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Senators Notes: Sanderson, Murray, Forsberg

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The Ottawa Senators are expecting Jake Sanderson to join them after his college season ends. While that isn’t much of a surprise given how NHL-ready Sanderson has appeared this season, general manager Pierre Dorion confirmed to reporters including Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia that he and VP of player development Pierre McGuire both recently went to have dinner with him in Grand Forks.

Tyler Kleven, Sanderson’s teammate at the University of North Dakota, has also been invited to come to Ottawa after the college season. The NCHC quarterfinals kick off tonight for UND, where they’ll take on Colorado College. Both would need entry-level contracts before suiting up for Ottawa.

  • In more disappointing news, Dorion explained that Matt Murray won’t be back anytime soon. Murray has had a very up-and-down season including a stint in the minor leagues, but actually has his best save percentage in three years. An injury now is terrible timing for the veteran goaltender, as he tried to get his career back on track. He’s now out with an injury while sitting on a six-game losing streak.
  • With Murray out, it means that Anton Forsberg will have to carry a good chunk of the goaltending load down the stretch, meaning he’s now basically off the trade market. Dorion explained that he wants Forsberg to stay for the rest of the year and actually suggested that the Senators will be very quiet at the deadline in general.

Goalie Notes: Holtby, Hill, Varlamov

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Two of the four new names on Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff’s trade targets ranking are goaltenders, namely Braden Holtby of the Dallas Stars and Anton Forsberg of the Ottawa Senators. Holtby has had a nice bounce-back campaign in Dallas after being bought out by the Canucks last summer. In his 21 starts this season Holtby has a .912 save percentage and a 2.78 goals against average, strong improvement from his .889/3.67 marks in Vancouver. But his future in Dallas is clouded by the emergence of 23-year-old first-round-pick Jake Oettinger. (As well as the looming presence of Anton Khudobin, the goalie who led the Stars to the 2020 Stanley Cup Final, in the AHL.) In an interview with Pierre LeBrun of the Athletic, Stars General Manager Jim Nill noted that Oettinger has “settled in” with the Stars, and LeBrun also ponders the possibility of Dallas dealing a goaltender.

The Senators’ Forsberg joins Holtby on the list, in large part thanks to the resurgence of Matt Murray. As Murray has shined, Forsberg and his .916 save percentage in 21 starts for the club have become more expendable. Given the Senators’ status as a likely seller come the trade deadline, Seravalli calls Forsberg “perfect trade fodder” for GM Pierre Dorion. Like Holtby, Forsberg is also a pending unrestricted free agent.

  • Adin Hill has not played since a late January tilt versus the Lightning, and his absence looks set to continue. The San Jose Sharks announced that Hill has been placed on injured reserve as he continues his recovery from a lower body injury. As the Sharks sit second-to-last in the Pacific Division standings, Hill’s lack of recovery and placement on IR have to be seen as an unfortunate setback to add to his underwhelming first season in San Jose. 
  • As the Sharks battle Hill’s continued absence, the Islanders get one of their absent netminders back into the fold. The team announced that Semyon Varlamov has been activated from the COVID-19 non-roster list. Varlamov has a .916 save percentage in his 13 starts this season and figures to give the Islanders a boost as they attempt to build momentum in their long-shot chase for a playoff spot.

East Notes: Senators Centers, Forsberg, Tarasov

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The Senators have had some tough luck when it comes to their center situation this season as several players have been injured.  The latest was Josh Norris who is dealing with a shoulder injury.  GM Pierre Dorion told Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch that the youngster is currently getting a second opinion but for the time being, the hope is that he’ll be able to return within the next three to four weeks.  Norris leads all Ottawa players in goals with 18 in 36 games so far.

They may get Colin White back by then as well as Dorion indicated that they’re targeting February 26th as a target date for his return.  White has missed the entire season so far due to a dislocated shoulder suffered back in October.  The timeline for him to return was four to six months and it appears that, barring any setbacks, he’ll return in the middle of that window.  As for Shane Pinto, the youngster is expected to be re-assessed in mid-March to determine if he’ll be able to suit up at all down the stretch for the Senators or if his season has come to an end.

More from the East:

  • Also from Garrioch’s interview with Dorion, the GM wouldn’t commit to whether or not he plans to keep pending UFA goaltender Anton Forsberg past the trade deadline. The Senators have received interest in the 29-year-old but Dorion floated out the possibility that Ottawa keeps him past the deadline as a way to ensure that prospect Filip Gustavsson receives as much playing time as possible down the stretch with AHL Belleville to help prepare him to potentially serve as Ottawa’s backup goaltender next season.
  • Blue Jackets goaltender Daniil Tarasov has resumed skating as he works his way back from a lower-body injury sustained more than a month ago, GM Jarmo Kekalainen told Mark Scheig of The Hockey Writers (Twitter link). The team hopes to know more about his timeline for a return in about a week.  The 22-year-old has impressed in four appearances with Columbus this season with a .937 SV% and is the contender to be the full-time backup in 2022-23 so a chance to get in some more NHL work down the stretch would be ideal.

