{"id":465845,"date":"2025-04-02T17:55:01","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T21:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=465845"},"modified":"2025-04-02T17:55:01","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T21:55:01","slug":"ottawa-senators-rumours-looking-ahead-franchise-injury-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/04\/02\/ottawa-senators-rumours-looking-ahead-franchise-injury-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa Senators Rumours Looking Ahead for the Franchise"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The man who is the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/01\/29\/ottawa-senators-goaltending-prospects-for-the-nhl-future-outlook\/\" target=\"_self\">Ottawa Senators<\/a> insider let us know what\u2019s happening and some rumours looking ahead for the team. It is mostly beyond this season, but there is also one important injury update for this season. The other topics included one involving the naming rights for their current home in Kanata, Ontario. As well, understanding the Sens goaltending carousel for the upcoming 2025-26 campaign. <em>So, let\u2019s down and grimey!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Coming up with QP on <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TSNHockey?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TSNHockey<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Sens?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Sens<\/a> Few tidbits for you.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SunGarrioch\/status\/1907218562801959364?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 1, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Lots of Ottawa Senators Rumours Abound<\/h3>\n<p>The first one to discuss is the one we just mentioned, the 2025-26 goaltending situation. Garrioch brings up an interesting point, one that we shall elaborate on. First, let&#8217;s consider the three potential back-ups&#8217; current contract status for 2025-26. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/f\/forsban01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-04-02_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anton Forsberg<\/a> is an unrestricted free agent (UFA) and at an age (32) for goaltenders where he can maintain a very high, personal level of play. Therefore, he is likely looking for around the same ballpark as this year ($2.75M). What this means is that general manager <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/staiost01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-04-02_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Steve Staios<\/a> and crew are interested in reevaluating their situation. Basically, seeing if they can save money while upgrading their system.<\/p>\n<table style=\"height: 217px;\" width=\"625\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"112\">Name<\/td>\n<td width=\"31\">Age<\/td>\n<td width=\"62\">GP (NHL)<\/td>\n<td width=\"59\">Record<\/td>\n<td width=\"24\">SO<\/td>\n<td width=\"35\">GAA<\/td>\n<td width=\"34\">SV%<\/td>\n<td width=\"41\">GSAA<\/td>\n<td width=\"81\">25-26 Status<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Anton Forsberg<\/td>\n<td>32<\/td>\n<td>138 (186)<\/td>\n<td>60-55-9<\/td>\n<td>7<\/td>\n<td>2.99<\/td>\n<td>.906<\/td>\n<td>4.3<\/td>\n<td>UFA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/sogaama01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-04-02_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mads Sogaard<\/a><\/td>\n<td>24<\/td>\n<td>29 (29)<\/td>\n<td>11-11-03<\/td>\n<td>0<\/td>\n<td>3.55<\/td>\n<td>.879<\/td>\n<td>-18.6<\/td>\n<td>NHL, $775K<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/merille01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-04-02_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Leevi Merilainen<\/a><\/td>\n<td>22<\/td>\n<td>14 (14)<\/td>\n<td>8-4-2<\/td>\n<td>3<\/td>\n<td>2.25<\/td>\n<td>.919<\/td>\n<td>5.5<\/td>\n<td>RFA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>The next goalie to discuss is Mads Sogaard. Sogaard is an example of the player who\u2019s been given plenty of opportunity with the Ottawa Senators. If you look back to the year he turned 18, it\u2019s easy to see why he was so highly-touted. That season he posted a .921 SV% for the WHL\u2019s Medicine Hat Tigers. However, as his career has progressed and now he\u2019s 24 years old, he has spent far too often injured and unable to play full seasons. As a result, his career trajectory has paid the price at this point.<\/p>\n<h3>Merilainen is the Man Among the Ottawa Senators Prospect List<\/h3>\n<p>It doesn\u2019t really make sense to rank him above of Merilainen on the team&#8217;s organizational depth chart. Now as we discuss Ottawa Senators rumours, we will say his one-way, NHL contract for &#8217;25-26 is advantageous for his own standing, in that it is only valued at $775K. Bruce Garrioch suggested that perhaps the Senators could buy him out. This is because it would only be at a fraction of the cost given his free agent status as a 24-year-old. That would about a third of that 775K.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe up there with Stephen Halliday and his 6&#8217;4&#8243; frame putting up 44 points on the farm. But, why are we even discussing about the reason? We can only discuss a buyout because of the development of Finnish goaltender Leevi Merilainen. As we can see by his stats, Merilainen has played very well for Ottawa when he\u2019s been called upon. It seems that he is ready for a back-up role in the NHL behind the incumbent starter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/u\/ullmali01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-04-02_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Linus Ullmark<\/a>. He is an RFA, so the Sens would have to give him a deal that works for both sides.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast, perhaps it makes sense to keep Sogaard. That way you can run a back-up to Merilainen, as a backup. It\u2019s only the contract status that holds Sogaard back, so he would be subjected to the waiver wire, if in fact he would play in Belleville next season. Of course, the Sens could always look at bringing back Forsberg. However, as we suggested the price tag probably isn\u2019t worth the value. Especially so, when you do have a more than capable Merilainen in there already.<\/p>\n<h3>More Rumours for the Ottawa Senators This Time on Their Arena<\/h3>\n<p><a  href=\"https:\/\/ottawacitizen.com\/ottawa-senators\/canadian-tire-extension-ottawa-senators-arena-naming-rights\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Another one of the rumours<\/a> passed on by Garrioch was the naming rights to the Sens home, the Canadian Tire Centre. Canadian Tire has owned the naming right back to 2013. It does seem that the team will decide to go with Canadian Tire once again to maintain the name of the arena in Kanata, Ontario. It\u2019s good to be loyal to those who have been loyal to you.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Nick Cousins, who has been skating in his own, is expected to skate with the team for the 1st time Thursday morning. <br \/>We are told he is ahead of schedule. As he said on our show after the injury, he was targeting a mid april return. <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/GoSensGo?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#GoSensGo<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Coming In Hot (@ComingInHotSens) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ComingInHotSens\/status\/1907480157209637355?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 2, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Finally, a Current Rumour for Fans to Get Excited Over<\/h3>\n<p>One last update is regarding Nick Cousin. Cousins has been injured for a while. In fact, on the long-term injury reserved, which did in help them pick up players like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/z\/zettefa01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-04-02_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fabian Zetterlund<\/a> at the trade deadline. Cousins has played a very reliable game picking up five goals and eight assists through 47 contests. His status remains unknown in terms of when he will return, but it was said to be mid-April. However, he is getting close and any extra help for the playoffs, as we all know is welcome. See <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/g\/gaudead01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-04-02_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Adam Gaudette<\/a>\u2019s lack of production if you need a reason why.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The man who is the Ottawa Senators insider let us know what\u2019s happening and some rumours looking ahead for the team. It is mostly beyond this season, but there is also one important injury update for this season. The other topics included one involving the naming rights for their current home in Kanata, Ontario. As [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4222,"featured_media":465847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,4547,4548,4321],"tags":[1752,6957,4095,602,6095],"class_list":["post-465845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-senators","category-hockey","category-nhl","category-rumours","tag-anton-forsberg","tag-leevi-merilainen","tag-mads-sogaard","tag-nick-cousins","tag-ottawa-senators-rumours"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465845"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":465898,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465845\/revisions\/465898"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}