His exact return timeline and status are still being evaluated. It’s an undoubtedly unfortunate break for Gilbert, a 29-year-old journeyman depth blueliner. He had played in five consecutive NHL games including last night, representing five of his six total NHL games played this season. As a result of the injury, it’s possible the pending UFA has already played in his final NHL game of the 2025-26 season.
Jake Sanderson Nearing Return
Larkin has missed Detroit’s last six games due to his leg injury. Although the team has gone 3-2-1 in that stretch, they’re entering crunch time for their postseason lives. Their upcoming schedule won’t give them any favors, with consecutive games against the Boston Bruins, Ottawa Senators, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, and Pittsburgh Penguins.
- Another Atlantic Division team in the playoff hunt is the Ottawa Senators, who are also dealing with a significant injury to an important player. Like Larkin, defenseman Jake Sanderson has missed the last few weeks with the Senators, this time due to an upper-body injury. Similar to Detroit, Ottawa has played fine without Sanderson, but he objectively gives them a better chance to win each night. According to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen, Sanderson is expected to return by the end of March or early April.
Senators’ Nick Jensen Undergoes Meniscus Surgery, Done For Regular Season
Nick Jensen‘s 2025-26 season is over, as Senators head coach Travis Green told reporters (including Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen) that the defender has undergone surgery to repair a torn meniscus. Carrying a six-week recovery time, he’s ruled out for the regular season. He could theoretically return past the first round if Ottawa manages to snag a wild-card berth – which is no guarantee – and they pull off an early upset.
Jensen, a pending UFA, has played his last regular-season game for Ottawa, Garrioch indicates. The organization has no plans to offer him a contract extension. Green doesn’t expect the surgery to be career-ending by any stretch for the 35-year-old, though. “I feel bad for him… We didn’t think originally it would end up going this way. It’s going to be best for him that he does the surgery, and he’ll be back to 100 per cent for sure.”
It’s not the only recent lower-body issue Jensen has had. He needed a hip procedure last offseason, which he underwent in May. That put his availability for the beginning of the regular season in doubt, but he managed to return in time. He had only missed three games this season prior to the meniscus tear last week against the Canadiens, all due to healthy scratches.
This has not been a kind year for the Minnesota native on the ice. Acquired from the Capitals in the 2024 Jakob Chychrun deal to give the Sens a top-four-capable right-shot shutdown option to pair with Thomas Chabot, he flourished last season but hasn’t looked like the same player in 2025-26. His average time on ice is down more than three minutes from 20:13 to 17:01, and his 0.62 hits per game are the lowest of his 10-year NHL career. He’s still managed a respectable 17 points in 61 games, but is controlling only 48.3% of shot attempts at 5-on-5, down from 50.6% last season.
He had nonetheless spent most of his time at even strength next to Chabot, although he also saw significant time in third-pairing deployment on his off side with fellow righty Nikolas Matinpalo. A good portion of his overall ice time reduction came from Jensen essentially being removed as a regular on Ottawa’s penalty kill. He’s still a real puzzle piece for the Sens, who already had the longest odds at a postseason berth of any team still realistically in the race for a playoff spot.
Of course, Ottawa has also been without #1 rearguard Jake Sanderson for the last four games with an upper-body injury. He’s still listed as week-to-week, with Green saying he could get back on the ice for some skating work in the next seven days.
Both their absences have put immense strain on Ottawa’s defense corps. Tyler Kleven and Jordan Spence, averaging just over 17 minutes per game this season between them, are now the club’s second pairing behind Chabot and Artem Zub. Dennis Gilbert, who’s never played more than 35 games in a season, is now a lineup regular until Sanderson returns. That’s far from an ideal place to be from a roster management perspective for a team in a playoff chase, although the fact they’ve been able to eke out a pair of wins in their two games without both Sanderson and Jensen should be of some consolation.
Ottawa has the ninth-most difficult remaining schedule in the league, per Tankathon. The good news is that several teams they’re potentially competing with for wild-card berths, including the Blue Jackets, Bruins, Islanders, and Red Wings, are in the top eight above them. MoneyPuck still projects them to finish ninth in the East with 97 points, though – a total that would win them the Pacific Division but leave them out of the picture in what has turned out to be a ridiculously competitive race to the finish out East.
Latest On Carter Yakemchuk
The Ottawa Senators are in the midst of a playoff chase for the rest of the season, currently sitting four points out of a playoff position. As they look to build momentum down the stretch, they have been forced to deal with injuries to their defense.
