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Former Flyers Center Mel Bridgman Passes Away At 70

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Former Philadelphia Flyers centerman and general manager of the 1992 Ottawa Senators, Mel Bridgman, has passed away at the age of 70. Bridgman was the first-overall selection in the 1975 NHL Amateur Draft. He played through 14 seasons in the NHL, then returned to school to support a front office career with the Senators.

Philadelphia drafted Bridgman on the heels of the Broad Street Bullies era. Coming off of back-to-back Stanley Cup championships, the Flyers managed to acquire the first-overall pick from the Washington Capitals in exchange for Bill Clement, Don McLean, and a later first round pick. Naturally, the Flyers took a player that fit right in with their gritty style. Bridgman was coming off a 157-point season in the WCHL, the predecessor to the modern WHL. He didn’t keep quite that spark in the NHL, but still put together a solid rookie year, with 50 points and 86 penalty minutes in 80 games. That presence helped Bridgman climb into a major role with the Flyers at only 20-years-old, and earned him a fifth-place finish in 1976 Calder Trophy voting.

Bridgman found his groove as a hard-nosed grinder over the next five seasons. He became the seventh Flyer to cross the mark of 200 penalty minutes when he reached 203 PIMs in the 1997-78 season. He continued to rival that mark through 1981, all while routinely rivaling 50-to-60 points. Bridgman reached his scoring peak in the 1981-82 season, though the bulk of his points would come with the Calgary Flames, after a contentious November trade swapped him for Brad Marsh. Bridgman put up 75 points and 94 penalty minutes in 63 games with Calgary, bringing him up to a year-long total of 87 points and 141 penalty minutes after nine games with Philadelphia to start the season.

His scoring fell back to normal in the following year, prompting a move to the New Jersey Devils in 1983. Bridgman, once Philadelphia’s captain for three years, took on the Devils’ captaincy and led the team in scoring (61 points) in the 1984-85 season. He continued to wear the ’C’ until being traded to the Detroit Red Wings at the 1987 Trade Deadline. Bridgman continued his career for two more years, and retired with the Vancouver Canucks in 1989.

Soon after ending his playing days, the well-known Bridgman was named GM of a 1992 expansion team, the revitalized Ottawa Senators. He brought in eight-year pro John Ferguson as his Director of Player Personnel, and built a Senators squad headlined by Peter Sidorkiewicz, Norm Maciver, and Brad Shaw. The team ranked dead-last in scoring in their inagural season, leading to an attempt to spur the offense with Alexei Yashin and Alexandre Daigle, the second-overall pick in 1992 and first-overall pick in 1993 respectively. The duo led the Senators in scoring as rookies, but failed to pull Ottawa from the league’s depths, prompting Bridgman to launch a flurry of roster transactions that would end with his firing at the end of the 1992-93 season.

Bridgman stepped away from the NHL following his ousting in Ottawa. To some, he’s remembered as a great Flyer who led the team through the first years after their dynasty era. To others, he’s among the most imposing players of the NHL’s most physical era, as described by Mike Bossy in his biography and NHL Player’s Tribune letter. Bridgman’s tenure in the NHL often sparked controversy, but was never short of action. He was tapped to lead clubs through dark times, as a player and manager, and did both with breakneck pace. Pro Hockey Rumors sends condolences to Bridgman’s family, friends, and fans.

Nick Cousins Not Dealing With Significant Injury

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  • Despite leaving during the third period of last night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens, it doesn’t appear Ottawa Senators forward Nick Cousins sustained any significant injury. According to TSN’s Bruce Garrioch, the fourth-line veteran fully participated in the team’s practice this morning.

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Senators Reassign Hunter Shepard, Recall Leevi Merilainen

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Sunday: The Senators have reversed yesterday’s roster move, reassigning Shepard back to AHL Belleville and recalling Merilainen. Merilainen made the most of his short AHL stint, saving 38 of 42 shots in the AHL Senators’ 7-4 win over the North Division-leading Syracuse Crunch yesterday. Merilainen’s win gives Belleville a 4-4-1 record through nine games.

Saturday: The Senators continue to swap out their backup goalies. The team has recalled Hunter Shepard from AHL Belleville to serve as the benchwarmer behind Linus Ullmark tonight against the Canadiens, per a club announcement. Leevi Merilainen has been returned to Belleville in a corresponding move.

