The Ottawa Senators made a couple of moves yesterday. First, they acquired former first round pick and Shawinigan Cataractes legend Xavier Bourgault from the OIlers, which you can read more about here. Then afterwards, the team decided to move on from Kevin Mandolese, shipping him to the Colorado Avalanche alongside a seventh round pick in 2026 for a 2026 6th.
Kevin Mandolese, who will be 24 by the start of the season, is coming off an interesting year. He split last year between the AHL and the ECHL, matching a personal AHL best .901 save percentage over 23 games as the Belleville Senators juggled a three goalie tandem.
While his play was not bad by any means, statistically he was behind that of Mads Sogaard -- the team's definitive top goalie prospect -- who had a .916 through 32 games and youngster Leevi Merilainen with a .906 save percentage across 24 games.
With Linus Ullmark replacing Joonas Korpisalo for the NHL starting role and the team seemingly keeping backup goalie Anton Forsberg, it became clear that the former 2018 sixth round pick would likely enter his fifth professional season as the Senators fifth goalie.
Despite struggling to find his footing in the Senators system, Mandolese was looked incredible in three NHL games during the 2022-23 season netting a .916 save percentage when the Senators were short several goalies due to injuries.
Mandolese is currently a restricted free agent, but once he is signed it's likely that -- barring another move -- he will battle fellow AHL/ECHL tweener Trent Miner for the starting job of the Colorado Eagles.
This will be the second time Mandolese donned an Eagle on his chest, previously being a strong netminder for the Cape Breton Eagles of the QMJHL between 2016 to 2020. Across 151 QMJHL games, Mandolese had an even .900 save percentage.