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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.

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

Minor Transactions: 10/6/25

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The deadline for NHL clubs to ready their opening-night rosters has passed, and as a result there has been quite a bit of roster maneuvering around the NHL today. While some moves are more notable, such as the handful of waiver claims made today, there are a few moves that are more minor, such as expected reassignments or previously reported injuries being made official with IR placements. We’ll keep track of those moves here:

  • In preparing their final opening-night roster that can be viewed here, the Utah Mammoth reassigned a pair of first-round picks. 2023 12th overall pick Daniil But was reassigned to the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners, which is where he will begin his North American professional career. Meanwhile 2024 sixth overall pick Tij Iginla was loaned back to his WHL team, the Kelowna Rockets. But is a big 6’5 winger whose KHL teammate (and fellow 2023 first-rounder) Dmitry Simashev made the Utah roster today, and it’s expected that But won’t be in the AHL for too long. As for Iginla, this season is an opportunity for him to get his development back on track after unfortunate injury luck derailed his 2024-25 campaign.
  • The Ottawa Senators reassigned the players they placed on waivers Sunday to their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators. Making up the group is Jan Jenik, Hayden Hodgson, Arthur Kaliyev, Mads Sogaard, and Lassi Thomson. 2024 seventh-overall pick Carter Yakemchuk was reassigned to Belleville, his Sept. 29 birthdate making him eligible to play in the AHL despite being a 2024 draft pick. In addition to those reassignments, the Senators placed Drake Batherson and Tyler Kleven on IR to further prepare their final roster. Batherson has been out since Sept. 24 with an upper-body injury on a projected two-week recovery timeline, while Kleven has been out since Sept. 21 with an undisclosed injury.
  • The Minnesota Wild reassigned forward Tyler Pitlick and netminder Cal Petersen to their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild, today. Both players were placed on waivers yesterday and went unclaimed. Pitlick, 33, is a veteran of over 400 NHL games and scored 46 points in 59 AHL games last season for the Hartford Wolf Pack – he’ll likely be among the first players in line for a call-up in Iowa. Petersen, 30, was once a $5MM-a-year netminder for the Los Angeles Kings but did not play in the NHL in 2024-25. Signed to a one-year, $775K one-way deal, he’ll be the team’s organizational number-three netminder.
  • The Calgary Flames placed forwards Jonathan Huberdeau and Martin Pospisil on injured reserve today as part of their roster preparations, and also called up 2023 first-rounder Samuel Honzek. Huberdeau left Calgary’s preseason game at the start of the month with an undisclosed injury, and will miss at least the team’s season opener. Pospisil also exited the Flames’ Oct. 1 preseason game with an undisclosed injury, and will also miss the team’s first game at minimum. As a result, Honzek, 20, gets a spot on the roster in their absence. The 6’5 Slovak forward played his first season of North American pro hockey in 2024-25, scoring 21 points in 52 AHL games and also skating in five NHL contests.
  • The New York Rangers reassigned forward Brett Berard to AHL Hartford as part of their season-opening roster moves. Despite a solid training camp and preseason, the 23-year-old lost the battle for a middle-six role in New York to veteran Conor Sheary, a longtime favorite of first-year coach Mike Sullivan. The Rangers signed Sheary to a one-year deal earlier today. It’s a disappointing outcome for Berard, who looked to be making a real push for full-time NHL status last season. He skated in a career-high 35 NHL games, scoring 10 points to go alongside the 23 points he scored in 30 AHL contests.
  • The Toronto Maple Leafs reassigned defenseman Ben Danford to the OHL’s Oshawa Generals as part of their season-opening roster preparations. Danford missed Maple Leafs training camp and preseason with a concussion, but has since been cleared for contact, paving the way for this reassignment. It’s the expected move for the 2024 31st overall pick, who is entering his fourth season of OHL duty. Danford scored 25 points in 61 games in Oshawa last season and will resume his post as one of the OHL’s top shutdown blueliners for 2025-26.
  • The Colorado Avalanche announced several roster moves to go alongside their announcement of an initial roster: Keaton Middleton, who cleared waivers today, has been reassigned to AHL Colorado, alongside Matthew Stienburg. Meanwhile Ronnie Attard, Sean Behrens, Jacob MacDonald, Logan O’Connor, and Nikita Prishchepov have been designated injured non-roster. Ilya Solovyov, who the team claimed off of waivers from the Calgary Flames last week, was also designated non-roster but he is not injured. Solovyov’s placement is due to the fact that, per the Denver Post’s Corey Masisiak, his visa to allow him to play in the United States has not yet been finalized. It should be noted that this is not an abnormal scenario for a player involved in a cross-border transaction between NHL clubs.
  • As part of their own season-opening roster moves, the Nashville Predators placed defenseman Nic Hague and forward Matthew Wood on injured reserve. Hague is out with an upper-body injury on a week-to-week timeline, while Wood is also considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury.

