Smejkal, 27, was one of the first international free agent signings of the 2023 offseason, landing with the Sens in early May. He was coming off a strong season with IK Oskarshamn of the Swedish Hockey League, posting 23 goals and 43 points in 49 games.

Unfortunately, things didn’t work out for the 6’4″ power winger in North America. He didn’t make the team out of camp and was assigned to AHL Belleville, although he eventually earned a recall in December. Smejkal went on to play 20 games in Ottawa this season, potting his first and likely only NHL goal in the final game of the campaign against the Bruins. He added an assist but managed just 10 total shots on goal and averaged less than 9:30 per game while posting some of the worst possession metrics on the team.

Clearly outmatched at the NHL level, Smejkal did decently well in the minors for the B-Sens, posting nine goals and 22 points in 47 games. But he struggled in the postseason, going without a point in seven contests.

After that tough showing, it’s no surprise to see Smejkal return to Europe. He’ll play in Czechia next season for the first time since suiting up with HC Sparta Praha in 2019-20. The native of Ceske Budejovice will likely play out his prime in Pardubice, whose roster boasts former Sharks Martin Kaut and Lukas Radil at forward and ex-Rangers blue liner Libor Hájek on defense. They’ve had the best record in the Extraliga for two years in a row but haven’t won a league championship since 2012.

Ostapchuk, 20, was a second-round pick by the Sens in the 2021 draft. He’s had a decent professional debut with Belleville this season, recording 17 goals (fourth on the team) and 11 assists for 28 points in 66 games. The 6’4″ pivot received two post-trade deadline callups with injuries continuing to decimate Ottawa’s forward group but failed to record a point in his first seven NHL games. He took on bottom-six duties, averaging 10:30 per game, and struggled heavily in the faceoff circle (11/41, 26.8 FO%). He received no special teams usage and had a decidedly negative possession impact, posting a relative CF% of -10.3 despite receiving highly favorable offensive zone usage. It wasn’t the most promising debut, although he did get involved physically with six blocks and 13 hits.

Smejkal wraps up his first NHL season with 20 appearances after the Czech forward signed a one-year, two-way deal in free agency. The 27-year-old power winger had spent his entire career in European leagues, splitting the 2023-24 campaign between the majors and minors. He wasn’t given much of a leash by interim head coach Jacques Martin, averaging 9:29 per game in his NHL showings, but he managed two points – including his first NHL goal last night in Boston. Smejkal failed to impress much in the minors, though, posting nine goals and 22 points in 45 contests with a -7 rating. A UFA this summer, he’ll likely return overseas.

This move now marks Smejkal’s sixth call-up of the season, an impressive feat for the first-year North American pro. Smejkal signed a one-year, $950K entry-level deal with Ottawa this summer, moving to Canada after spending nine seasons across various European pro leagues. He’s quickly slotted into the role of de facto fill-in, despite just 22 points through his first 45 AHL games. His NHL performances haven’t been any more exciting, boasting just one assist in 12 games. He’s clearly still adjusting to North America, scoring significantly less than he did in the pair of 40-point seasons he posted in the SHL and Liiga over the last two years.

Even in the absence of scoring, Smejkal has brought a stout and professional frame – standing at a sturdy 6-foot-4 and 209 pounds. Ottawa will again lean on that frame to make an impact, as Angus Crookshank joins a long list of absent forwards with an undisclosed injury. Ottawa is also missing Joshua Norris, Zack MacEwen, Matthew Highmore, and Rourke Chartier. Their absences have tested Ottawa’s depth, but Smejkal isn’t their last line of defense – with top prospects Zack Ostapchuk and Roby Jarventie still in the AHL. Both players have received a half-dozen NHL games this season but Jarventie is the only one to make the scoresheet, managing one assist. Smejkal has averaged under nine minutes of ice time this season and is likely to manage a minimal role once again. But if he isn’t sharp, he could lose time to a top AHL prospect on a Senators team well out of the playoff picture.

