Will The Ottawa Senators Go Shopping To Fill Their Most Underrated Roster Spot?

One of the most underrated positions for the Ottawa Senators this fall will be the backup goalie role.

The number one job obviously belongs to Linus Ullmark, who's about to start a four-year deal worth $33 million with a cap hit of $8.2 million per season. The issue is that Ullmark, who turns 32 next month, has never played much more than half a season throughout his entire career.

In a league where the best goalies play upwards of 55-60 games, Ullmark's games played totals over the past 7 years have been 37, 34, 20, 41, 49, 40, and last season, 44. Sometimes it's due to a platoon situation like he had in Boston with Jeremy Swayman. But last year, it was injuries.

The point of it all is that Ullmark's backup stands to get as much work as any backup in the league next season. But who will it be?

The only other goalie under contract at the moment is Mads Søgaard, who played just 10 hockey games last season. Søgaard will be on a one-way deal, presumably because the club thought he'd be the one to replace Anton Forsberg, who becomes a UFA on Tuesday.

But then Leevi Meriläinen entered the chat.

With Søgaard hurt for much of the year, the Sens had to call on Meriläinen for 12 games, and he was sensational. His stats were considerably better than both Ullmark and Forsberg's.

But less than a week before free agency, Staios wouldn't announce anything official on Forsberg—or, for that matter, any of his three goalies. He was asked if Forsberg had officially declared to him that he's heading for the open market.

"I wouldn't speak on that," Staios said. "I mean, we've kept in touch with Anton. We've talked to all of our free agents, and I guess time will tell."

The follow-up was more direct. Would he like to bring Anton back?

"I've always said I enjoy Anton. I think he's a great pro. And a real good person."

Frankly, that sounds like the kind of thing you say to be nice when you're not that into someone.

So the assumption is that Forsberg will head to market on Tuesday, while Meriläinen is the goalie everyone thinks will get his job.

That would mean Søgaard will need to clear waivers so they can assign him to Belleville. At 6-foot-7, you can't teach big, as they say. So it's possible someone would put in a claim in the spirit of “you can never have too much goaltending.”

The Sens learned that lesson the hard way last year with all kinds of injuries to everyone. They had to lean on Meriläinen way earlier in his career than they ever thought they would, while the Belleville Senators were going out of their minds, trying to patch things up with replacements.

But while Søgaard's stock seems to have fallen, Staios quickly brought up his name while replying to a Merilainen question on Wednesday. The GM was asked by the affable Claire Hanna what his comfort level is with Meriläinen as his backup goalie, and Staios quickly shoehorned Søgaard into the dialogue, perhaps hinting that he's still in the mix.

"Well, we're comfortable with Leevi. You know, I think... and Mads as well. Like, Mads' injuries happened, and there are ups and downs to a player's career. So, we're comfortable with our goaltending depth, and we'll continue to look at other options as well."

In terms of other options in the organization, the Sens have the rights to Kevin Reidler (University of Nebraska Omaha) and Vladimir Nikitin (Nanaimo Clippers, BCHL).

Neither is an NHL option yet, and maybe not even AHL-ready. But time will tell.

Meanwhile, as good as Meriläinen was last season, is Staios's comfort level so high that he's ready to give him 30-40 NHL games next season? As a policy, does Staios think it's a best-in-class kind of move to hand his NHL backup role to a 22-year-old with all of 14 games of experience in the league? There's at least a chance the answer is no, and that Staios may, indeed, "look at other options," possibly one outside of the organization.

Meriläinen needs a qualifying offer by Saturday, and he'll get one, but it remains to be seen if the NHL backup role will truly be his this fall or not.

By Steve Warne
The Hockey News Ottawa

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