The Ottawa Senators have spent the last two seasons getting close enough to taste more, only to run into the same dead end in the playoffs. Now the path forward is clear: if they want to take another step in 2026-27, the goaltending has to hold up.
That’s why Connor Ingram keeps coming up as a name worth a look.
Ottawa is leaning on Linus Ullmark again after a rough 2025-26 season. He made 49 starts, went 28-12-8, and finished with a .891 save percentage and a 2.73 goals-against average. That’s a drop from the .909 and 2.72 he posted the year before, and while nobody is expecting him to suddenly recreate his Vezina Trophy form from 2022-23 with the Boston Bruins, the Senators need him closer to the .909 mark he delivered in his first season in Ottawa.
But the starter can’t carry the whole load. The backup situation matters here, and that’s where the conversation gets uncomfortable for Ottawa.
The presumed No. 2 is Samuel Ersson, acquired by the Senators for a 2027 fifth-round draft pick sent to the Toronto Maple Leafs before he signed a two-year, $2.2 million AAV extension. On paper, that locks in a backup. In practice, it comes with a lot of risk.
Ersson’s recent work with the Philadelphia Flyers does not inspire much confidence. Last season, he was among the NHL’s worst-performing goaltenders, putting up a .870 save percentage and a 3.12 goals-against average in 29 starts.
Across 143 games over the past four seasons, his career numbers sit at a .884 save percentage and a 3.01 GAA. Those aren’t the kind of figures that make a team comfortable if the starter misses time.
And that possibility matters. If Ullmark makes 49 starts again in the expanded 84-game season, that still leaves 35 games for someone else - nearly 42% of the team’s starts. That’s a lot to ask from a goalie whose track record has been shaky.
Ersson does have something going for him. He helped Sweden win back-to-back World Championship bronze medals in 2024 and 2025, and the hope in Ottawa is that a fresh environment and a stronger defensive group can bring out better results. If he can get closer to a .900 save percentage, that would be enough.
Still, the Senators have another option sitting there in mid-August: Connor Ingram.
Ingram’s career has had its ups and downs, but the overall body of work stacks up better than Ersson’s. He owns a .901 career save percentage and a goals-against average that matches Ersson’s across 129 starts with the Nashville Predators, Arizona Coyotes, Utah Mammoth, and Edmonton Oilers. His best season came in 2023-24 with the Coyotes, when he went 23- wins in 48 starts, posted a .907 save percentage, and finished with a 2.91 GAA.
Even last season, in 30 starts with the Oilers, he stayed close to that line with a .899 save percentage and a 2.60 GAA. In one fewer start than Ersson, Ingram also had two more wins, 16 to 14, and a better quality-start rate, .633 compared to Ersson’s .414.
That’s the kind of comparison that makes a PTO worth considering.
A professional tryout would cost Ottawa nothing financially and give the club a clean look at Ingram before making a commitment. It would let Ingram show what he can bring, and it would force Ersson to prove he can be more than what his NHL numbers say so far. If Ottawa decides Ingram isn’t the answer, it walks away with no real dollars or cap space tied up.
If Ingram wins the job, though, the Senators may have found a better solution before the season even starts.
For a team that needs the best possible goaltending to get where it wants to go, that’s a move worth making.
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