- After Saturday’s victory over Montreal, the Senators announced (Twitter link) that forward Matthew Highmore was assigned to AHL Belleville. The 28-year-old missed a little more than a month with an upper-body injury but returned to practice yesterday and has been given the green light to return. Highmore has played in seven games with Ottawa this season, picking up two assists while adding 29 points in 40 appearances with Belleville, a team that is right in the thick of the playoff race in the AHL’s North Division.
Senators Rumors
Brady Tkachuk Likely To Play For Team USA In World Championships
As the regular season comes to an end, many players on non-playoff teams are making decisions on whether or not to suit up for their country in this year’s IIHF World Championships. One of those players, Brady Tkachuk of the Ottawa Senators, is leaning toward playing for Team USA per multiple reports (X Link).
Since officially joining the Senators organization back in the 2018-19 NHL season, Tkachuk has not suited up in international play. However, he was the captain for Team USA in the 2018 World Junior Championships, scoring three goals and nine points in seven games, helping lead his team to a bronze medal finish.
Highmore (Upper Body) Took Part In A Full Practice
- Senators forward Matthew Highmore took part in a full practice today, reports Sportsnet’s Wayne Scanlan (Twitter link). The 28-year-old has missed a little more than a month with an upper-body injury. Highmore has played in seven games with Ottawa this season, picking up two assists but won’t suit up tonight despite having the full game-day skate. The pending unrestricted free agent also has 29 points in 40 appearances with AHL Belleville.
Senators Notes: Stützle, Kubalik, Hamonic
Senators star center Tim Stützle isn’t playing in tonight’s clash against the Lightning, interim head coach Jacques Martin said. It marks his fourth straight absence with an upper-body injury sustained last week against the Panthers. It’s fair to wonder if Ottawa will opt to shut down their first-line pivot for the season with only three games left after tonight and playoffs not in the picture yet again for the Sens.
2023-24 has been a step back for the 2020 third-overall pick, although he still produced at a good clip with 70 points (18 goals, 52 assists) in 75 games. Expectations were quite high after a 39-goal, 90-point campaign last year, though, and the Sens will need him to get back to that level if they want to shake their seven-year playoff drought. As it stands, Stützle will take the Sens’ scoring crown, although captain Brady Tkachuk only trails him by two with 34 goals and 68 points on the year.
Elsewhere in Sens-land:
- Winger Dominik Kubalík has recovered from his undisclosed injury but was still out of the lineup as a healthy scratch against the Bolts, per Dean Brown of TSN 1200. The 28-year-old had been out for the past two games after logging less than eight minutes against the Devils last Saturday. It’s been a season to forget for Kubalík, who Ottawa acquired as part of the return from the Red Wings for the signing rights to then-RFA winger Alex DeBrincat. The two-time 20-goal scorer was limited to just 11 tallies and 15 points through his first 72 games of the season and will have little opportunity to add to that total over the next few days. He’s spent most of the 2024 calendar year in a bottom-six role and has averaged 12:13 on the season, his lowest usage since making his NHL debut in 2019. It seems unlikely he’ll re-up upon completion of his two-year, $5MM deal this summer.
- Brown also says defenseman Travis Hamonic has likely played his last game of 2023-24. He’s officially missed four games with a lower-body injury, although he was a healthy scratch in six prior and hasn’t suited up since March 21 against the Blues. Bringing the 33-year-old back on a two-year, $2.2MM deal with full no-move protection has proven to be an unwise gamble for now-former GM Pierre Dorion. He’s easily been the team’s worst defender this season, posting six points in 48 games on the season with a -10 rating and horrid possession metrics (43.2 CF%, 41.5 xGF%) despite shouldering less than 15 minutes per game.
Shane Pinto Will Play For United States At World Championship If Invited
- Senators center Shane Pinto will suit up for the United States at the 2024 World Championship if invited, he confirmed to Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia and TSN. While it’s unlikely he’ll crack the roster for the U.S. national team at the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off or the 2026 Winter Olympics, Garrioch relays Pinto would like to extend his season regardless and gain experience playing meaningful games after the regular season ends. Pinto has been excellent for Ottawa since serving a 41-game suspension for violating the NHL’s sports wagering rules, racking up eight goals and 18 assists for 26 points in 36 games. He’s averaging 17:41 per game, a career-high by a long shot, and has some of the best possession numbers on the team with a 53.3 CF% and a 60.1 xGF%. The United States last medal at the 2021 tournament, winning bronze, and has lost the bronze medal game in back-to-back years.
Senators Part Ways With Two Pro Scouts
- The Senators have parted ways with professional scouts Jim Clark and Rob Murphy, GM Steve Staios announced. This could end an illustrious front-office career for the 70-year-old Clark, who’s held roles with the Red Wings, Blue Jackets and Panthers as well since breaking into the league in 1990. He was brought on by the Sens in 2008 after being let go as Columbus’ assistant GM, serving on their scouting staff for six years before being promoted to their Director of Professional Scouting in 2014. Ottawa demoted Clark out of the head scout role ahead of this season, replacing him with Murphy, who’d been a pro scout for the organization since 2018. This was Murphy’s second run with the Sens, also serving in their pro scouting department from 2010 to 2014 before leaving for a Director of Scouting role with the Sabres.
