Senators Acquire Riley Kidney From Canadiens
The Ottawa Senators completed a minor-league trade with the Montreal Canadiens, acquiring center Riley Kidney in exchange for center Jake Chiasson and goaltender Hunter Shepard per PuckPedia. The move will bolster the Laval Rocket with two AHL veterans ahead of a playoff run, while adding another young forward to the Belleville Senators with 14 games left in the regular season.
Kidney, 23, was a star scorer across four seasons in the QMJHL. He debuted with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in the 2019-20 season after being drafted with the 11th-overall pick in that year’s QMJHL Entry Draft. Kindey quickly translated to the junior flight and scored five goals and 33 points in 59 games as a rookie. His passing ability stood out early, highlighted by an appearance at the 2019 World U17 Hockey Challenge, where Kidney’s five points in six games ranked above Team Canada teamamtes Mason McTavish and Dylan Guenther.
Kidney moved into his age-18 season with momenutm. He scored nine points in the first nine games of the season – before the QMJHL season was suspended from late-November to mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He scored four points in his second game back from the pause and finished the year with 38 points in 33 games. That was enough to earn convince Montreal to draft Kidney in the 2021 second-round pick. He rewarded that selection by notching 100 points in 66 games of the QMJHL’s return to a full schedule in 2021-22. Kidney repeated that feat in 2022-23, combining for 110 points in 60 games between the Titan and the Gaitneau Olympiques.
Despite high-scoring junior seasons, the nimble passer hasn’t found his scoring touch in the pros just yet. He racked up 37 points in 117 games with Laval between 2023 and 2025, slim enough to earn a demotion to the ECHL’s Trois-Rivieres Lions this season. Kidney has scored 11 goals and 33 points in 46 games with the Lions, one point shy of the team lead. Now, he could find space in the bottom-six of a Belleville squad that has promoted Arthur Kaliyev, Xavier Bourgault, and Stephen Halliday into NHL stints this season.
Laval will add Chiasson and Shepard to round out the lineup following Kidney’s move and Jacob Fowler‘s call-up to the NHL. Chiasson scored one point in 20 AHL games and eight points in 14 ECHL games. Shepard has notched six wins and a .885 save percentage in 15 AHL games, and made 12 saves on 14 shots in a mid-game appearance with Ottawa in January. Shepard should assume the backup role behind Kaapo Kahkonen, though his addition could indicate that Fowler is set for an extended stint at the top level. He stopped 32 of 34 shots in his return to NHL action on Wednesday.
Oilers Activate Roby Jarventie Off SOIR, Assign Him To AHL
One of Edmonton’s newest prospects is now cleared to start his 2024-25 season. The team announced (Twitter link) that winger Roby Jarventie has recovered from his knee injury. As a result, he has been taken off season-opening injured reserve and assigned to AHL Bakersfield.
The 22-year-old was the second pick of the second round by Ottawa back in 2020, going 33rd overall. He spent the majority of his first three professional seasons at the AHL level and was quite productive in limited action with Belleville last season, recording 20 points in 22 games. That earned Jarventie a look with the big club as he got into seven games with the Sens, picking up an assist while averaging 7:31 per game.
Despite that, Ottawa elected to trade him along with a 2025 fourth-round pick to the Oilers back in July in exchange for prospects Xavier Bourgault and Jake Chiasson. Notably, Bourgault was a first-round pick in 2021 and while his stock has slipped somewhat since then, it’s clear that Edmonton feels that Jarventie has some upside.
This move also helps them out a bit from a salary cap perspective. Because Jarventie spent time on an NHL roster last season, he was counting against Edmonton’s cap at a prorated amount relative to the number of days he was up with Ottawa. Based on his $894K cap hit, that prorated amount checked in around $107K. That amount now comes off their books, giving them just under $1.15MM in cap space, per PuckPedia, putting them around the middle of the pack league-wide in that regard.
Oilers, Senators Swap Xavier Bourgault, Roby Jarventie
The Senators have already completed one transaction today, signing goaltender Mads Søgaard to a two-year deal, and they’ve now completed a second. They’ve sent left winger Roby Jarventie and their 2025 fourth-round pick to the Oilers in exchange for forward prospects Xavier Bourgault and Jake Chiasson, per announcements from both teams.
