Ottawa Senators general manager Steve Staios officially provided some clarity on the organization’s 2025-26 goaltending depth chart on Tuesday afternoon. The dominoes started to fall on Monday with Leevi Meriläinen signing a one-year, one-way contract worth $1 million for next season.
As Staios pointed out on Tuesday, the 22-year-old is ahead of schedule in his development. He appeared in 12 games for the Senators last season when starter Linus Ullmark was out of the lineup and the Finnish netminder played out of his mind, going 8-3-1 with a 1.90 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage. And Staios says he expects Merilainen to be Linus Ullmark's full-time backup in Ottawa next season.
"Yeah, Leevi sort of expedited his development through last year," Staios said. "His differentiator is his mindset and how he approaches things. The moment just doesn't seem too big for him. And he's continued to grow and develop. We're looking forward to watching that continue."
With the inclusion of Mads Søgaard, who Staios still describes as a "heck of a prospect," the Senators now have three goaltenders on one-way deals. Staios stressed Søgaard's importance to the organization with the inevitable injuries that so often come along.
Assuming the 6-foot-7 netminder clears waivers, he projects to begin the season in Belleville, and the club is expected to sign another goaltender to share duties with him for the B-Sens.
Meriläinen’s rise meant the Senators had to say goodbye to Anton Forsberg, who became an unrestricted free agent on Tuesday. Forsberg has been with the club since the 2020–21 season, having been claimed off waivers from the Winnipeg Jets in March 2021. He eventually found stability in the capital after a chaotic stretch that year, getting claimed on waivers by Carolina, Winnipeg, and finally Ottawa, after starting the year at Edmonton's camp.
Forsberg’s best season in Ottawa came in 2021–22, when he played 46 games and recorded a 2.82 goals-against average with a .917 save percentage. In essence, Forsberg helped backstop the rebuild, often facing difficult nights behind a porous Sens defense. Even with that, his performances ran hot and cold, including last season. With the less expensive Meriläinen stepping up as he did, the decision to move on wasn’t a difficult one.
On Monday, Forsberg signed a two-year contract with the Los Angeles Kings worth $2.2 million per season. He’ll be reunited with former Sens head coach D.J. Smith, now an assistant with the Kings. on a team that allowed the second-fewest goals in the NHL last season.
Between that and year-round summer, that's a nice landing spot for a player who's been a good soldier for the Senators.
By Steve Warne
The Hockey News/Ottawa
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