Chartier, Guenette, and Smejkal are projected to play in San Jose. Three forwards and two defensemen are unavailable due to injuries, and winger Parker Kelly is unavailable after being suspended yesterday night.

Chartier, 27, has settled back in as a capable minor-league scoring center after concussion symptoms nearly forced him out of the sport in 2019 and 2020. His time in the NHL has been less fruitful, though, scoring three goals and adding one assist in 55 games since making his debut with the Sharks in 2018-19. The San Jose 2014 fifth-round pick has played in a career-high 36 games this year with Ottawa, recording three points and a -4 rating while averaging 10:45 per game. Despite his limited offensive production, he has some value in the dot with a 50.9 FO% and a solid 50.2 xG%.

He’ll be in for a more expanded role tonight, sliding into a third-line position with Joshua Norris hurt and Vladimir Tarasenko traded to the Panthers before the deadline. Norris is expected to miss the remainder of the season as he searches for other opinions on his third left shoulder injury in the past few years, so Chartier may get an extended run in increased minutes down the stretch.

If the Senators want to assign him to the minors again this year, they’ll need to place him on waivers if he plays at least eight games and remains on the roster for 27 more days. He’s already played in two games and been rostered for three days after last clearing waivers on Jan. 31.

Smejkal, 27, is in his first professional season in North America after inking a one-year, two-way deal ($870K NHL/$82.5K AHL) in May 2023. However, the Czech power forward hasn’t had much impact in the NHL or AHL and is likely to return to Europe this summer. Skating in 10 games with the Sens, Smejkal has one assist and a -2 rating while averaging a minuscule 9:21 per game. He’s gotten caved in terms of possession quality in his limited minutes, recording a 36.6 xGF%. In Belleville, he has 19 points and a -11 rating in 39 games.

The 22-year-old Guenette carries the most intrigue as a somewhat recent draft pick, taken by the Sens in the seventh round of the 2019 draft. While he’s averaged only 11:56 through his three NHL showings this year, he’ll get a shot in the team’s top four tonight alongside Jakob Chychrun with Thomas Chabot out with a lower-body injury. A pending RFA nearing completion of his entry-level contract, Guenette has had a strong season in the minors with five goals, 29 points and a +4 rating in 49 games.

These recalls are under emergency conditions, so they don’t count toward Ottawa’s four allotted post-deadline recalls.

6:00 PM: The Ottawa Senators have recalled forward Jiri Smejkal and defenseman Max Guenette. The pair will serve as fill-ins for the injured Matthew Highmore and Thomas Chabot, who are bearing with a lower-body and upper-body injury respectively. Ottawa has also sent goaltender Mads Sogaard to the minors.

Both Smejkal and Guenette have appeared in NHL games this season, serving as go-to call-ups when Ottawa has faced injury. Smejkal has appeared in nine games, recording one assist and a -2. They’re the first games of his North American career, with the 27-year-old forward joining Ottawa after a seven-year tour around Europe’s top leagues, including five years in the Czechia Extraliga. He’s also totaled 19 points in 39 AHL games, adding 14 penalty minutes and a -11.

Guenette has been more productive in the minors, scoring 29 points in 49 games, though he’s only received two NHL games this season. He went without a point in both, still searching for the first point of his NHL career after failing to score in his debut last season as well. Ottawa drafted Guenette in the seventh round of the 2019 NHL Draft and promoted him to the pros in 2021-22. He’s since totaled 169 games and 88 points in the AHL.

More notes from around the league:

