The Ottawa Senators' 2025 preseason schedule has come to a close, and as of this writing, they still haven't made a player cut that would qualify as surprising or, quite frankly, even that interesting. But that's about to change. The season starts on Thursday night in Tampa, and the Senators – like all NHL teams – have to have their 23-man roster filed by Monday at 5 pm.
"We've got some decisions to make," head coach Travis Green told the media after the 3-1 win in Montreal on Saturday night. "With Drake Batherson still being out of the lineup – we'll see if he can start the season – but in the next 24 hours, we'll make some hard decisions and see where we end up."
Right now, they have 31 players still in Camp. Here's the full list from the Sens website, with asterisks that we've placed beside names of players who aren't considered locks for the final 23-man roster..
Forwards
- Michael Amadio
- Drake Batherson (injury concern)
- Nick Cousins
- Dylan Cozens
- Lars Eller
- Claude Giroux
- Ridly Greig
- Stephen Halliday*
- Hayden Hodgson*
- Jan Jenik*
- Arthur Kaliyev*
- Olle Lycksell*
- Kurtis MacDermid*
- David Perron
- Shane Pinto
- Tim Stützle
- Brady Tkachuk
- Fabian Zetterlund
Defense
19. Thomas Chabot
20. Nick Jensen
21. Tyler Kleven (injury concern)
22. Nikolas Matinpalo*
23. Donovan Sebrango*
24. Jake Sanderson
25. Jordan Spence
26. Lassi Thomson*
27. Carter Yakemchuk*
28. Artem Zub
Goalies
29. Leevi Merilainen
30. Mads Sogaard*
31. Linus Ullmark
Last year, the Senators began the year with the full lineup of 23 players, opting for a ratio of 14 forwards, 7 defensemen and two goalies. Complicating decisions this time of the year are things like injuries and who's waiver exempt and who is not.
Among the bubble players, the most intriguing name by far is defenseman Carter Yakemchuk. He was excellent in last year's NHL preseason, leading the Sens with 7 points in 4 games. This year, he had 0 points in four games. His junior numbers also tumbled last season, and he seems like a young man still adjusting to being asked to toggle back his offence to be a better defender.
But it was his offence that caught the eyes of NHL scouts, and it's why the Sens drafted him seventh overall. They're likely asking themselves right now, 'Does Yakemchuk upgrade the right side of our defence enough (or at all) that he should forego some valuable development time in the AHL, where his inevitable mistakes won't be splashed all over TSN highlight reels?'
For all the talk about Jensen's injury over the offseason, he's going to be ready to start the season. Artem Zub is a lock as well, leaving Jordan Spence and Nikolas Matinpalo as the 6-7 options to round out the right side of the defense. So there's no obvious reason to rush Yakemchuk, and what's more, he simply might not be good enough yet to crack this lineup.
We expect him to be joined in Belleville by Lassi Thomson. On the left side, if Kleven isn't ready, Sebrango might get a stay of execution on reassignment. Either way, after appearing in all playoff games last spring, Matinpalo has the edge as the seventh man.
In goal, Sogaard is our odd man out to be reassigned to Belleville, but first, he would need to clear waivers. That will be intriguing to see if some goalie-poor organization takes a shot at a young 6-foot-7 goalie.
Up front, 12 forwards are locks, but some of the lower-rung players may be interchangeable. So, depending on Batherson's injury, we'll keep two or three more forwards beyond that. We're rolling with a group of MacDermid, Kaliyev and Lycksell, and when one eventually has to go down, we're choosing Lycksell.
Hodgson's stock fell hard with MacDermid's addition on Friday. So Hodgson, along with Halliday and Jenik, will be reassigned to Belleville.
So that's our game plan. Let's see now what the Sens actually do over the next 24 hours.
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