Zack Ostapchuk Expected To Make Ottawa Senator Season Debut Against The Blues

Ostapchuk was cut on the final day of Sens' training camp this month and returns to Ottawa with five points in six AHL games.

When Ottawa Senators defenceman Artem Zub went down with a concussion earlier this month, their plan B to replace him was obvious. They already had Jacob Bernard-Docker sitting right there. He had made the opening night roster as a seventh defenceman, and like Zub, he was a right-shot defenceman.

Barring a trade or waiver claim, this was their only option internally.

Now, with Shane Pinto out for an undetermined amount of time, week-to-week, they say, his replacement on the roster isn't quite so simple. This takes us back to training camp when the only thing the Senators decided from a roster standpoint was who their 12th forward would be.

Adam Gaudette won the role, but with Pinto gone for the foreseeable future, they're now holding auditions for the 12th forward again. This time, it's a temp position (they hope), and it'll happen in games that count.

Cole Reinhardt got the first audition, not because he was necessarily their favourite for the role. He was only on the road trip as an extra body in case someone got hurt. But someone (Pinto) dropped out of the lineup between Utah and Vegas. So Reinhardt got a chance and looked like he belonged. Great skater, often noticeable, and a gorgeous backdoor assist to Gaudette in the Vegas game.

Now the Sens want to have a look at someone else. At some point, Jan Jenik, Angus Crookshank, or Stephen Halliday might be on the casting director's list.

But tonight at home against the St. Louis Blues, it will be Zack Ostapchuk. In a perfect world, he would have been their first call-up after the awkward way he was cut at training camp. A day before rosters had to be finalized, Ostapchuk appeared to have made the team.

The Sens put Gaudette and Jenik on waivers, leaving Ostapchuk as one of 12 forwards remaining. But once Gaudette and Jenik cleared, Jenik and Ostapchuk were sent down, and Gaudette stayed.

As a centre, Ostapchuk won't just take Pinto's spot on the roster; he'll slide in directly to that third-line centre role. Ridly Greig will move out of the spot and play with Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle on the right wing. He takes the spot of Michael Amadio, who moves to the third line with Ostapchuk and Noah Gregor.

Ostapchuk is off to a fine start in the AHL with a goal and five points in six games. 

"Yeah, I thought I worked really hard all camp," Ostapachuk told the media after the game day skate. "I liked my speed. I knew there was a lot of details I needed to clean up a bit. But I think, yeah, just in my time down there, I tried to iron some things out and I'm ready to be back up here."

At 6-foot-4, 212 pounds, the 21-year-old adds a physical dimension to the bottom six, and he's not an easy guy to handle when a fight breaks out. Ostapchuk was Ottawa's second pick, 39th overall, in the 2021 Draft.

Since the NHL schedule-maker only gave the Senators one day to get themselves sorted out after a week-long trip out west, it wouldn't be a shock if Ostapchuk is one of the Senators' better players tonight.