• The Buffalo Sabres have recalled forward Lukáš Rousek from the AHL. Rousek currently leads the Rochester Americans in scoring, with 10 goals and 38 points in 48 games. He will likely serve as Buffalo’s extra forward, with the team now down one after trading Casey Mittelstadt for defenseman Bowen Byram. Mittelstadt’s departure made way for Victor Olofsson to slot back into the lineup – an opportunity he took advantage of, scoring Buffalo’s only goal in their 2-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday. Rousek, who hasn’t recorded a point in any of the five NHL games he’s played this season, will need to compete with Olofsson and Eric Robinson for a spot in Buffalo’s lineup.
• The Montreal Canadiens have signed assistant general manager John Sedgwick to a multi-year extension, also promoting him to general manager of the AHL’s Laval Rocket. This is a big step for Sedgwick, who’s been with the Canadiens since 2013, serving in a variety of roles that included Director of Hockey Operations, Director of Legal Affairs, and now Assistant General Manager. Sedgwick worked in the NHL’s head office for seven years, prior to joining Montreal.
• The Washington Capitals have recalled goaltender Hunter Shepard from the AHL. Shepard has been one of the minor league’s most productive netminders, posting 21 wins and a .919 save percentage in 26 appearances. His dominance has coincided with batterymate Clay Stevenson, who has 18 wins and a .932 save percentage in 27 games of his own. Shepard made his NHL debut earlier this season and has since posted two wins and a .894 save percentage. He’ll back up Charlie Lindgren for the Capitals, as starter Darcy Kuemper sits out with illness.

Joseph, 26, was moved to LTIR just last week, but the move was retroactive to when he exited the lineup with a lower-body injury against the Stars on December 15. He will have satisfied the minimum 10-game, 28-day absence requirement ahead of their game Tuesday against the Flames and will be activated immediately upon becoming eligible.

Before the season began, Joseph and his $2.95MM cap hit were the subject of trade discussions to help alleviate the Senators’ difficult cap squeeze after a busy offseason. Without any takers, Joseph began the season still in Ottawa and responded with a career-best 0.76 points per game pace through his first 25 games, recording six goals, 13 assists, and a +12 rating that remains first on the team.

That depth production will prove extremely valuable in his return to the lineup. The Senators’ largest ailment this season has again been an inept bottom-six, one that’s produced a combined 18 goals sans Joseph as the season nears its halfway mark. Combined with subpar goaltending from Anton Forsberg and Joonas Korpisalo, the team remains last in the Eastern Conference with a 14-21-0 record and 28 points.

Crookshank and Smejkal now return to minor-league action for the foreseeable future, although both fared decently well in their first career NHL stints throughout the first half of the season. The 24-year-old Crookshank scored a goal and an assist in seven games and posted positive possession metrics despite being leaned on heavily in the defensive zone, although he did it in just 8:50 per game. Smejkal, 27, has one assist and a -2 rating in nine games this season.

Both Crookshank and Smejkal had been with the Senators on an emergency recall prior to the break and were unable to stay with the club because the emergency conditions wouldn’t be satisfied. But with the team in Toronto tomorrow night to take on the Maple Leafs both players were able to be recalled joining the club as they get set to begin a busy stretch of games over the next few weeks. The Senators play three times before the new year and 15 times in January as they try to play catchup to the rest of the Eastern Conference.

In other evening notes:

• The Minnesota Wild announced a pair of recalls as they brought up Daemon Hunt and Jake Lucchini from the Iowa Wild of the AHL. Both players were reassigned to Iowa on Sunday making this move a paper transaction similar to that of the Senators. Lucchini has spent most of the year in Iowa and played his first game with Minnesota on December 23rd. His recall could mean that forward Ryan Hartman will remain out of action when the Wild resume play against the Detroit Red Wings tomorrow night. Hunt will likely serve as the Wild’s extra defenseman for tomorrow night’s game.
• Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now writes that he believes it is possible the Pittsburgh Penguins could hang on to pending unrestricted free agent Jake Guentzel until the end of the season and treat that as their big trade deadline acquisition. The Penguins currently sit five points back of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference but hold three games in hand on the Tampa Bay Lightning who currently occupy that position. Kingerski believes that the Penguins will forgo a potential trade package for Guentzel if they remain within six points of the playoffs by the end of January.

Both players were on the roster on an emergency basis. Since the Senators do not play until the league resumes play on Wednesday, their emergency conditions are no longer satisfied, and they can be returned to the minors during the league’s holiday roster freeze. One or both of Crookshank and Smejkal will likely be brought back up to the NHL roster before Wednesday if neither Mathieu Joseph nor Zack MacEwen can return from their respective lower-body and hamstring injuries. Both are listed as day-to-day and haven’t been ruled out for any future games.

