Senators Recall Leevi Meriläinen, Reassign Zack Ostapchuk

12/15/2024 11:22 AM

The Ottawa Senators will be without goaltender Anton Forsberg for an undisclosed period due to injury and with that, the team needed a netminder. Ottawa announced they’ve recalled goaltender Leevi Meriläinen from their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators, and have reassigned forward Zack Ostapchuk the other way in a corresponding roster move.

It would be a surprise to see Meriläinen play meaningful minutes with the Senators with his last bit of work with the team coming in the 2022-23 NHL season. Meriläinen started two games for Ottawa that year as his only NHL experience and he finished with a 0-1-1 record and a .878 save percentage.

The former 71st overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft has understandably been more effective with AHL Belleville. Meriläinen has managed a solid 20-11-5 record in 41 AHL contests with a career .908 SV% and 2.65 GAA. Still, it’ll be difficult for the Senators to turn away from Linus Ullmark who’s posted a .966 SV% over his last five starts.

Returning to AHL Belleville is Ostapchuk, who’s been a mildly used forward for the Senators this year. He’s tallied two assists in 16 contests while averaging 9:16 of ice time per game.

As much as Ostapchuk might want to remain in Ottawa he won’t be confined to a fourth-line role for the next few games at the very least. He’s suited up in nine games for Belleville this season where he’s collected one goal and eight points in total.