Max Guenette

The Senators loaned defenseman Max Guenette to AHL Belleville on Wednesday, per a team announcement. The club’s active roster is now at 22.

With Ottawa back in action tomorrow against the Capitals, Guenette could be summoned again after delaying the expiry of his temporary waiver exemption by one day. Injured reserve-bound Jacob Bernard-Docker and Travis Hamonic aren’t close to a return, so demoting Guenette leaves them without an extra healthy defenseman.

His presence is primarily contingent on the health of fellow blue-liner Thomas Chabot, who left Tuesday’s shutout win over the Islanders after taking an Adam Pelech shot to the face in the first period. He didn’t return to the contest, and head coach Travis Green said postgame that they would have an update on his status today.

Ottawa recalled Guenette, 23, from Belleville last week after Hamonic landed on IR the day before. He’s purely been up as injury insurance, though, and has been a healthy scratch in five straight since the elevation.

Selected 187th overall in the 2019 draft, Guenette has eight NHL games to his name, all coming with the Sens in the last two campaigns. His recall this month was his first this season after clearing waivers during training camp.

While in Belleville, the defensively responsible Guenette has excelled with nine points and a team-leading +16 rating in 27 games. The 6’2″, 209-lb righty serves as an alternate captain for the AHL club in what’s now his fourth professional season.

The Senators recalled defenseman Max Guenette from AHL Belleville on Tuesday, per a team announcement. The move indicates Jacob Bernard-Docker will be unavailable for tonight’s game against the Red Wings after sustaining a lower-body injury in Monday’s practice. Guenette puts Ottawa one over the active roster limit, so a corresponding transaction, likely an injured reserve placement of some kind, is still coming.

It’s Guenette’s first recall of the season but not the first of his career. The 23-year-old has logged eight appearances for the Sens since the 2022-23 campaign, posting a minus-two rating and eight shots on goal while averaging 13:10 of time on ice per game.

A seventh-round pick by Ottawa in 2019, Guenette has already given the Senators positive value on their selection just by beating the odds to appear in an NHL contest. The Sens have controlled 46.2% of shot attempts with Guenette on the ice at even strength in his limited minutes – not great, but not painting him as a humongous liability, either. He’s a fine replacement-level call-up at this stage of his career with more room still to grow.

Whether he’ll get the chance to show that ceiling on this call-up is uncertain, however. Ottawa also summoned Nikolas Matinpalo from Belleville yesterday, so even with Bernard-Docker out and Travis Hamonic heading to injured reserve, Guenette is likely to sit in the press box for tonight’s game unless another injury strikes.

Guenette, a Quebec native, has nine points and a team-high +16 rating in 27 games for Belleville this season. Emerging as their top shutdown option, Guenette also serves as an alternate captain for the B-Sens in what’s now his fourth season of professional hockey.

In terms of who may land on IR to make room for Guenette’s recall, Bernard-Docker and goaltender Linus Ullmark are the likely options. JBD’s placement will be contingent on the results of his post-injury evaluation, while Ullmark has already missed multiple games with a back strain and could be eligible for activation at any time.

The Senators announced today that they’ve signed defenseman Max Guenette to a one-year, two-way contract extension. The deal carries a $775K cap hit and NHL salary while paying him $120K in the minors next season.

Guenette, 23, is coming off his third season of professional play in the Sens organization, spent almost entirely with AHL Belleville. The 2019 seventh-round pick is on a strong development track, forcing himself into definitive top-four usage over the past few years. He’s been their top offensive option at the minor-league level from the blue line since 2022-23 and led B-Sens defensemen in scoring this season with seven goals, 27 assists and 34 points in 58 games.

While Guenette struggled in AHL postseason action (one assist, -5 rating in seven games), he’s positioned himself as a top recall option and even a dark horse candidate to crack the Sens’ roster out of training camp in the fall if injuries affect a couple of veterans. The Ancienne Lorette, Quebec, native has seen NHL action sparingly the past two years, totaling a -2 rating in eight games while averaging 13:10 per contest. He’s still looking for his first NHL point.

Guenette was headed for restricted free agency this summer after completing his entry-level contract. While he’s no longer entitled to his $55K signing bonus, his new AHL salary is a step up from the $70K he was making last year.

The right-shot defender will be an RFA again when his extension expires in 2025. He becomes the 32nd player signed to a standard player contract with the Sens next season, still far short of the 50-contract limit.

Feb. 16: The Senators returned Guénette to Belleville on Friday, ending his emergency exception. He played 11:53 in last night’s 5-1 loss to Anaheim, recording one shot on goal.

Feb. 15: The Ottawa Senators have recalled defenseman Max Guénette to the NHL lineup. The team does not currently have the cap space for this recall, but played their last game down one player, allowing them to use an emergency recall on Guénette.

This is just the third recall of Guénette’s career, with the last coming in April of last season. Guénette played in his first NHL game on that recall, playing in roughly nine minutes of an overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres. He went without a point and set a -1, but added one hit, one block, and two shots. Guénette has otherwise spent the last three seasons with the AHL’s Belleville Senators, making his professional debut with the club in the 2021-22 season. He had a quiet AHL rookie season, scoring just 19 points in 48 games, but led all Belleville defensemen with 40 points in 72 games last season. He’s maintained that lead-scoring role into this season, netting 23 points in 41 games.

The Senators originally drafted Guénette in the seventh round of the 2019 NHL Draft. He’s been one of seven players from that round to make their NHL debut, joining Rafael Harvey-Pinard and Dustin Wolf.

Guénette will take over for Artem Zub, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Zub has played in 40 games this season, averaging nearly 21 minutes each game and scoring 18 points. He’s served as Ottawa’s second-most productive defenseman behind Jakob Chychrun.