Senators Notes: First-Round Pick, Forsberg, Merilainen, Søgaard

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After qualifying for the postseason for the first time since the 2016-17 season, speculation began that the Ottawa Senators could look to make a notable addition this summer to continue their winning ways. It doesn’t appear that an addition of that magnitude will be made at the draft, as General Manager Steve Staios shared on TSN 1200 that the Senators are more inclined to move down in the first round, rather than move up.

The Senators should have quality options available to them with the 21st overall pick of the 2025 NHL Draft. Still, it makes little sense to move up in this summer’s draft, which has been perceived as weaker than normal, unless they’re willing to make an offer for a top-four selection. According to PHR’s 2025 NHL Mock Draft by Gabriel Foley, the Senators are projected to select center Cole McKinney from the U.S. National Team Development Program, should they retain their pick.

As a counterpoint, the same reason it makes little sense for Ottawa to move up in the draft could be the same reason another team isn’t interested in helping them move down for additional assets. Teams may not see much discrepancy in talent from picks 20 to 32nd, giving them little reason to include additional draft picks to move up a few spots in the draft order.

Other notes from the Senators:

  • Stemming from the same interview with TSN, Bruce Garrioch reports that the Senators are interested in re-signing Anton Forsberg, but it’s not a priority. The expectation is that Forsberg will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st and make a decision then. Forsberg is coming off a quality season as Ottawa’s backup netminder, managing an 11-12-3 season in 30 games with a .901 SV% and 2.72 GAA. AFP Analytics projects a two-year, $3.4MM contract for Forsberg, which should be feasible for a team with $10.7MM in cap space.
  • If the Senators and Forsberg can’t agree on a contract moving forward, Staios suggests he’s comfortable with Ottawa’s in-house options. Garrioch shares that the Senators would use Leevi Merilainen or Mads Søgaard as the backup next season, with a competition taking place during training camp and preseason. Both netminders played sparingly for Ottawa in the 2024-25 season, with the former maintaining a .925 SV% through 12 games. Still, Søgaard is the only one signed through next season, with Merilainen entering the summer months as a restricted free agent.

Senators Recall Twelve Players

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With the Senators in the playoffs and their farm team in Belleville not making the playoffs, Ottawa has determined which players will be joining the team as their Black Aces.  The team announced (Twitter link) that forwards Zack MacEwen, Angus Crookshank, Stephen Halliday, Cole Reinhardt, Jan Jenik, Tyler Boucher, Garrett Pilon, and Wyatt Bongiovanni, along with defenseman Donovan Sebrango and goaltender Mads Sogaard have all been recalled from Belleville.

In addition, the Sens have also recalled two players from the major junior ranks.  Defenseman Carter Yakemchuk was brought up from WHL Calgary while blueliner Tomas Hamara was recalled from OHL Brantford.

Among the recalls, MacEwen saw the most game action with Ottawa this season, playing in 21 games where he had three points and 49 hits in a little under eight minutes a night of action.  Reinhardt had two points in 17 outings while Crookshank had an assist in eight contests.  Jenik, Sebrango, and Sogaard all got into a pair of games and were held off the scoresheet while Sogaard allowed eight goals on just 40 shots.