Crookshank played in four games for the Senators during his recall, the first of his NHL career. It’s been a trying development path for the 24-year-old, who missed the entire 2021-22 season with a knee injury after concluding his collegiate career at the University of New Hampshire. The 2018 fifth-round pick has put up solid scoring numbers in the minors, including 21 points in just 24 games with Belleville this year. He averaged just 8:56 per game while on recall but notched his first NHL goal last Tuesday against the Coyotes. His possession numbers were good, posting a relative Corsi share of 4.2% at even strength, suggesting he may be ready for some increased minutes the next time he’s brought up to the NHL.

This ends Smejkal’s second recall since signing with the Senators as a free agent out of the Swedish Hockey League over the summer. The 6-foot-4, 223-pound Czech winger has seen minimal usage like Crookshank, averaging 8:57 in six games played with Ottawa since his initial recall on December 8. His first NHL point, an assist on a Jacob Bernard-Docker goal, came in Thursday’s 6-4 loss to the Avalanche. He returns to Belleville for now, where he has three goals and six assists in 19 games.

The 27-year-old is in his first season in North America after spending last season with IK Oskarshamn of the SHL where he had 23 goals and 20 assists in 49 games.  The hope was that he would push for a full-time spot with Ottawa, giving them a bit of a boost to their bottom six.

However, things haven’t quite gone as planned.  He was cut in training camp and has spent the majority of the season in the minors.  Accordingly, a report surfaced last month that he could be returning to Oskarshamn but clearly, that didn’t come to fruition.

Smejkal has played in 19 games with Belleville this season, picking up three goals and six assists.  He made his NHL debut earlier this month, making two appearances with the big club, being held off the scoresheet while averaging a little under seven minutes a game.  The Sens now have a full 23-man roster with this roster move.

Smejkal made his NHL debut on Saturday and followed it up with an appearance in the team’s Tuesday game. He did not see any changes to his stat line between the two games, other than blocking two shots. The 27-year-old winger is in his first season in North American pros, after spending the last seven seasons between top leagues in Russia, Czechia, Finland, and Sweden. Smejkal spent three seasons in the WHL before moving to European pros, giving him some experience on North American ice.

Larsson will help the Senators make up for the missing Thomas Chabot, who is expected to miss the month of December with a leg injury. Larsson is a former first-round pick, being selected 27th overall by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2015 NHL Draft. But the 26-year-old defender has failed to live up to first-round expectations, recording a mere 172 career NHL games since making his debut in the 2016-17 season. Larsson’s career year came in 2019-20, when he scored a career-high 11 points in 60 games with the Ducks.

The Senators signed Larsson as an unrestricted free agent in 2022 and have kept him on one-year, league-minimum contracts ever since. Larsson has only appeared in seven NHL games with the Senators, going without a point and recording six penalty minutes. Other than that handful of games, he’s spent the last two seasons with the AHL’s Belleville Senators, combining for 21 points in 73 games and a -11.

Smejkal, 27, had spent his entire professional career in Europe until this season. The hulking 6-foot-4 Czech winger does have some experience playing on North American ice, though, playing his final two seasons of junior hockey in the WHL with the Moose Jaw Warriors and Kamloops Blazers.

He’s played for a variety of European clubs after going unselected in multiple NHL drafts but didn’t really break out as an elite talent until the last two seasons. He produced over a point per game with Pelicans in the Finnish Liiga in 2021-22 and followed that up with 43 points in 49 games with the SHL’s IK Oskarshamn last season. Alongside three straight World Championship appearances with Czechia, he drew enough NHL interest to earn a one-year, two-way pact from Ottawa.

Although the GM who brought him to Canada, Pierre Dorion, is no longer with the team, new management has obviously liked what they’ve seen from Smejkal thus far in Belleville. He’s posted three goals and nine points in 17 AHL games after rumors swirled he would return to Europe after not cracking the Senators roster out of camp.