Upper-Body Injury For Tim Stutzle
Senators forward Tim Stutzle won’t play tonight against New Jersey due to an upper-body injury, relays Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch (Twitter link). The injury was sustained in Thursday’s game against Florida. It has been a bit of a trying year for the 22-year-old; while he has already set a new career-high in assists with 52, he has also been limited to just 18 goals in 75 games. For context, he had 39 last season. Stutzle is in the first season of an eight-year, $66.8MM contract that was signed back in September 2022 and it’s fair to say that expectations will be higher for him next season.
Senators Recall Bokondji Imama
The Senators have decided to bring up some extra grit for their game tonight against New Jersey. The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled winger Bokondji Imama from AHL Belleville.
It’s the first recall of the season for the 27-year-old who is in his first season with Ottawa after signing with them as a Group Six unrestricted free agent last summer. Imama has played in 53 games in the minors so far this season, collecting three goals and seven assists along with 115 penalty minutes. It’s the fourth time in the last five years that Imama has surpassed 100 penalty minutes in the minors.
Imama also has nine career NHL appearances under his belt from his time with Arizona. In those, he has a goal and ten penalty minutes to his credit while averaging a little over six minutes a night. It has been more than a year since Imama has seen NHL action and getting a game or two in at the top level certainly can’t hurt his cause as he heads towards unrestricted free agency this summer.
Senators Assign Tyler Kleven To Minors
The Senators announced they’ve assigned rookie defenseman Tyler Kleven to AHL Belleville. His spot in the lineup will go to Thomas Chabot, who, according to multiple reports, has been cleared to return from a lower-body injury ahead of tomorrow’s game against the Devils.
Kleven, a 2020 second-round pick, had filled in for Chabot since the latter was injured in a March 27 contest against the Sabres. He played a limited role in his four-game recall, going without a point, posting a -2 rating, and logging five shots on goal while averaging 14:41 per game. That was up drastically from the minimal 11:01 per game he averaged during a five-game run on the roster in October and November.
Those will likely be his only two stints on the NHL roster in 2023-24, closing out what’s otherwise been a strong campaign for the shutdown prospect. The 6’4″, 200-lb blue-liner has made 45 appearances for the B-Sens, recording 17 points and a +13 rating. He’s in his first full professional campaign after spending three seasons with the University of North Dakota, with whom he won the NCHC tournament and regular-season championship in 2021, along with a gold medal while representing the United States at the World Juniors.
Signed to an entry-level contract with a $917K cap hit, Kleven is still one year away from his initial deal running out and will be an RFA in 2025. The North Dakota native should be a candidate to land a role on their opening night roster in the fall.
Thomas Chabot Could Return To The Lineup This Weekend
Boston Bruins rookie forward Justin Brazeau will be out week-to-week after suffering an apparently upper-body injury. Not many details are available yet, but Brazeau flew back to Boston yesterday to meet with doctors and more information will be available in the coming days regarding the severity and the timeline of the injury.
Brazeau was hurt in the first period of the Bruins game on Tuesday night against the Nashville Predators and did not return. He was stood up by Luke Schenn on the play and appeared to be favoring his arm or his shoulder while he received attention from the Bruins staff on the bench. In 19 games this season the 26-year-old rookie has five goals and two assists and has played predominantly in Boston’s bottom six.
In other evening notes:
- Ottawa Sun reporter Bruce Garrioch tweeted that he expects Ottawa Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot to return to the lineup this weekend. The 27-year-old has battled injuries throughout the season with the most recent ailment keeping him out of the lineup since March 27th. Chabot’s absence was caused by a lower-body injury that was called a nagging injury by Senators staff. Chabot has dressed in just 44 games this season for Ottawa and has posted good offensive numbers with eight goals and 20 assists.
- Matthew Tkachuk was back in the Florida Panthers lineup tonight as they routed the Senators 6-0. Tkachuk had a goal and two assists in 12:56 of ice time. Tkachuk didn’t dress for the Panthers on Tuesday in Montreal as he battled an illness but showed no ill effects of it tonight in Ottawa. With his three points this evening, Tkachuk now has 24 goals and 59 assists on the season in 75 games and is unlikely to eclipse the 100-point plateau for the third consecutive season.
- Corey Masisak of The Denver Post tweeted that Colorado Avalanche center Yakov Trenin did not dress tonight for the game against the Minnesota Wild due to an undisclosed injury. Trenin was acquired at the trade deadline from the Predators and has dressed in 10 games with the Avalanche posting two goals. Colorado’s head coach Jared Bednar did tell reporters that Trenin could play tomorrow night when the Avalanche head to Edmonton to take on the Oilers.