The Senators’ Goaltending Gamble Is Catching Up With Them
For a while there, the Ottawa Senators looked like they’d finally turned a corner. Early this season, it seemed the change had stuck. The team was skating with confidence, scoring in bunches, and hanging around the top half of the Atlantic just like they belonged. The young core looked ready. The rebuild felt… finished.
Now? They’re staring up at the standings again, seven points out of a playoff spot, five teams between them and relevance, and asking a familiar question: how did this slip away so fast?
The answer starts—and mostly ends—in goal.
Goaltending Has Been the Senators’ Slippery Slope.
Last season, Ottawa survived largely because of the goaltending. It might not have been spectacular, but it was at least functional. This year, the margin vanished. Linus Ullmark was supposed to stabilize everything, and for stretches, he did. But once Ullmark stepped away on personal leave, the whole structure wobbled. The spotlight fell on Leevi Meriläinen, and it wasn’t kind.
In Ullmark’s absence, Meriläinen posted an .847 save percentage and gave up nearly nine goals more than expected. That’s not a rough patch—that’s the kind of stretch that sinks weeks of work. It’s hard not to feel for the kid. He was put in a spot he clearly wasn’t ready for. But it’s also hard not to look upstairs and ask why Ottawa entered the season without a sturdier Plan B.
James Reimer, one game in, doesn’t look like that answer either.
The Senators’ Season Turned a Corner, and It Was a Wrong Turn.
The Senators’ season didn’t just stall—it tipped the wrong way. Ottawa isn’t suddenly a bad team. The skaters didn’t forget how to play. But when the goaltending cracks, everything else follows. Defencemen cheat toward the net. Forwards grip their sticks. Leads feel fragile. Games that should be manageable turn into uphill scrambles.
And that’s the cruel part. If Ottawa had simply received league-average goaltending—the same kind of baseline they rode last year—there’s a strong case they’d still be in the driver’s seat in the Atlantic. Instead, they’re chasing, again, wondering how a promising start turned into another season of scoreboard watching.
The Senators Gambled on Goalie Depth and Lost.
This situation isn’t about one bad week. It was about a gamble on depth that didn’t pay off. In this league, hope is cheap. Saves are not. And until the Senators solve that, the rest of the story almost doesn’t matter.