The Senators had the cap space to make this recall after placing defenseman Thomas Chabot on long-term injured reserve yesterday. He will miss at least four weeks with a leg injury.

Smejkal is now one of 13 healthy forwards on the Senators roster and could challenge to make his NHL debut tomorrow against the Red Wings. The natural winger could slot in for 27-year-old Zack MacEwen on the team’s fourth line. MacEwen has played ten games, registering one assist and averaging a paltry 4:45 per contest after signing a three-year, $2.325MM contract with Ottawa in free agency last summer.

Although the schedule outside the NHL is quite a bit lighter today, overseas professional leagues have kept busy adding and subtracting players. As always, we’ll keep track of notable player movement here.

• Ottawa Senators offseason signing Jiří Smejkal has been linked to a move back overseas, where he would play for IK Oskarshamn of the SHL. The report originates from TSN’s Shawn Simpson, who wrote that Smejkal “didn’t come over to play in the minors.” Smejkal, 27, signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Senators that carries an $82.5k AHL salary. There was some hope that Smejkal could make the NHL roster after scoring 23 goals and 43 points in 49 SHL games last season, but he only registered one point in five preseason games. The hope was that Smejkal’s size and ability to play physical could lend himself to a fourth-line role, but that hasn’t happened as he’s played exclusively at AHL Belleville. If Smejkal doesn’t view there to be a viable path to the NHL with Ottawa then it appears he could very well return to Oskarshamn, where he would not only be better lined up to represent Czecha at the IIHF World Championships, but could also potentially take home more money.
• Former Edmonton Oilers netminder Mikko Koskinen won’t be extending his time with the Swiss National League’s HC Lugano beyond this season, according to a team announcement. The team has instead decided to bring in former Red Wings prospect Joren Van Pottelberghe on a three-year deal beginning next season. Van Pottelberghe was the starter for NL rival EHC Biel-Beinne from 2020-2022, but he has been relegated to backup duty due to the arrival of Harri Säteri. He’ll get another shot to be a starter with Lugano, while Koskinen will have to continue his career elsewhere. Since arriving in Switzerland from Edmonton, Koskinen has posted an .895 save percentage in 44 games for Lugano.
• 2009 New York Rangers second-round pick Ethan Werek has signed with Slovakia’s HC Slovan Bratislava, a club in Slovakia’s capital. Werek, 32, split last season between the KHL’s Kunlun Red Star and Czechia’s Mountfield HK. He’s scored decently well in spurts in both the KHL and Czech Extraliga, and could end up a productive forward in the Slovak league. Werek also brings some international experience to Slovan, having represented China at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
• A bit of a rare occurrence happened in European hockey yesterday, as a team in the Finnish Liiga and the Czech Extraliga made a “trade” of sorts. Liiga’s SaiPa reached a mutual contract termination with Jan Lukáš, while Czechia’s HK Mountfield did the same with netminder Henri Kiviaho. Then, Lukáš signed with Mountfield to replace Kiviaho while Kiviaho did the same at SaiPa. Lukáš, 30, is an experienced netminder who was a quality tandem goalie in the Extraliga last season, but struggled immensely to start the year for SaiPa. He moves to more favorable surroundings in his home country. Kiviaho is, like Lukáš, a veteran goalie with some Champions Hockey League experience. According to Mountfield’s announcement, Kiviaho had been (via his agent) pushing for a greater workload than the club was able to provide, so they’ve opted to transfer him to SaiPa instead.
• Former NHL depth defenseman Cameron Schilling has agreed to a mutual contract termination with his club of the last two seasons, Djurgårdens IF. The 35-year-old one-time AHL All-Star has a total of 10 NHL games on his resume, though he left North America midway through 2021-22 to sign in Djurgården. The club had an immediate need for reinforcements at the time as they were trending towards relegation, a fate they did eventually suffer. Schilling played a minutes-eating role for the team last season as they fell just short of promotion back to the SHL, and now he won’t be with the team as they look to make the jump this year.
• Philadelphia Flyers fans might remember Russian forward Roman Lyubimov from the 2016-17 season, when he played in 47 games for the club, registering eight points. Lyubimov returned to the KHL after that season, the league where he would remain a regular forward until now. After a season where he posted just three points in 43 games for Spartak Moscow, Lyubimov has left the KHL and signed in France’s Ligue Magnus, with Grenoble. Grenoble is looking to re-claim the French league title and Champions Hockey League spot from Rouen, so they’ve added a forward with experience in two of the world’s top leagues in order to do so.
• Former college hockey star Julian Napravnik is rumored to be headed for the DEL via a report from Germany, specifically with the league’s Frankfurt Lions in mind. The 26-year-old German forward was a two-time First-Team Conference All-Star at Minnesota State Mankato, and his 49 points in 40 games helped the team reach the NCAA Men’s Hockey National Championship game. Since that point, Napravnik has struggled to get on he ice and has played in a total of 22 career AHL games, scoring a total of seven points. A move to Germany might be better suited for him, though it may come as a bit of a disappointment that he couldn’t make more of a push towards consideration for an NHL contract.
• Justin Allen, the former captain of NCAA Division-III Utica College, has been traded from the ECHL’s Norfolk Admirals to the Allen Americans in exchange for future considerations. Allen, 26, signed with the Admirals at the conclusion of his NCAA career and made an instant impact, registering seven assists in 10 games. As the Admirals this season have taken on quite a few NHL prospects, such as 2019 third-round pick Domenick Fensore, he’s been squeezed out of a spot in the ECHL this season, and hasn’t been able to skate in a game yet this season. He’ll get a better chance to do so in Allen, a team in dire need of defensive reinforcements as they currently average over five goals against per game.
• Canadian netminder Cody Porter has signed with HockeyAllsvenskan’s Västerviks IK, according to a team announcement. The 26-year-old former Calgary Hitmen starter has had a bit of a winding hockey journey. He suited up for five different teams in his first professional season in 2018-19, playing for clubs from everywhere including Huntsville, Alabama and Elmira, New York. He then transferred to Poland, before spending 2021-22 as the backup goalie for IPK in Finland’s Mestis, their second division. Last season, Porter played the highest-level hockey of his career, skating in five total games in Liiga. He’ll get a chance now to compete for starts with Västerviks, a club whose incumbent goalies have each posted unconvincing performances so far this season.

