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Ottawa Senators Assign Three Players To AHL

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In order to keep both roster and salary cap flexibility over the next several days following their games in Sweden, the Ottawa Senators announced they have sent defensemen Tyler Kleven and Jacob Larsson, as well as forward Matthew Highmore to their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators.

The team did manage to salvage two wins during their overseas trip, defeating the Detroit Red Wings and Minnesota Wild, with Highmore being only one of the trio to make an appearance during the games. In just under six minutes of ice time against Detroit, Highmore did not find his name on the scoresheet in any capacity.

In his first season with the Senators organization, Highmore has primarily been playing in the AHL, suiting up in nine games for Belleville, scoring two goals and five assists. In very limited action at the NHL level, Highmore has tallied only one assist through three games played in Ottawa.

Kleven, on the other hand, has received the most playing time in the NHL amongst the three players, playing in five games for the Senators this season, and scoring one assist over that time. As a second-round draft choice by the Senators in the 2020 NHL Draft, Kleven was a teammate of fellow defenseman, Jake Sanderson, at the University of North Dakota prior to their time in professional hockey.

Lastly, of the three, Larsson is the most familiar with the AHL, playing in 201 games over the course of his career spent between the Senators and the Anaheim Ducks. Not much of an offensive weapon, Larsson has two assists for Belleville already this season through 10 games played.

Even with these three on the roster for the foreseeable future, it will be difficult for Belleville to climb out of a quick hole in the AHL’s North Division. Losers of their last three games, the Senators have a 6-7-0-1 record, in sit in second to last place in the division.

Ottawa Senators Reassign Mads Søgaard

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Nov. 19: The Senators returned Søgaard to Belleville early this morning after their trip to Sweden concluded, per a team release.

Nov. 18: The Ottawa Senators have recalled netminder Mads Søgaard from their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators. With Joonas Korpisalo out due to a minor day-to-day injury, it will be Søgaard who serves as a backup to starter Anton Forsberg in Sweden.

Søgaard, 22, is a big six-foot-seven netminder is a native of Aalborg, Denmark, and has played in a total of 21 career NHL games. He’s had a strong start to the season, posting a .923 save percentage and inspiring confidence in those who predict him to be the Senators’ “goalie of the future.”

Søgaard will likely return to Belleville after the Senators’ trip in order to resume his role as a tandem goalie there. With a big season in the AHL, Søgaard could push Forsberg for the backup/1B role in Ottawa.

After this season, Forsberg will have just one year and $2.75MM remaining on his deal, although Søgaard will still be ineligible for waivers so the Senators will be in no rush to make a change.

Injury Notes: Zub, Miller, Vasilevskiy

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TSN 1200 out of Ottawa is reporting that Ottawa Senators head coach D.J. Smith told reporters this morning in Sweden that defenseman Artem Zub is day-to-day and didn’t practice with the team. The 28-year-old only just returned from an injury on November 9th in a loss against the Vancouver Canucks. He then dressed in the Senators victory over the Calgary Flames on Saturday night.

Smith said that Zub was more sore today and that was why he didn’t practice. He also added that the team would wait and see how he is for practice on Wednesday as tomorrow is a day off for the group.

Zub has dressed in just six games so far this season for Ottawa and has been very productive in that time with two goals and two assists. The expectations for Zub this season were quite high after he signed a four-year $18.4MM extension last December to remain with the club. Normally a defensive specialist, Zub is almost halfway to last season’s point total of ten in just six games.

In other injury notes:

  • New Jersey Devils reporter Amanda Stein is reporting that defenseman Colin Miller was a full participant in team practice this morning after being on the IR since October 19th with an undisclosed injury. Miller has yet to make his debut with the Devils after being acquired on July 1st from the Dallas Stars for a 2025 fifth-round draft pick. Miller practiced on the fourth defensive pairing alongside extra forward Maxwell Willman. No timetable for Miller’s return has been released yet.
  • The Tampa Bay Lightning tweeted this morning that star goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy has returned to practice with the team. The news sparked curiosity as to when the former Vezina Trophy winner might return to the lineup. The Lightning have been without Vasilevskiy for the entire first six weeks of the season but have kept their heads above water going 6-5-4 in their first 15 games. The Lightning currently sit tied for fifth in the Atlantic Division but are just two points out of a playoff spot with a lot of season left.