The impetus for the transaction is playing time for Merilainen, Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reports. The Senators only have two games in the next seven days following today’s contest. Merilainen is expected to get the start for Belleville tonight before being recalled again for Thursday’s game against the Bruins.

Ottawa continues to ride Ullmark as they try to get their high-paid starter out of his early-season funk. Luckily for him, he’s gotten plenty of goal support in his 10 starts to contribute to a 5-4-1 record. He’s strung together a few quality starts recently, but has still underwhelmed on the whole with a .863 SV% and 3.36 GAA. His -7.0 goals saved above expected rank last in the NHL, according to MoneyPuck.

Merilainen has only gotten two starts in the meantime. His first one was a disastrous outing against the Sabres back on Oct. 15, allowing seven goals on just 26 shots. He rebounded nicely nearly two weeks later with a 26-save performance and .929 SV% in a dominant win over the Bruins, though. He also has a .897 SV% in two games so far with Belleville this season on previous short-term demotions.

His waiver-exempt status is something the Sens are taking full advantage of early in the year. Shepard has already cleared waivers, doing so back in September, so he can be rostered for up to 30 days before he needs to clear them again. It’s the second time in a few days the Sens have recalled him to serve as a backup. He sat on the bench for Merilainen’s start against the Bruins while Ullmark got the night off entirely. The 29-year-old has a .909 SV% and 3.02 GAA in four appearances for Belleville, his first in the Sens organization after spending the previous five years in the Capitals’ pipeline.

Senators Reassign Hunter Shepard

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Oct. 28: After Ullmark took his planned rest in last night’s 7-2 win, the Senators announced Tuesday they’ve returned Shepard to Belleville. His services weren’t needed, aside from sitting on the bench, as Merilainen made 26 saves on 28 shots (.929 SV%) in the win.

Oct. 27: According to a team announcement, the Ottawa Senators have recalled netminder Hunter Shepard from the AHL’s Belleville Senators. Since they only had 22 players on the roster before the call-up, no corresponding transaction was required.

Despite recalling a netminder, there are no injury concerns for Linus Ullmark or Leevi Merilainen. Since Ottawa has the first half of a back-to-back tonight, the plan is to give Ullmark the entire day off, making Shepard the backup for tonight’s game. Ullmark is expected to start tomorrow night against the Chicago Blackhawks.

It didn’t matter too much which netminder the Senators recalled. Both Shepard and Mads Søgaard are waiver-exempt for the time being after clearing in late September, and the AHL Senators don’t play again until Wednesday. Still, it’s a little surprising that the team opted for Shepard, given that he played for Belleville last night. He isn’t expected to play for Ottawa tonight, though he could be relatively tired should the team need him in an emergency.

Still, Shepard has a relatively lengthy track record of success in the AHL. Before joining the Senators organization this past summer, Shepard spent the first five years of his professional career with the Washington Capitals, largely with the AHL’s Hershey Bears. Shepard is a two-time Calder Cup champion, one-time Baz Bastien Memorial Award winner, and one-time Jack A. Butterfield Trophy winner.

Senators Recall Leevi Merilainen, Reassign Mads Søgaard

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The Ottawa Senators are reversing course on a move made just four days ago. According to a team announcement, the Senators have recalled netminder Leevi Merilainen and have assigned Mads Søgaard to the AHL’s Belleville Senators in a corresponding transaction.

It was apparent that Merilainen’s recent demotion was to reinstate some confidence in the young netminder. After winning the backup job out of training camp, Merilainen’s first game this season couldn’t have gone much worse.

He allowed seven goals on 26 shots against the Buffalo Sabres in 58:06 of ice time, translating to a .731 SV% and 7.23 GAA. Furthermore, his Goals Saved Above Average is already -4.4, while his Adjusted Goals Against Average is 8.26.

His first start in the AHL against the Syracuse Crunch was better, but not by much. Merilainen stopped 35 of 40 shots against, earning a .875 SV% and 5.00 GAA. Fortunately, his most recent start was his best of the year, stopping 26 of 28 shots against the Laval Rocket. Ottawa is hopeful that Merilainen’s play against Laval will give him the needed confidence to add more stability in the crease.