Looking at the AHL recalls who didn’t play with Ottawa this season, Halliday and Pilon were Belleville’s top scorers, checking in with 51 and 48 points, respectively.  Meanwhile, Bongiovanni tied Crookshank for the team lead in goals with 22.  Boucher, meanwhile, had just 10 points in 47 games this season, not a great showing for the tenth overall pick from 2021.

Yakemchuk very briefly made Ottawa’s roster out of training camp before being sent back without playing a game.  He was the seventh pick in last year’s draft and had a solid year with the Hitmen, picking up 49 points in 56 games.  As for Hamara, he also checked in just below the point-per-game mark with the Bulldogs, notching 55 in 58 appearances.

These recalls could be short-lived, however.  Ottawa is down 3-0 in their opening round series against Toronto so the series could be over as soon as tonight.  But regardless of how long their postseason push lasts, the Sens now have their extra skaters in place.

Senators Recall Four Players

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Dec. 27: All three are back on the active roster today, as well as Søgaard, the team announced. Both Forsberg’s and Ullmark’s status for tomorrow’s tilt against the Jets is thus in doubt. They only had three open active roster spots, so there’s one corresponding move that’s yet to be announced, likely placing Forsberg on injured reserve.

Dec. 23: The Senators made a trio of demotions today after finishing up their pre-holiday break schedule last night with a 3-1 loss to the Oilers. They reassigned all of goaltender Leevi Merilainen, center Zack Ostapchuk and left-winger Cole Reinhardt to AHL Belleville, per the team’s communications department.

Whether these transactions get reversed when Ottawa returns to play on Saturday against the Jets depends on the health of wingers Michael Amadio and David Perron, who are dealing with head and upper-body injuries, respectively. Merilainen was on the roster to relieve backup netminder Anton Forsberg, who’s missed the last four games with an undisclosed injury and is out indefinitely. However, starter Linus Ullmark left last night’s game with a back issue after the first period and didn’t return. If neither is good by the weekend, they’ll need to recall a second netminder from Belleville, Mads Søgaard, and Merilainen again.

Merilainen had been on the roster since Dec. 15, when Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reported that Forsberg had sustained an injury and wouldn’t accompany the team on their road trip. Ullmark’s injury meant the 22-year-old was forced into action on back-to-back nights after allowing four goals on 25 shots in Saturday’s overtime win over the Canucks. Between the two appearances, the Finnish native has allowed six goals on 39 shots faced for a .846 SV% and 3.72 GAA.

The 71st overall pick of the 2020 draft, Merilainen spent all of last season in the minors but made his NHL debut in 2022-23, posting a .878 SV% and 4.23 GAA in two late-season starts. The 2022 World Junior Championship silver medalist is now in his third AHL season with Belleville, where he has a decent .908 SV%, 2.65 GAA, three shutouts, and a 20-11-5 record in 41 games. 13 of those appearances have come in 2024-25, posting a .901 SV% and 2.43 GAA with one shutout for a 7-2-4 record.

Ostapchuk has been a frequent flyer on the transaction wire this season. Today’s reassignment ends his sixth recall of the campaign, during which he’s played 20 games in Ottawa and nine in Belleville. The 21-year-old, who the Sens picked 39th overall in the 2021 draft, has three assists with seven penalty minutes while averaging a paltry 9:11 per game. He’s won 48.1% of his draws, recorded 42 hits, and blocked seven shots while controlling 49.0% of shot attempts at 5-on-5. The 6’3″, 205-lb forward has a goal and seven assists with a +5 rating in his nine minor-league showings after recording just 28 points in 69 AHL games last season.

Reinhardt has also moved between leagues quite often but hasn’t received nearly as much use at the NHL level as Ostapchuk has. The 24-year-old Calgary native does have something that Ostapchuk doesn’t this season in the NHL, though – a goal. He’s added an assist for two points in six NHL appearances this season, his first since making his big-league debut in the 2021-22 campaign. He’s averaged 8:39 per contest and recorded 16 hits. Down on the farm with the B-Sens, he leads the team with 1.23 points per game (16 in 13 contests).

Ostapchuk is waiver-exempt and will remain so through the end of this season, but Reinhardt isn’t. Since he’s been on the active roster for fewer than 30 cumulative days since last clearing waivers and has played less than 10 games, he can return to Belleville without being exposed to the wire again. The Sens’ active roster is now at 20, and clearing the trio’s cap hits has also allowed them to exit their LTIR pool for the time being and start accumulating cap space once again.