Senators Prospect Traded In OHL

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  • Ottawa Senators 2022 third-round pick Tomas Hamara was traded in the OHL, sent to the Brantford Bulldogs from the Kitchener Rangers in exchange for two draft picks. The 19-year-old defenseman, who has represented Czechia at two IIHF World Junior Championships, has scored just three points in 18 games for Kitchener this season and will look for an uptick in production with the Bulldogs.

Ottawa Senators Recall Jacob Larsson

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The Ottawa Senators have announced that defenseman Jacob Larsson has been recalled from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators.

This recall brings the Senators to a full 23-man roster, and adds a sixth defenseman to their roster under normal conditions. As noted by CapFriendly, Tyler Kleven and Jacob Bernard-Docker are on the Senators’ roster under emergency conditions.

Larsson, 26, is a 2015 first-round pick who has nearly 200 games of NHL experience. While he never quite lived up to the hype as a top prospect for the Anaheim Ducks, Larsson’s strong skating has kept him around in North America. Larsson played in 55 games for AHL Belleville last season, and earned seven NHL games with the Senators. This season, he’s scored two goals in 10 games for Belleville.

With the Senators preparing to head to Sweden for games on November 16th and 18th, this recall not only adds some additional defensive depth to their roster, but also serves as a nice reward for Larsson. Larsson, who is Swedish, has played in both the SHL and HockeyAllsvenskan, and has represented Sweden at IIHF tournaments, including two World Junior Championships.

Senators Notes: Brannstrom, GM Search, Defensive Depth, Hamara

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The Senators will welcome back another blueliner tonight as head coach D.J. Smith confirmed to TSN 1200 (Twitter link) that Erik Brannstrom will play against Calgary.  The 24-year-old sustained a concussion on a hard hit from Islanders winger Cal Clutterbuck two weeks ago and was stretchered off the ice, resulting in him missing the last five games.  Brannstrom was off to a slow start offensively as he had been held off the scoresheet in his first seven appearances but with the team dressing three rookies earlier in the week, getting him and Artem Zub (who returned last game) back certainly will give them a boost.

More from Ottawa:

  • The team has not yet started reaching out to other teams for permission to interview potential GM candidates, reports Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. At this point, President of Hockey Operations and interim GM Steve Staios has an idea of who they’d like to reach out to but clearly, this is not a vacancy that is going to be filled in the immediate future.  Teams are sometimes hesitant about granting permission to speak to another club in-season so it’s possible that Staios could hold both titles for a little while.
  • Prior to losing his GM role, Pierre Dorion had been exploring the trade market for defensive depth, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. Ottawa’s preference this season was to keep their young blueliners in AHL Belleville where they could play heavy minutes but, again, their recent rash of injuries saw them dressing three rookies with the big club earlier this week.  For the time being, Thomas Chabot’s LTIR placement has given them some extra flexibility on the cap so it wouldn’t be shocking if Staios picked up where Dorion left off on that front.
  • Prospects Tomas Hamara is on the move as OHL Brantford announced that they’ve acquired the defenseman from Kitchener in exchange for a pair of draft picks. The 19-year-old was a third-round pick back in 2022 (87th overall) out of Tappara’s system in Finland.  This season, Hamara has three assists in 18 games.  His new team is owned by new Sens owner Michael Andlauer.

Senators Reassign Nikolas Matinpalo To AHL

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The Ottawa Senators reassigned defenseman Nikolas Matinpalo to the AHL’s Belleville Senators on Friday, per a team announcement.