Meanwhile, Søgaard didn’t feature in any games for the Senators over the brief recall. He’s appeared in two games for AHL Belleville this year, managing a 0-1-1 record with a .864 SV% and 2.94 GAA.

The performance of Ottawa’s potential backup netminders wouldn’t be as important a storyline if not for the disappointing play of Linus Ullmark to begin the 2025-26 season. Acquired before last season to give the Senators a legitimate starting option, Ullmark earned a 25-14-3 record in 44 games with a .909 SV% and 2.27 GAA, helping Ottawa reach the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Ottawa hasn’t even gotten average production from him this season. Ullmark has gotten off to a 2-3-1 record through his first six starts with an .854 SV% and 3.80 GAA, and a disastrous -7.3 GSAA. Hopefully, Ullmark can turn his season around relatively soon, so Ottawa can take more pressure off Merilainen.

Update On Shane Pinto’s Extension Negotiations

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Before the start of the regular season, several reports indicated that the Ottawa Senators had had positive conversations with Shane Pinto regarding an extension, and that the price could reach as high as $7MM per year. Apparently, those conversations may not have been as positive as previously believed, according to a new update from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on The FAN Hockey Show.

Friedman suggested that the Senators’ offer was far too low for Pinto, and realized later in the summer that they had much more work to do. Now factoring in Pinto’s start to the 2025-26 campaign, Ottawa may have to move farther than they’re comfortable with.

There’s no questioning he’s off to a torrid pace. The former 32nd overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft has scored six goals and seven points through the Senators’ first seven games, averaging 18:31 of ice time per night. Especially with the team being without captain Brady Tkachuk for the next several weeks, Pinto has taken it upon himself to carry much of the offensive burden.

Still, on the flip side of the argument, Pinto doesn’t have the track record to legitimize making him one of Ottawa’s highest-paid forwards. There’s little expectation he’ll ask for more than Tkachuk or star Tim Stützle, but there’s a world now where Pinto is asking for more than Dylan Cozens’ $7.1MM salary.

Although he’s shown a knack for goal-scoring, Pinto has yet to reach the 40-point plateau in his three full years with the Senators. Outside of missing half of the 2023-24 campaign for violating the league’s gambling policies, Pinto has scored 50 goals and 99 points in 193 games from the 2022-23 to 2024-25 campaigns. That was good for an 82-game pace of 21 goals and 42 points.

In fact, from his age-22 to age-24 seasons, Pinto has been remarkably similar to Jack Roslovic’s output over the same age range, when the latter put up 86 points with three more games played, while averaging nearly three minutes less of ice time per game. Roslovic has hovered around the 40-point mark since then, while putting up a pair of 20+ goal campaigns, and he settled on a one-year, $1.5MM deal with the Edmonton Oilers this summer.

That’s not to say that Pinto’s pathway through the NHL will completely copy Roslovic’s, though it’s an important detail to manage. Given that the Senators are only freshly coming out of their rebuild, they can’t afford to attach a $7MM or more price tag to a player that will only average approximately 40 points a year. Regardless, given how he’s capitalized on a contract year through the early stages of the regular season, the Senators and Pinto are unlikely to agree on an extension throughout the year.

Senators Recall Olle Lycksell

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The Senators are bringing winger Olle Lycksell back up from AHL Belleville, the team announced. Ottawa had a pair of open roster spots after sending Arthur Kaliyev down to Belleville yesterday.

Lycksell and Kaliyev are essentially yo-yoing as Ottawa’s 12th forward while enforcer Kurtis MacDermid sits in the press box, and captain Brady Tkachuk remains on injured reserve after undergoing surgery on his hand last week. It likely won’t be the last time the Sens make this move. Both of them cleared waivers late in training camp. Players can remain on an NHL active roster for up to 30 non-consecutive days (or play 10 games) until they need waivers again to return to the minors. Swapping them out for each other every few days means delaying when they become waiver-eligible. Lycksell’s counter stood at 12 days before today; Kaliyev’s recall lasted four days.