Top blueliner Jake Sanderson is week-to-week with an upper-body injury, and veteran Nick Jensen is also out, albeit on a day-to-day basis. Those injuries have forced the team to tap into some of its organizational depth, but some Senators fans may have been surprised to see 2019 first-rounder Lassi Thomson recalled to the NHL roster, rather than 2024 No. 7 overall pick Carter Yakemchuk.
TSN reporter Claire Hanna asked Senators GM Steve Staios about the club’s decision to leave Yakemchuk in the AHL. He noted that while the team has considered recalling Yakemchuk, they are trying to be mindful of the exact nature, and timing, of how they introduce Yakemchuk to the NHL.
The Senators are set to play some extremely high-stakes games in the coming weeks. Based on what Staios told Hanna, the Senators organization believes putting Yakemchuk into their NHL lineup for those games would not be a move conducive to his development.
The 6’3″ former WHL star is currently the No. 1 defenseman for the AHL Senators, playing a heavy workload for Belleville, including on the power play. But Yakemchuk, who has 33 points this season, has only 46 games of professional experience. And while he has played quite a bit for the AHL Senators, he has not factored into the team’s penalty kill.
In fact, it’s Yakemchuk’s still-growing defensive game that is likely giving the Senators pause when it comes to potentially calling him up for the team’s playoff chase. David St-Louis, Lead Scout at Elite Prospects, wrote in a game report last month that Yakemchuk’s “defensive reads are a work in progress.”
When considering both what is best for Yakemchuk’s long-term development, as well as the team’s short-term interest in maximizing its odds of winning the remaining games on its schedule, it’s understandable that the Senators are, to this point, resisting the temptation to recall their top prospect.
While recalling Yakemchuk might offer greater upside than bringing up Thomson, there is also the potential that taking Yakemchuk out of Belleville to place him in a depth role in an NHL lineup in some high-stakes contests could hurt his confidence and disrupt the rhythm he’s developed at the AHL level.
Yakemchuk, who has scored six points in his last two games, will almost certainly be a major part of the Senators’ future. Keeping him in the AHL, at least for now, requires considerable patience. But it could also be one that most directly aids Yakemchuk’s development.
Senators Tried To Move Mads Sogaard At Trade Deadline
It was only a couple of years ago that Senators goaltender Mads Sogaard was viewed as their potential goalie of the future. However, some struggles since then and other moves made by the team (including adding Linus Ullmark for the long haul) has changed his trajectory. It appears that Ottawa was ready to move on from him at last week’s trade deadline as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the Sens made some efforts to move Sogaard but weren’t able to do so.
The 25-year-old was the 37th pick back in 2019 after a promising showing with WHL Medicine Hat. That, coupled with a six-foot-seven stature, was a profile Ottawa felt it could count on. He carried that over to his rookie professional season in 2021-22 but things haven’t gone as well since then.
Sogaard has battled injuries the last two years which has limited his playing time. And when he has played, his numbers haven’t been great. This season, he has a 3.38 GAA along with a .884 SV% in 22 games with AHL Belleville, numbers that are an improvement on the eight-game stint he had at that level a year ago.
The Senators have given Sogaard a chance at NHL playing time in each of his five professional seasons, including this one where he has a pair of appearances. However, he has just 31 games at the top level under his belt with a 3.60 GAA and a .877 SV%. In a total of 26 starts, eight have had a save percentage below .850, a near one-in-three ratio.
It’s those performances coupled with the acquisition of Ullmark and emergence of Leevi Merilainen as a goalie with some upside that have seen Sogaard go from a perceived future core player to a project with plenty of uncertainty. Based on their inability to move him, it appears other teams have some hesitance about him as well.
That said, Sogaard’s contract could have played a factor. While he’s on a league-minimum contract at $775K, he’s on a one-way pact and will be eligible for salary arbitration this summer. With that NHL playing time under his belt, there’s a case to be made that his camp could push for a seven-figure one-way salary with a hearing, something Ottawa or any other team might be hesitant to pay. With that in mind, it’s possible that he becomes a non-tender candidate this summer.
That makes the stretch run that much more important for Sogaard. The Senators cleared their AHL goaltending logjam on Friday when they moved Hunter Shepard to Montreal, leaving Merilainen and Sogaard as their tandem for the final few weeks of the season. Sogaard will want to finish strong to showcase himself not only to Ottawa but potentially the rest of the league as well should their efforts to move him continue.