Senators Receiving Interest In Anton Forsberg

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What a difference a good year can make.  Last season, Senators goaltender Anton Forsberg was claimed on waivers three different times, bouncing around while hardly playing.  He did get an opportunity with Ottawa and did well enough to get a low-cost one-year extension worth $900K, a reasonable move for both sides in terms of getting them some goalie insurance and Forsberg a bit of stability.

Fast forward to this season and the 29-year-old has had a nice year so far, posting a .912 SV% in 16 games for the lottery-bound Sens.  Not surprisingly, with goalie depth being an issue for some teams and cap space an issue for many, Ottawa has been receiving trade interest in Forsberg, reports Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli.

However, while Ottawa is well out of playoff contention, it’s far from a guarantee that they’ll want to move Forsberg.  With Matt Murray struggling again this season and Filip Gustavsson still unproven in the NHL, Forsberg could still be viewed as an insurance policy for the Senators for next season.  While Gustavsson will be waiver-eligible at that time, Ottawa was able to get Murray through waivers earlier this season and with two years left on his contract after this one, they’ll likely be able to get him through next year without any issues so Forsberg’s return wouldn’t necessarily create an unwanted logjam between the pipes.

The in-season goaltending trade market usually isn’t particularly robust and there’s little reason to think it will be this season either.  Nevertheless, Forsberg’s cheap cap hit will make him more desirable than some of the other rentals making two or three times more than what he’s making and a mid-round pick could definitely be attainable for GM Pierre Dorion which would represent a nice return on a waiver claim from less than a year ago.

Meanwhile, with teams having interest in trading for him and the fact he’s having a good season, Forsberg himself appears to be well-positioned to land a sizable raise on the open market this summer.  Not bad for someone who was bouncing around the league as a third-stringer for the better part of last season.

Atlantic Notes: Sabres, Forsberg, Vrana

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The lower-body injury that has kept Sabres defenseman Robert Hagg out for nearly a month was one that had been lingering for most of the season, notes Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News.  The 26-year-old still leads the team in blocks (56) and has the most hits among blueliners (49) despite missing nine games and playing through the injury for most of the year.  He’s set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer so a return to health – he has been skating in recent days and should return soon – could certainly boost his stock both in terms of contract value and what Buffalo could get in a trade for him as a rental player.

Meanwhile, Lysowski adds that goalie Dustin Tokarski was a full participant in practice on Friday for the first time since getting hit with a particularly rough bout of COVID-19 back in late November.  There remains no timetable for his return but they plan to gradually increase his workload in the coming days to assess his potential readiness to play.

More from the Atlantic Division:

  • The Senators announced (Twitter link) that they’ve removed goaltender Anton Forsberg from COVID protocol, paving the way for him to rejoin the roster. With Ottawa now off until Monday, that will give him a chance to get a practice or two in and potentially be ready to return against Edmonton.  The Sens now have three goalies on the active roster so Matt Murray could potentially return to AHL Belleville to get some more game action in since he hardly played in his first stint with the team.
  • Red Wings winger Jakub Vrana has resumed skating as he works his way back from shoulder surgery that has caused him to miss the entire season so far, relays MLive’s Ansar Khan. At this point, the 25-year-old has been limited to light stickhandling work and head coach Jeff Blashill indicated the original recovery timeline – sometime in mid-to-late February – remains the likely target for his return.  If Detroit can hang around the battle for the second Wild Card spot until then (they’re one point out heading into play today), he’d be a big addition for the stretch run.

Senators Notes: White, Forsberg, Kuzmenko

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During general manager Pierre Dorion’s interview with TSN 1200 today, he gave a variety of updates related to the short- and long-term future of the team. One of those updates surrounded forward Colin White, who hasn’t played this season due to a shoulder injury suffered during the preseason. Dorion says that White still isn’t close to returning, and hopes for an early-March season debut as the best scenario. That jives with White’s original five-month timeline on the injury, but many hoped for an earlier return. The 24-year-old forward is under contract for three seasons following this one with a $4.75MM cap hit.

More from the Senators on this Thursday morning:

Ottawa Senators Recall Matt Murray

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Out of pure necessity, the Ottawa Senators have recalled Matt Murray from the AHL. Both Filip Gustavsson and Anton Forsberg are in the COVID protocol, leaving the team without a goaltender on the active roster.

With the Senators off until Friday, there is a chance that Gustavsson could be activated in time to play. But even if he has experienced mild or no symptoms, it may be wise to give him a few days of practice before putting him back in the net. That would leave Murray as the only option, despite him not proving much has changed in the weeks since he was sent to the AHL.

The 27-year-old netminder, who has two Stanley Cups and a hefty contract to his name, was sent to the AHL after another poor start to the season. Since arriving in Ottawa, Murray has an .892 save percentage in 33 appearances, winning just ten of those games. Those numbers improved during his time in the minor leagues, but he was only able to appear in two games for the Belleville Senators given their own COVID issues. The fact that he only faced 61 AHL shots certainly doesn’t inspire much confidence that he’s turned around his game.

