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Stephen Halliday

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.

Ottawa Senators Reassign Stephen Halliday

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Mar. 25: Halliday’s first call-up was short-lived, as the Senators announced they’ve reassigned him to AHL Belleville. The roster move indirectly confirms that Tkachuk should be in the Senators’ lineup tonight when they match up against the Buffalo Sabres.

Mar. 24: The Senators announced they’ve recalled center Stephen Halliday from AHL Belleville. It would be his NHL debut if he enters the lineup tomorrow against the Sabres. That’s a distinct possibility as captain Brady Tkachuk was absent from today’s practice, Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reports, after logging only 13:23 of ice time against the Devils on Saturday.

It’s been a huge year for Halliday, who the Sens selected in the fourth round (No. 104 overall) in the 2022 draft. Selected after being passed over in the 2020 and 2021 drafts, the 6’4″, 212-lb pivot headed to Ohio State immediately following his selection after four years in the United States Hockey League. The big, playmaking pivot averaged nearly a point per game across two seasons for the Buckeyes, posting 19-58–77 in 78 appearances and finishing as a nominee for the Hobey Baker Award in 2023-24. Ottawa signed him to his entry-level contract last March, paving the way for him to jump to the pros.

Here in 2024-25, Halliday has flourished in Belleville. After impressing with nine points in seven Calder Cup Playoff games to end last season, he leads the B-Sens in scoring with 15-28–43 in 59 games. He has some work to do defensively; his -19 rating is the worst on the team by a significant margin. It’s nonetheless an impressive step for the 22-year-old, who’s tied for fifth in AHL rookie scoring.

That impressive offensive performance will, at the very least, get him his first appearance on an NHL roster, even if he doesn’t play. If he does, the left-shot forward could slot in on the wing instead of down the middle with Tkachuk absent. The captain has seen his minutes managed carefully since returning from the lower-body injury he sustained at the 4 Nations Face-Off, only seeing more than 19 minutes in a game twice this month. He’s clearly still nursing the injury, so with a five-point cushion on a playoff spot with 13 games to go, they may opt to give him some rest against a Buffalo squad that’s slated to finish last in the conference.

Halliday still has another year left on his ELC, which carries a $950K cap hit. Ottawa has just $130K in cap space after the recall, even while using Nick Cousins’ LTIR placement to stay compliant. The Sens, who haven’t been carrying an extra forward for a while now, will presumably send Halliday back to Belleville once Tkachuk is ready to play again.

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.

Senators Sign Stephen Halliday To Entry-Level Contract

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The Ottawa Senators have signed collegiate forward Stephen Halliday to a two-year, entry-level contract. The deal will begin in the 2024-25 season, with Halliday joining the AHL’s Belleville Senators on an amateur try-out for the remainder of the season. Ottawa drafted Halliday in the fourth round of the 2022 NHL Draft – his last year of draft eligibility. He earned the selection with a 95-point season in the USHL, becoming just the third player since 2000 to score 95-or-more points in one season. The dazzling year also earned Halliday the title of all-time leading scorer in the USHL, with a total of 215 points across 215 games in the league.

Halliday was drafted first overall in the 2018 USHL Draft, contextualizing his status as an all-time leading scorer a bit more. But his climb to the title wasn’t necessarily smooth. Halliday struggled to carve out an impactful role through his first two years in juniors, struggling to add finesse to his skating and direction to his aggressiveness. His career was also impeded by the disbandment of the Central Illinois Flying Aces, leading Halliday to an abrupt move to Dubuque in the summer after his rookie season. That left him learning a brand-new system for the second year in a row and it took time for him to adjust. He handled a modest role in his first year in Dubuque, but found his footing in the subsequent season, forming a formidable pairing with Tampa Bay prospect Connor Kurth on Dubuque’s top line.

Halliday has maintained that strong footing ever since, leading The Ohio State University in scoring in each of the last two seasons (77 points in 78 games played). While he can still look awkward at times, Halliday has found a way to control a beautiful finesse that his game has always boasted and becoming much more efficient with his movement around the ice. His game is lanky and slower, but Halliday’s puck skills and physicality more than make up for the deficit. He’ll now get the chance to carry his streak of strong performances into the next level, signing his first professional contract after his sophomore year of college.

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