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Wyatt Bongiovanni

Senators Sign Hayden Hodgson, Hunter Shepard, Jackson Parsons

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The Ottawa Senators announced a flurry of free agent signings today, including a two-year, two-way deal with forward Hayden Hodgson and a one-year, two-way deal with goaltender Hunter Shepard, per a team release. The terms of those deals are not immediately known. Additionally, the team confirmed the previously reported signing of forward Arthur Kaliyev, along with forwards Wyatt Bongiovanni and Olle Lycksell, whose deals had also been reported earlier.

Hodgson, 29, returns to the Senators organization after appearing in two games with Ottawa and 43 more with the AHL’s Belleville Senators last season. For his career, the 6’2″, 220-pound winger has appeared in nine career NHL games spanning three seasons, producing a goal and two assists.

Bongiovanni, 25, also remains in the Senators’ franchise after appearing in 54 games with Belleville last season, where he produced 22 goals and 33 points. While he has yet to appear in an NHL game, his production last season was a major step in the right direction, as he nearly doubled his previous highs in goals and points at the AHL level.

Lycksell, 25, comes to Ottawa after spending his entire professional career within the Flyers organization, which selected him in the sixth round of the 2017 NHL draft. Last season, Lycksell appeared in a career-high 19 games for the Flyers, registering five assists while averaging 11:53 of ice time per night. In 43 games for the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms last season, he produced 19 goals and 44 points.

Shepard’s one-year deal comes a year after he appeared in 39 games for the AHL’s Hershey Bears, where he compiled a 23-11-4 record, 2.80 goals against average, and a .891 save percentage. The 29-year-old Shepard, who was named an AHL all-star last season, has appeared in five games at the NHL level across two seasons with the Washington Capitals, including one start last season.

Additionally, the Sens signed goaltender Jackson Parsons to a three-year, entry-level contract. Parsons, 20, appeared in 52 games for the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers, registering a 37-12-3 record, 2.24 goals-against average, and a .920 save percentage. A native of Ottawa, Parsons received several key accolades for his play last season, including Goaltender of the Year in both the OHL and the Canadian Hockey League and the Leo Lalonde Trophy as the OHL Overage Player of the Year.

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 Sign Wyatt Bongiovanni To One-Year Extension

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The Ottawa Senators have signed centerman Wyatt Bongiovanni to a one-year, two-way contract extension (Twitter link). The deal will carry a league-minimum NHL salary of $775K and an AHL salary of $92.5K.

Ottawa acquired Bongiovanni ahead of the 2024 Trade Deadline, sending future considerations back to the Winnipeg Jets. He now earns a new deal after playing through a two-year, $1.6MM entry-level contract signed with the Jets in 2022 – a deal Bongiovanni earned after signing an amateur try-out with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, joining the team as an undrafted free agent.

Bongiovanni got hot after his move to the Senators organization, recording eight goals and 10 points in 14 regular season games with the Belleville Senators, then adding four points in seven postseson appearances. The scoring brought his season totals up to 25 points in 48 games, a new career-high for the 24-year-old forward. With this season, Bongiovanni brought his AHL career totals up to 43 points across 107 games.

This deal likely doesn’t push Bongiovanni up Ottawa’s depth chart, though it will give him a full season to solidify his prominent role in Belleville. After a meager start to his career in Manitoba, the former Quinnipiac standout seems to be in a good position to push into the AHL top-six. Should his strong scoring continues, Bongiovanni’s new contract will make him eligible for an NHL call-up.

Senators Acquire Wyatt Bongiovanni From Jets

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The Senators acquired center Wyatt Bongiovanni from the Jets in exchange for future considerations on Friday, per a team announcement. The team promptly reassigned Bongiovanni to their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators. Belleville will likely send a player signed to an AHL contract to Winnipeg’s affiliate, the Manitoba Moose, to complete the trade. Since he was traded after the March 8 deadline, Bongiovanni will not be eligible for recall to Ottawa for the remainder of the 2023-24 season.

[Related: Post-Deadline Transaction Restrictions]

Bongiovanni, 24, signed with the Jets as an undrafted free agent in 2022 and has played for the Moose ever since, scoring 21 goals and 33 points in 93 games. However, the former Quinnipiac University captain has been one of Manitoba’s worst defensive forwards, posting a team-worst -17 rating in 2022-23 and a -12 rating this season. He has not received an NHL recall since turning pro nearly two years ago.

The Michigan-born center was once a solid contributor with Quinnipiac, racking up 50 goals, 90 points and a +43 rating across 123 appearances between 2018 and 2022. His shot was always the most intriguing aspect of his game, and while he’s managed to flash it at times with Manitoba, the rest of his game hasn’t reached the level required for a major-league summons.

Bongiovanni is exempt from waivers and will remain so for two more seasons or until he plays 60 NHL games, whichever comes first. His two-year, $1.605MM entry-level contract expires this summer, and if the Senators issue him a qualifying offer, he’ll be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights.

Winnipeg Jets Sign Wyatt Bongiovanni

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The Winnipeg Jets announced that they have signed forward Wyatt Bongiovanni to a two-year, entry-level contract that is set to begin next season. According to Sportsnet’s Ken Wiebe, Bongiovanni has also agreed to an amateur tryout with the Manitoba Moose, Winnipeg’s AHL affiliate, for the remainder of this season (link). The contract carries an average-annual value of $802.5K.

The 22-year-old Bongiovanni recently finished up his fourth season at Quinnipiac University, where he put up 16 goals and 18 assists in 42 games for the Bobcats. Before college, Bongiovanni played three seasons in the USHL, spending a season each with the Des Moines Buccaneers, the Tri-City Storm, and the Muskegon Lumberjacks, totaling 32 goals and 47 assists in 152 games over that span. Bongiovanni then began with Quinnipiac in 2018-19, where he would play four seasons. Not previously drafted in the NHL, the forward then chose the Jets as his destination.

One key detail for the Jets in Bongiovanni is his leadership, as he spent the 2021-22 season as Quinnipiac’s captain, a team that would go to the final eight of the Men’s College Hockey playoffs before being eliminated by Michigan.

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