“This trade provides us with additional competition and depth at forward,” Senators general manager Steve Staios said in a press release. “Both Xavier and Jake are trending in the right direction with their respective development. With the potential for greater playing opportunity next season, they should both benefit considerably.”
Bourgault, 21, is the big fish in this trade. He was the Oilers’ first-round pick in 2021, taken 22nd overall, a pick acquired from the Wild in a pick swap on draft day that resulted in Minnesota selecting top goaltending prospect Jesper Wallstedt at 20. Unfortunately, Bourgault hasn’t progressed as hoped and is yet to make his NHL debut.
After wrapping up his junior career with the QMJHL’s Shawinigan Cataractes, Bourgault signed his entry-level contract in March 2022 and turned pro the subsequent season. He did okay in his first season on assignment to AHL Bakersfield, finishing 2022-23 with a solid 13 goals, 21 assists and 34 points in 62 games and finishing fourth on the team in scoring. But this past season was unkind to the Quebec native, whose offense was limited to only eight goals and 20 points in 55 games with Bakersfield. He was also held without a point in two playoff games.
Edmonton recently rejuvenated their forward prospect pool in a big way, acquiring 2022 ninth-overall pick Matthew Savoie in a trade with the Sabres earlier this month. That made Bourgault somewhat expendable for a team in the middle of a championship contention window, especially one with their forward corps set for the immediate future.
But with Ottawa, Bourgault should have a much clearer path to his NHL debut. He can play center and right-wing, both of which are positions of need for the Sens – at least in depth roles. He joins a group that includes veterans Noah Gregor and Zack MacEwen as well as up-and-comers Jan Jeník and Zack Ostapchuk that will be competing for roster spots out of camp.
The Sens also added Chiasson in this deal, but he’s far off from seeing NHL ice. The 21-year-old was selected three rounds after Bourgault in 2021 but stayed in juniors for his overage season, meaning he didn’t turn pro until last year. After signing his ELC with Edmonton, Chiasson played just one game with AHL Bakersfield and was instead sent to ECHL Fort Wayne for most of the campaign, where he had nine goals and 20 points in 68 games with a -12 rating.
In exchange for parting ways with a pair of prospects, the Oilers recoup Jarventie, a player that the team’s Bob Stauffer reports they’ve liked for quite some time. Selected 33rd overall by Ottawa in 2020, the 6’2″, 214-lb Finnish winger made his NHL debut last season, recording an assist and a -5 rating in seven games while averaging a paltry 7:31 per night. The 21-year-old has one season remaining on his entry-level contract, which will presumably be spent with Bakersfield.
While he doesn’t have Bourgault’s billing as a first-round pick, Jarventie does have a much better recent track record in the minors. Injuries and roster moves limited him to 22 games with AHL Belleville last season, but he clicked at nearly a point per game with nine goals and 11 assists in 22 contests. He has 86 points (38 goals, 48 assists) in 136 career games with Belleville since arriving in North America in 2021.
Oilers Sign Jake Chiasson
The Oilers have signed one of their prospects today, announcing the signing of forward Jake Chiasson to a three-year, entry-level contract. Financial terms of the deal were not released but the team noted that the contract will begin next season.
The 19-year-old was a fourth-round pick by Edmonton back in 2021 (116th overall) and accordingly, the team had to sign him by June 1st or give up his rights. Chiasson has split his time between Brandon and Saskatoon of the WHL this season and has seen his production improve after being dealt to the Blades. Between the two squads, he has 20 goals and 34 assists in 66 games.
It’s worth noting that Chiasson could go back to the WHL next season as a 20-year-old and while that isn’t always the best route to take, it’s at least worth considering here. Between injuries and pandemic-shortened campaigns, he has just 170 total appearances at the junior level, not much more than two full seasons worth of experience. Accordingly, there could be some room for improvement if Chiasson stays with the Blades for one more year but if he does, he will still burn the first season of his contract.