Lycksell, 26, signed a two-way deal with the Senators over the summer. The four-year veteran was left on Ottawa’s opening night roster despite clearing waivers, but only played in two of five games before being sent to Belleville last Friday. He did not record a point and averaged 10:09 of ice time per game with two blocks and one hit. He’s also pointless with a minus-four rating through two appearances with the B-Sens in the past few days.

Originally selected in the sixth round by the Flyers back in 2017, Lycksell debuted with Philadelphia briefly in 2022-23. He got slightly more extended looks the following two seasons, but never logged more than 20 appearances in a campaign. He had a 1-10–11 scoring line in 45 games with the Flyers in parts of three years, but had much more success during that time with AHL Lehigh Valley, where he was nearly a point per game player. He had 52 goals and 128 points in 134 appearances there, working his way into an AHL All-Star Game appearance last season.

Lycksell reached Group VI unrestricted free agency this past offseason and landed with Ottawa, hoping for more opportunity. The 5’11” Swede has historically been an accurate shooter, but is finishing at just 2.2% during his NHL time. That needs to increase dramatically for him to have any hope of carving out a consistent role.

Ottawa Senators Reassign Arthur Kaliyev

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10/20/2025: The Senators announced Monday that they reassigned Kaliyev back to Belleville. He got into two games for the Senators during his recall, a victory over the Seattle Kraken and a loss to the New York Islanders.

Kaliyev lined up on the Senators’ fourth line for the first game of his recall, and ultimately saw himself elevated to the team’s first line for his second game. He registered an assist on David Perron’s power play marker against the Islanders, but it appears his performance was not enough for him to retain his spot on the team’s NHL roster. He’s been a difference-maker at the AHL level with Belleville so far this season, scoring two assists in two games played.

10/16/2025:  The Ottawa Senators have recalled forward Arthur Kaliyev from their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators, the team announced today. The move comes as the team grapples with the loss of Brady Tkachuk, who will miss at least a month with a wrist injury. He’s landed on injured reserve as the corresponding transaction, per the league’s media site.

The Florida Panthers’ claim of defenseman Donovan Sebrango yesterday cleared a roster spot for Ottawa (something that would have also happened had Sebrango cleared waivers and been reassigned to Belleville, which was likely the team’s preferred outcome) and they’ve filled it with this recall of Kaliyev.

While Kaliyev certainly won’t be able to replace, or likely even come close to replacing, the on-ice and off-ice impact brought by Tkachuk, he does nonetheless bring quite a bit of NHL experience. The 24-year-old, who was signed to a one-year, two-way $775K/$425K contract this past summer, has played in over 200 NHL games and scored 38 goals and 75 points. He was originally drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in the second round of the 2019 draft, with most public-facing scouts rating him as a potential high-upside scorer with some very real risk to his projection.

Kaliyev scored goals at an extremely high rate in his junior hockey days in the OHL (where current Senators GM Steve Staios was his team’s president) but has not been able to translate that goal-scoring prowess to the pro ranks.

He started off pretty well, scoring 14 goals and 27 points in 80 games during his 2021-22 rookie season, and followed that up by scoring 13 goals and 28 points in just 56 games in 2022-23, which is a 19-goal, 41-point 82-game scoring pace.

But despite showing some signs of offensive proficiency, Kaliyev struggled to make an all-around impact. He managed just seven goals and 15 points in 2023-24, and got into just 14 NHL games last season, all coming with the New York Rangers after they claimed him off of waivers.

2025-26 has been widely viewed as a make-or-break year for Kaliyev’s hopes of having a long-term future as an NHL player, and while he didn’t make the Senators out of training camp and cleared waivers in the preseason, it appears this Tkachuk injury will give him the opportunity to play in NHL games once more. The Senators elevated forward Michael Amadio to the first-line left wing spot on Tim Stutzle’s line that Tkachuk vacated, but the team had a nightmare game falling 8-4 to the Buffalo Sabres, with Amadio failing to register a point.

While that doesn’t mean the team will give Kaliyev a run in that coveted lineup spot next to Stutzle, it does indicate that the team’s solution for managing Tkachuk’s absence is far from settled. In that, there is opportunity. Kaliyev may begin his NHL tenure with the Senators as a healthy scratch, but even if that’s the case, this recall still presents a major opportunity for Kaliyev.

