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Hayden Hodgson

Senators Recall Hayden Hodgson

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The Ottawa Senators have recalled enforcer Hayden Hodgson from the minor leagues. It is his first call-up this season. Hodgson has amassed 156 penalty minutes in 43 AHL games this season, good for most on the Belleville Senators and second-most in the entire league. He will play in the eighth NHL game of his career, and his first with the Senators, on Friday night.

Hodgson is on the tail end of his first season in the Senators organization. He’s added three goals and 11 points to his lofty penalty minutes, putting him just shy of the scoring pace that earned him 16 points in 49 games last season. But Hodgson’s penalty minutes are a career-high, blowing out his previous high of 116 PIMs recorded in 49 games last season.

Hodgson has worked his way into a full-time role in the AHL over the last four seasons, but he’s made a full turn towards bruiser as of late. He earned an AHL deal in the Philadelphia Flyers for the 2021-22 season, after spending four seasons in the ECHL – and part of one in Slovakia’s Extraliga. Hodgson proceeded to have what appeared to be a breakout season. He scored 19 goals and 31 points in 46 games with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, and stayed true to his style with 70 PIMs. That scoring earned him the first six games of his NHL career in the same year, and Hodgson recorded a modest three points and 11 PIMs. But his scoring saw a spike in 2022-23 – after he posted eight points and 83 PIMs in 44 games. He earned one more NHL appearance but didn’t manage any stat changes – before moving to the Ontario Reign last season and Belleville this year.

Friday’s game will mark Hodgson’s first chance at NHL minutes in two years. He’s a burly six-foot-two, 221-pounds and is often a safe bet to earn at least one penalty per game.

Senators Recall Seven Players

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Saturday: The team announced that Boucher, Crookshank, Halliday, Hodgson, and Roos were all returned to Belleville today.  Reinhardt and Sebrango remain, suggesting they’ll likely play in Ottawa’s preseason finale tonight against Montreal.

Friday: The Senators have recalled forwards Tyler Boucher, Angus Crookshank, Stephen Halliday, Hayden Hodgson, Cole Reinhardt, and defensemen Filip Roos and Donovan Sebrango ahead of tomorrow’s preseason game against the Red Wings, the team announced. The group will draw into the lineup after most were assigned to AHL Belleville last week.

Boucher, 21, will get another brief look ahead of his second professional season. Injuries have plagued the 2021 10th overall pick since draft day, especially last year. He managed just 21 appearances with the B-Sens in 2023-24, struggling to make himself a factor with two goals and five points and a -4 rating. He’s made just 83 league appearances total over the past three years.

Crookshank was among the more surprising cuts, especially so early in camp. The 25-year-old left-winger looked like he’d challenge for an opening night spot after a breakout AHL campaign, recording 46 points in 50 games for Belleville last year. He also held his own in NHL action, scoring twice and adding an assist in 13 games. He’s still waiver-exempt and will be among the first players summoned from the minors if injuries strike in Ottawa.

Halliday looked like he may challenge for a fourth-line role at one point in camp, but he’ll get one last look here before heading back to the B-Sens for his first full professional season. The 2022 fourth-round pick has been a standout at Ohio State for the past two years, where he had 77 points in 78 games. He closed out the year with five assists in 10 games for Belleville last year after signing his entry-level contract. The 22-year-old will likely be in contention for a recall this season and a potential roster spot in 2025.

Hodgson cleared waivers Saturday and is unlikely to be back with the club this season after being inevitably returned to Belleville following one more preseason game. The 28-year-old winger does seven games of NHL experience, all with the Flyers during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, but has struggled heavily to put up points in the minors for the past couple of years following a brief breakout in the Philly system. He had 16 points and 116 PIMs in 49 games for AHL Ontario last year while under contract with the Kings.

Reinhardt, 24, is entering his fifth season in the Sens organization. He’s developed into a consistent middle-six winger for Belleville, though his NHL upside remains minimal this late in his development. He posted eight goals and 23 points in 56 AHL games last year.

Roos is entering his third season in North America but his first with Ottawa. The Swedish defender spent the last two seasons in the Blackhawks organization, spending most of his time with AHL Rockford but still managing 21 NHL appearances (1 G, 2 A, -9). A decent enough puck-mover, he’s likely among Ottawa’s top three or four options for an in-season recall on the blue line. he had 16 points and a -12 rating in 59 AHL contests last year.

Sebrango, 22, was a Detroit third-round pick in 2020 but doesn’t look close to making an NHL impact. After he was acquired in last summer’s Alex DeBrincat trade, he struggled to find a regular role with Belleville and had seven points with a +3 rating in 35 games. He’s logged ECHL time in each of the past two years.

Minor Free Agent Signings: Atlantic Division

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With over 180 deals signed during the first day of free agency yesterday, some smaller names may have gotten lost in the shuffle. Here’s a list of names that have inked two-way deals with Atlantic Division clubs since the market opened yesterday, per CapFriendly. Some of these may have been included in our main coverage yesterday, while others went under the radar. All contracts carry the league-minimum $775K cap hit unless stated otherwise). Those listed here are likely to begin 2024-25 with each team’s AHL affiliate.

