The Senators Just Traded for Some Goalie Insurance

Sometimes a hockey move tells you more about a team's depth chart than its lineup. That's what caught my eye with the Ottawa Senators on Friday. The Senators picked up Jonas Johansson from Tampa Bay for future considerations. Johansson had cleared waivers Thursday, and now he's getting a fresh start in Ottawa.

And you know what? This actually makes a fair bit of sense. The Senators just put goalie Leevi Merilainen on waivers, and now they've added one. That doesn't look like they're trying to make some huge change in the NHL crease. It looks more like they're making sure they have somebody back there if things go sideways.

Ottawa needs some goalie depth.

Johansson is expected to start the season with Belleville in the AHL. That's probably just fine for now. He's 29, has been around the NHL, and has enough experience that Ottawa can feel reasonably comfortable calling him up if something happens to Linus Ullmark or Samuel Ersson.

Nobody wants to find out in November that the organization doesn't have another goalie it trusts. Goalies are funny creatures. You can go months without needing the third guy in the system, and then suddenly you need him tomorrow night. An injury happens. Somebody gets sick. A goalie struggles. Whatever happens, suddenly that goalie in Belleville becomes pretty important.

That's why moves like this often don't get much attention. There's no big headline. No blockbuster trade. No superstar coming through the door. Just a guy who can stop pucks. And sometimes that's exactly what you need.

For the Senators, this is about insurance, not celebration.

Johansson isn't being brought in to replace Ullmark. At least that's not what this move says. Ottawa is bringing him in because it needs a safety net. The Senators have enough interesting things going on with their NHL roster. They don't need to make their lives harder by having a thin organizational goalie situation.

So, if Johansson spends most of the season in Belleville, that's probably a good thing. It means Ullmark and Ersson are healthy. But if something happens, Ottawa has somebody with NHL experience ready to go. That's the kind of boring little move that can become pretty important fast.

These depth moves can matter because you don't build an organization with just your top players. You build it underneath them, too. And right now, the Senators appear to be adding a little insurance in front of the net. Not that exciting, but probably smart roster housekeeping.