Leevi Merilainen Signs a One-Year Deal, but Nothing Guaranteed
The Ottawa Senators have brought back goaltender Leevi Merilainen on a one-year, $1.1 million contract. It’s a move that feels more like a “we’ll see” than a long-term commitment. The signing keeps the young goaltender in the organization, but it doesn’t exactly hand him the keys to the backup job.
In Ottawa right now, nothing in net is handed out—you earn it, or you sit and wait.
Merilainen’s 2025–26 season was a tough one on paper. An 8–10–1 record, a 3.51 goals-against average, and an .860 save percentage across 20 games won't turn many heads for the right reasons. But he’s still only 23, and that matters in a position where development rarely follows a straight line. Goaltenders can look lost one year and completely different two years later. The Senators are clearly betting there’s still something to work with here, even if the results haven’t shown it yet.
Related: The Deeper Story Behind Brady Tkachuk and the Senators.
Merilainen faces competition for the Senators’ backup spot.
The situation in Ottawa’s crease is also not exactly simple. Linus Ullmark is the starter, and the Senators didn’t sign him to be anything less. But behind him, there’s competition brewing. Merilainen will have to battle for the No. 2 job, and nothing is guaranteed heading into camp. Whether he’s competing directly with Samuel Ersson or simply fighting to stay on the NHL roster at all, the message is the same: show up ready, or you’re going back to the AHL.
And that’s really where this story sits. This isn’t a signing that locks anything in—it’s one that keeps the door open. If Merilainen shows growth, he stays in the NHL mix and maybe starts carving out a real backup role. If not, he heads back to the minors to reset and try again.
For the Senators, Merilainen is a low-risk signing that could turn out well.
For the Senators, it’s low-risk. For Merilainen, it’s another chance. And for a team still trying to figure out its long-term stability behind Ullmark, it’s just one more name in a crease that doesn’t have many settled answers yet.