Boston Bruins

F Cole Koepke (one year)
D Jordan Oesterle (two years)
D Billy Sweezey (two years)
F Riley Tufte (one year)
F Jeffrey Viel (one year)

Buffalo Sabres

F Joshua Dunne (two years)
F Mason Jobst (one year)
F Brett Murray (one year)
D Jack Rathbone (one year)
G Felix Sandström (one year)

Detroit Red Wings

F Sheldon Dries (two years)
F Joe Snively (one year)

Florida Panthers

F Rasmus Asplund (one year)

Montreal Canadiens

none

Ottawa Senators

D Jeremy Davies (one year)
F Hayden Hodgson (one year)
F Garrett Pilon (two years)
D Filip Roos (one year)

Tampa Bay Lightning

D Derrick Pouliot (one year)
D Steven Santini (one year)
F Jesse Ylönen (one year)

Toronto Maple Leafs

none

Hayden Hodgson, Anthony Angello Clear Waivers

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Saturday: Both Hodgson and Angello cleared waivers, Friedman reports.  They have both been assigned to the minors.  No one was placed on waivers today.

Friday: Two players hit the wire today, as Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that Hayden Hodgson of the Philadelphia Flyers and Anthony Angello of the St. Louis Blues have been placed on waivers.

Earlier today, Flyers head coach John Tortorella didn’t hold back with his comments, telling reporters including Charlie O’Connor of The Athletic that he didn’t think Hodgson had a good camp, and that he wasn’t ready to play last night.

Even in a game where the team lost Owen Tippett early, Tortorella gave Hodgson fewer than five minutes of ice time. Placement on waivers shouldn’t surprise anyone, though it is a little disappointing after such a great story last year.

Undrafted, the 26-year-old Hodgson grinded his way through several years in the ECHL and then was outstanding for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, earning himself an NHL call-up. He scored three points in six games and looked like a classic late-blooming bottom-sixer. Unfortunately, that run won’t continue just yet, as he’ll be heading to the minor leagues if he clears.

Angello, meanwhile, was always expected to start in the AHL but had been injured and started the year on season-opening injured reserve. A waiver placement suggests that he’s ready to resume playing, and will head to the Springfield Thunderbirds should he clear. The 6’5″ forward has just 31 games of NHL experience under his belt, four of which came last season with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Evening Notes: PWHPA, Hischier, Hodgson

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There’s some exciting news coming on the women’s hockey front. In an interview with The Hockey News’ Ian Kennedy, Canadian National Team captain Marie Philip-Poulin confirmed that the current touring structure for PWHPA games will turn into a league for the 2023-24 season, bringing two professional women’s leagues back into the fold for the first time since the CWHL and NWHL were both active.

The PWHPA Dream Gap Tour is the main pool of talent that Canada and the United States select for their national teams. They’ve effectively been limited to playing exhibition games without a league structure governing competition, although that shouldn’t diminish the level of talent and competition on display. A league structure should bring more financial stability and a better plan for growing the women’s game in North America.

  • New Jersey Devils captain Nico Hischier left the team’s in-progress preseason game against the Montreal Canadiens at the first intermission. The team reports that Hischier’s absence is simply due to cramping and that he won’t return to the game for precautionary reasons. Hischier registered a shot on goal and played 6:24 in the first period, his preseason debut.
  • Philadelphia Hockey Now’s Sam Carchidi tabs winger Hayden Hodgson as a candidate to crack the Flyers’ roster out of camp this year. Hodgson made waves in the Flyers organization this season after a breakout year in AHL Lehigh Valley, earning an NHL contract near the end of the season and a six-game call-up, where he registered three points. Hodgson hadn’t even played in the AHL since 2017-18, spending every season since then entirely in the ECHL (and partly in Slovakia).

Philadelphia Flyers Sign Hayden Hodgson

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After working his way up from the low minors to earn an NHL contract last season, Hayden Hodgson has cashed in again. The Philadelphia Flyers have signed Hodgson to a two-year contract that will carry an average annual value of $800K in the NHL. The deal is two-way in 2022-23, meaning he will earn a lower number when playing in the AHL, and one-way in 2023-24.

If you want a story of perseverance, look no further than the 26-year-old Hodgson, who was a third-round pick in his OHL draft, went undrafted by NHL teams, and spent parts of four seasons in the ECHL before becoming an AHL regular in 2021-22.

Because of his outstanding play for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, he earned an NHL contract in March and played six games with the Flyers down the stretch, scoring three points and racking up 11 penalty minutes.

The 6’2″ winger blends skill, work ethic, and physicality to provide a pretty interesting late-blooming package, one that has a chance to play more regular minutes with the Flyers this season.

Landing a one-way contract is no joke for a player who had bounced around the ECHL up until a year ago, playing for the Florida Everblades, Manchester Monarchs, Wichita Thunder, Reading Royals, Wheeling Nailers, and Utah Grizzlies (not to mention Detva HC of the Slovak league) between stints in the AHL.

It also takes care of the last remaining RFA for the Flyers, who signed Wade Allison and Linus Hogberg yesterday.

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