Afternoon Notes: Ullmark, Sogaard, Stanley, Blumel, Petrovic

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Ottawa Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark has returned to full health, prompting the team to return Mads Sogaard to the AHL, shares Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun. Ullmark has been working back from a muscle strain that’s held him out of the team’s last three games. Previous reports shared that Ottawa wanted to be patient not to aggravate the injury as they worked Ullmark back to full speed.

Ullmark has been strong in the two games he’s played with Ottawa, saving 53 of 58 shots faced en route to a 1-1-0 record and .914 save percentage. The same hasn’t been true for Ottawa’s other goaltending options, with Anton Forsberg allowing 10 goals on 73 shots (.863 save percentage) and Mads Sogaard allowing four goals on 17 shots (0.765) in Ullmark’s absence. The Senators have managed to win in front of all three goalies regardless, largely thanks to each of Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk, and Jake Sanderson recording seven points through the first five games of the season. Ullmark’s return could give Ottawa the back-end consistency to ramp up their early winning-record, though it seems the team could still be in the process of easing their franchise goaltender back to strength.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Winnipeg Jets defenseman Logan Stanley has been activated off of injured reserve and will step into the lineup for Haydn Fleury, per Mike McIntyre of The Winnipeg Free Press. Stanley missed the first four games of the season with a knee injury that required surgery during training camp. Stanley has played in just 44 games over the last two seasons, recording five points, 57 penalty minutes, and an average of 13:45 in ice time. He faces an uphill battle to an everyday role, but will get a chance to take the first step when the Jets take on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday.
  • The Dallas Stars have returned forward Matej Blumel and defender Alexander Petrovic to the AHL. Blumel stepped into one game with Dallas during his recall, recording eight minutes of ice time and two shots on net. Petrovic spent the extent of his time in the press box, leaving two games and one point in the AHL as his only stats this year. The Texas Stars will get two big additions with this move – readding the stout, veteran presence of Petrovic and the 30-goal upside of Blumel back to the lineup.

Senators Recall Adam Gaudette, Mads Søgaard

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Oct. 16: Gaudette and Søgaard are back up with the Sens today, the team announced, so there’s no discernible change in either Greig’s or Ullmark’s injury status.

Oct. 15: According to a team announcement, the Senators have sent center Adam Gaudette and goaltender Mads Søgaard to AHL Belleville. The move ends a one-day stint on the active roster for Søgaard under emergency conditions. Meanwhile, Gaudette cleared waivers during the preseason but was never actually sent to the minors and remained on the opening night roster.

Gaudette, 28, appeared in two of Ottawa’s three games to begin the season, including yesterday’s wild 8-7 overtime win over the Kings. He managed an assist during that chaos and had a +2 rating, averaging 7:30 and going 5-for-7 in the faceoff dot across his pair of showings. He signed a two-way deal in free agency this summer after spending last season in the Blues organization, making two NHL appearances and leading the AHL in goals with 44 in 67 games with the Springfield Thunderbirds.

Now firmly established as a top minor-league offensive threat with fringe NHL upside, Gaudette hasn’t been a full-time NHLer since the 2021-22 campaign. The fifth-round pick of the Canucks back in 2015 has 27 goals, 44 assists, 71 points, and a -35 rating in 222 NHL games in parts of seven seasons.

Søgaard was needed for game action yesterday after Linus Ullmark was scratched due to a muscle strain. Backup Anton Forsberg, who started in relief of Ullmark, also left the contest in the second period after a hard collision with Los Angeles defenseman Brandt Clarke. Søgaard allowed four goals on 17 shots in relief but still recorded the win.

It’s been a rough go of things thus far in the NHL for the 23-year-old Dane, who has intriguing upside with his 6’7″ frame but hasn’t been good when given the chance. He’s now logged NHL time in four straight seasons, and while his 11-10-3 record is strong for a non-playoff team, his other numbers aren’t – a .881 SV%, 3.53 GAA, and -17.5 GSAA in 24 career starts and four relief appearances. Søgaard will now return to Belleville, where he posted a .964 SV% in a shootout loss to Syracuse in his season debut last weekend.