Even if he fails to make the most of that opportunity, this recall will at the very least give him a nice financial boost, as he’ll make the pro-rated portion of his NHL salary of $775K for as long as he can spend on the Senators’ NHL roster.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

Ottawa Senators Recall Mads Sogaard, Reassign Leevi Merilainen

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The Ottawa Senators have swapped which goalie will hold the backup’s role on their NHL roster. Per an official team announcement, netminder Leevi Merilainen has been reassigned to their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators, while Mads Sogaard has been recalled.

Merilainen won the Senators’ backup goalie job coming out of training camp, a development that was a continuation of the Senators’ goaltending depth chart order from 2024-25. Merilainen, 23, got into 12 NHL games last season, compared to just two for Sogaard.

Sogaard and Merilainen were polar opposites in terms of form last season, as Sogaard struggled mightily in limited AHL action and couldn’t gain momentum to play in the NHL when he was healthy, while Merilainen excelled in his second full season of pro hockey in North America.

Last year, Merilainen posted a .913 save percentage across 37 AHL games and a .925 mark across 12 NHL games. Sogaard, on the other hand, posted an .858 save percentage in just eight AHL games.

Injuries didn’t help matters for Sogaard last season, but the reality is that the towering netminder, a 2019 second-rounder, looked to have been passed by on the team’s goaltending depth chart by Merilainen, a 2020 third-rounder.

Today’s roster move flips things. Outside of the two netminders’ competition in preseason and training camp (one that Merilainen won, as Sogaard was placed on waivers and sent to Belleville earlier this month) neither goalie has had the chance to make an extended impact in the crease.

Sogaard has played in two AHL games for Belleville this year, going 0-1-1 with an .864 save percentage and 2.94 goals-against average.

Merilainen, on the other hand, has played in just one game, and was unfortunate enough to be on the wrong end of what has been, to this point, the worst game of this young Senators campaign. Merilainen was tagged for seven goals against in an 8-4 loss to the Buffalo Sabres, and saving 19 of 26 shots against a team that had, to that point in the season, struggled mightily to score goals, is not a performance that is going to inspire a lot of confidence.

It would be unfair, of course, to lay the blame for that loss entirely on Merilainen’s shoulders. But that performance, combined with today’s move, does throw into question the Senators’ goaltending plans behind entrenched starter Linus Ullmark.

The Athletic’s Julian McKenzie wrote that with neither Merilainen nor Sogaard inspiring much confidence, and Ullmark struggling, “a goalie may be needed” from outside the organization in order to stabilize the position.

While it’s too early to say that the Senators’ decision not to retain veteran backup Anton Forsberg over the summer (he signed a two-year, $2.25MM AAV deal with the Los Angeles Kings) was a mistake, things appear highly unsettled in net for the Senators so far this year. In what is a crucially important season in Ottawa, one where the Senators simply cannot afford to take a step back after finally returning to the playoffs in 2024-25, goaltending appears to be emerging as an early problem area for the team.

External help in the crease could become available at some point. The Carolina Hurricanes and Buffalo Sabres are currently carrying an extra goalie they claimed on waivers due to injuries to their expected NHL goalies, and therefore it’s possible one or both of Colten Ellis and Brandon Bussi find their way back onto the waiver wire at some point.

That is also the case for Cayden Primeau in Toronto, though the fact that Joseph Woll has taken a leave of absence to deal with a family matter (which understandably does not have as concrete of a return timeline as an injury) does complicate things.

Photo courtesy of Matt Blewett-Imagn Images

Shane Pinto Reportedly Offered Eight-Year Extension

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  • Yesterday, we covered reports coming out of Ottawa that Senators center Shane Pinto and the team were set to re-engage in talks over a contract extension for the talented young center. Those reports indicated that there was a notable gap between the Senators’ expectations for a new contract and the expectations of Pinto’s representatives, led by Lewis Gross of Sports Professional Management. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman added to the reporting around Pinto last night, revealing that the Senators had offered Pinto an eight-year contract extension. It’s unclear at this time whether Pinto and the Senators will be able to reach an agreement on such a long-term contract (Pinto’s goal-scoring success so far this season should certainly embolden his camp’s pursuit of a major pay raise) but as of right now, it’s abundantly clear the Senators are hoping to keep Pinto in the fold for as long as possible.

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