Matinpalo, 25, was a scratch in Thursday’s 5-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks. He came out of the lineup to make way for Artem Zub, who returned to action after missing seven games with a concussion.

The Senators signed Matinpalo to a one-year entry-level contract in May with an $885K cap hit. An undrafted free agent at the time, Matinpalo had just made his international debut for Finland, recording a goal, two assists, and a +5 rating in eight games at the 2023 IIHF World Championship.

Born in Espoo, Matinpalo had spent his entire professional career in the Finnish Liiga before joining the Senators, aside from a handful of loans to the second-tier Mestis. In 205 Liiga games across five seasons with Ilves and Ässät, the bulky right-shot defender had 14 goals, 20 assists, 34 points, 121 PIMs, and a +4 rating.

In four games of NHL action in the absence of Zub, Erik Brännström and Thomas Chabot on the Sens’ backend, Matinpalo averaged just seven minutes per game and didn’t get on the scoresheet. He did well defensively in limited action, though, controlling 54.5% of shot attempts when he was on the ice at even strength.

He’ll now head back to Belleville, where he’s logged a goal through his first four minor-league games. Matinpalo will be a restricted free agent next July, and his qualifying offer is $840K, per CapFriendly.

Ottawa Senators Recall Matthew Highmore

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The Ottawa Senators have recalled forward Matthew Highmore from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators. Per the team’s announcement, Highmore will make his Senators debut tonight against the Vancouver Canucks.

He’ll replace forward Zack MacEwen in the team’s lineup, according to Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. MacEwen has been on the Senators’ roster on an emergency recall and has averaged under six minutes of ice time in the Senators’ last two games.

Assuming Highmore is a direct replacement for MacEwen, he’ll draw into head coach D.J. Smith’s fourth line, alongside Roby Järventie and Parker Kelly. Whereas MacEwen brings imposing size and physicality to that role (but not all that much else), Highmore has a bit more offensive touch. The undrafted former QMJHL champion was an AHL All-Star as a rookie and scored a career-high 61 points in 68 games last season for the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds.

The Senators gave Highmore a hefty $400k AHL salary to be a key offensive contributor to Belleville, and so far he has delivered with seven points in nine games. Although he has just 27 points in 139 career NHL games, the addition of Highmore adds some skill to the Senators’ fourth line in place of some physicality.

With Ottawa playing Vancouver rather than the Toronto Maple Leafs (who have enforcer Ryan Reaves on their roster) and the Tampa Bay Lightning (who employ Tanner Jeannot and Austin Watson) it’s understandable that Smith might see himself more in need of offensive energy from his fourth line rather than imposing physicality.

Zub Remains Out Despite Being Expected To Return Earlier Today

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  • Earlier today, Senators head coach D.J. Smith expressed optimism that defenseman Artem Zub would be back tonight against Toronto, he wound up being scratched for the seventh straight game, notes Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch (Twitter link). It’s the seventh straight game he has missed with a concussion.  With Ottawa also missing Thomas Chabot and Erik Brannstrom at the moment, getting Zub back will be a critical addition but they’ll have to wait a little longer for that to happen.

Jiří Smejkal Linked To SHL Move

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  • Ottawa Senators offseason signing Jiří Smejkal has been linked to a move back overseas, where he would play for IK Oskarshamn of the SHL. The report originates from TSN’s Shawn Simpson, who wrote that Smejkal “didn’t come over to play in the minors.” Smejkal, 27, signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Senators that carries an $82.5k AHL salary. There was some hope that Smejkal could make the NHL roster after scoring 23 goals and 43 points in 49 SHL games last season, but he only registered one point in five preseason games. The hope was that Smejkal’s size and ability to play physical could lend himself to a fourth-line role, but that hasn’t happened as he’s played exclusively at AHL Belleville. If Smejkal doesn’t view there to be a viable path to the NHL with Ottawa then it appears he could very well return to Oskarshamn, where he would not only be better lined up to represent Czecha at the IIHF World Championships, but could also potentially take home more money.
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