He’ll likely be brought back up later this week if Ullmark isn’t ready to return against the Devils on Thursday. They also haven’t issued any further updates on Forsberg’s status. The same could be said for Gaudette, who’s been filling in while Ridly Greig is week-to-week with an upper-body injury. Sending him to Belleville and keeping him off the active roster for a couple of days delays when he’ll need waivers again to return to the minors.

Senators Recall Mads Sogaard On Emergency Basis

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The Ottawa Senators have recalled goaltender Mads Sogaard under emergency conditions after starter Linus Ullmark missed the team’s Sunday practice. Head coach Travis Green described Ullmark’s absence as a maintenance day, though it now seems the Senators could be without their former Vezina Trophy winner when they host the Los Angeles Kings on Monday. No details about Ullmark’s possible injury have been revealed.

Sogaard will join the NHL roster after starting his AHL season off strong. He only allowed one goal in his first start – the overtime game-winner of a 1-0 Belleville loss. It was a stifling performance after Sogaard saved 27 consecutive shots, but it still stood as a sign of life after the young netminder allowed three goals on 18 shots in his only preseason game with Ottawa.

Sogaard, 23, has served as Ottawa’s de facto third-string goalie for the last three seasons, totaling 27 games with the NHL club in that span. His results have been a mixed bag, ultimately resulting in a losing record of 10-10-3 and a save percentage of .884. He’s been much stronger in the AHL, where he’s managed a 50-33-8 record and .909 save percentage through 97 career games.

News of a potential Ullmark injury will weigh on Senators fans. The new addition has allowed just five goals on 58 shots through Ottawa’s first two games, good for a .914 save percentage and a split 1-1 record. He’ll be Ottawa’s goalie of the future, ensured by a recent four-year, $33MM contract extension. Ullmark did miss time in Ottawa’s training camp with an undisclosed injury, but otherwise hasn’t appeared banged up. It’ll be Anton Forsberg drawing the start if Ullmark is forced to sit. Forsberg recorded a 15-12-0 record and .890 save percentage in 30 games with the Senators last season.

East Notes: Pesce, Hatakka, Sogaard, Zub, Postponement

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Devils defenseman Brett Pesce still has not yet been cleared to play as he works his way back from offseason surgery, relays team reporter Amanda Stein (Twitter link).  New Jersey’s top free agent signing underwent fibula surgery to repair an injury sustained in the spring in the playoffs for Carolina.  Their game tonight was their final one before the main team travels to Prague this weekend for their upcoming Global Series games against Buffalo.  While New Jersey still has three preseason games remaining, those will be contested by their farm team and PTO players.  That means Pesce won’t have a chance to see any preseason action before the season gets underway unless they keep him off the road trip to start the season.

More from the East:

  • Stein also noted that blueliner Santeri Hatakka is dealing with something that has him classified as out longer than day-to-day but he is still being evaluated to determine the exact seriousness. The 23-year-old spent most of last season with AHL Utica where he had 20 points in 48 games but also got into 12 games with the Devils, collecting two assists in a little under 15 minutes a night.  Because of the NHL time last season, Hatakka will have a prorated cap charge relative to the percentage of days spent in New Jersey’s roster in 2023-24 if he starts the year on season-opening IR.  That would work out to roughly 15% of his $775K AAV.
  • Senators goaltender Mads Sogaard is dealing with a light strain which will keep him out for another week, notes Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. Sogaard is likely to begin the season as Ottawa’s third-string netminder but this will be his final year of waiver exemption.  Meanwhile, Garrioch adds that blueliner Artem Zub is expected to return in the coming days after suffering a lower-body injury earlier this week.
  • The Lightning announced that tonight’s game between them and the Predators was postponed with the region still recovering from Hurricane Helene. Instead of simply not playing the game, they will make it up on October 7th.  Nashville’s regular season doesn’t start until the 10th while Tampa Bay’s kicks off one day later so the late preseason matchup shouldn’t be an issue for either side.

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