This page may be updated throughout the day. 

Smejkal, who stands at 6-foot-4 and weighs 223 pounds, could crack the Senators’ bottom six out of training camp next season. In the release announcing the news, general manager Pierre Dorion expressed excitement about the impact Smejkal could have on the team.

Jiří’s signing is a good addition for us; it improves our depth and provides us with an additional bottom-six option at forward. He’s a big body who’s strong with previous experience playing in North America which should help his transition to a rink with smaller dimensions. We’re pleased that he’s committed to the Senators for the next step in his career.

The North American experience Dorion is referencing came in the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons, when Smejkal played junior hockey with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors and Kamloops Blazers. In 130 games, he recorded 17 goals and 42 assists for 59 points, 102 penalty minutes, and a -25 rating.

In the past two seasons, Smekjal was a standout performer in the Finnish Liiga with Pelicans and in the SHL with IK Oskarshamn, where he recorded a combined 48 goals and 40 assists for 93 points across the two leagues. He also represented Czechia at the 2021 and 2022 IIHF Men’s World Championships, registering three goals and four assists in 18 games.

While Smejkal’s recent goal-scoring production is impressive, his size and physicality could be even more valuable to the Senators in a checking role. With his ability to play a power-forward style of game, he could provide a needed presence in front of the net and in board battles. His point production overseas suggests he’ll bring enough offensive IQ to avoid being a liability on the ice.

Smejkal, who can play left wing and center, is a classic low-risk, high-reward acquisition, especially at a one-year term. Per CapFriendly, Smejkal will be an unrestricted free agent in 2024.