Still, the absolute best outcome here for the Senators is Murray playing well enough to stay in the NHL. With a contract that carries a $6.25MM cap hit through the 2023-24 season, getting some value out of the veteran netminder is imperative.

Matt Murray Will Play Again For Ottawa

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The Matt Murray era has been an unmitigated disaster in Ottawa. Since the Senators gave up a second-round pick and prospect Jonathan Gruden to acquire the up-and-down netminder from the Pittsburgh Penguins before the 2020-21 season and signed him to an unsubstantiated four-year, $25MM contract, they have seen almost all down and no up. Murray has a 10-18-1 record with an .892 save percentage and 3.35 GAA, easily the worst numbers of his career.  The Senators ran out of patience with their overpriced and underperforming starter last week, placing Murray on waivers and, after he unsurprisingly cleared, reassigned him to the AHL’s Belleville Senators. It seemed like it could be the beginning of the end of a troubled relationship between team and player.

Yet, Pierre Dorion feels otherwise. The Ottawa GM made it clear when speaking with the media on Saturday that that Senators are not done with Murray. Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun writes that Dorion stated definitively that Murray will play for the Senators again and Dorion expects that to come at some point this season. “He’s just got to find his game, not be under the NHL microscope,” Dorion said. “At some point in time he’ll be back with Ottawa.” Dorion added that Murray has had factors working against him during his time in Ottawa, including injuries and a change in goaltending coach, but that the team remains confident that he can return to form and re-gain a role on the NHL roster.

Seeing as the Senators don’t need the cap savings afforded by having Murray in the minors nor will they part ways with trade capital to move Murray, it does seem likely that the veteran netminder will play out his contract in Ottawa barring a buyout or mutual termination or a major shift in the status quo of his trade value. However, that does not mean that Murray’s welfare needs to take precedence for the rebuilding Senators. Murray’s replacement on the NHL roster is Filip Gustavsson and the well-regarded 23-year-old is much more important to Ottawa’s future than is Murray, as evidenced by the club’s decision to protect the former over the latter in the Seattle Expansion Draft this past summer. With Anton Forsberg playing well and NHL experience of vital importance to potential future starter Gustavsson, why rush Murray back this season? What is more is that Ottawa also has several other impressive prospects pushing their way through the system, such as Mads Sogaard and Kevin Mandolese, who could also come into play next season and beyond and would seemingly be of greater importance than trying to force Murray to perform in the NHL. Unless Murray, at one point a budding star with an incredible postseason resume, can greatly improve his play – first in the AHL and then consistently in the NHL – Dorion and company should be careful not to confuse the priorities of a rebuilding team.

Victor Mete Added To COVID Protocol

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When Victor Mete wasn’t on the ice this morning with the Ottawa Senators, it raised concerns over whether he too would be ruled out. The Senators have made it official, placing Mete in the COVID protocol for the time being. With his roster spot, Ottawa has recalled Filip Gustavsson from the AHL. Anton Forsberg will not be able to dress for tonight’s game because of a non-COVID illness.

Mete joins Austin Watson, Nick Holden, Connor Brown, Dylan Gambrell, and assistant coach Jack Capuano in the protocol, leaving them very shorthanded for tonight’s game against the Boston Bruins. Young players like Egor Sokolov are getting an opportunity because of the absences, but this isn’t exactly how the team hoped to be operating a month into the season. The group is already without Shane Pinto, Clark Bishop, and Colin White due to injury, meaning tonight will see a forward group that includes just a handful of players from their expected roster.

The Senators have lost four games in a row and now sit just one point out of last place in the Atlantic Division. There have been flashes of hope throughout the lineup, but overall the team hasn’t been able to take the next step in their rebuild.

Mete’s status has not been confirmed at this time, but he’s currently out indefinitely. Young defender Erik Brannstrom is expected to be back in the lineup for the first time this season, after being sent back to the AHL to start the year.

Ottawa Senators Assign Filip Gustavsson To AHL

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Per the Ottawa Senators communications department, the team re-assigned goalie Filip Gustavsson to the AHL’s Belleville Senators on Sunday.

The Senators have largely operated with a trio of netminders this season as starter Matt Murray’s health has been an issue at multiple points already so far in the season. But as he returns to full health, the team has opted to send Gustavsson, who does not require waivers, to Belleville.

It’s worth noting that the team currently has an active roster of 22 players and could indeed carry a third goalie as a healthy scratch.

Gustavsson has performed the best out of Ottawa’s three netminders this season with a .911 save percentage through five games played. Neither Murray’s or Anton Forsberg’s save percentage eclipses the .900 mark.

While many believe that the 23-year-old Swede has played himself into a backup or even starting role with Ottawa, the organization continues to value the positional depth, not willing to expose Forsberg to waivers in order to assign him to Belleville.

It’s highly likely that Gustavsson will return to the Ottawa roster at some point this season as he continues what’s been a strong development path since arriving in the Ottawa Senators organization.

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