For Stephen Halliday, the first real taste of NHL life has already left a mark.
The Senators centre spent Sunday at the Bell Sensplex in Kanata, working with kids ages 7-11 as part of the team’s Pro Player Camps. It was a chance to give back, but also a reminder of what he hopes this path can become.
“I never did any camps with NHLers (growing up),” he told the Ottawa Citizen in a one-on-one interview. “So that’s why I thought it was even more cool, kind of putting kids in my shoes. I know Mike (Amadio) did one yesterday, too.”
Those young players got an on-ice session with Ottawa forwards over the weekend, soaking up every detail. Halliday knows that feeling well. He was doing the same thing himself during a demanding second full season of pro hockey in 2025-26.
The 104th overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft was recalled four times from Belleville of the American Hockey League, where he produced at a point-per-game pace, and each call-up came with a fight for minutes once he reached the Senators.
“I think it just gives you perspective and gives you, honestly, more sense of urgency,” Halliday said. “When I would go down, I’d be like, ‘Wow, every shift matters even more.’ And even when I was up here, I was able to soak in stuff from guys that were playing really good hockey.”
When he did dress for Ottawa, Halliday was usually slotted on the fourth line and averaged 8:31 of ice time per game. Some nights, that meant only eight or nine shifts.
Still, he saw value in every part of the experience. The season forced him to adjust to different responsibilities, and that included a steady focus on faceoffs with Ben Sexton in practice. It also meant time in the press box, where he watched closely as Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot dealt with injuries and studied how they handled the game.
“I think it was also (about) learning how to do different roles,” he said. “I’ve always been a points guy, and in most leagues I’ve played in the top six.
It really gave me a lot of time to work on my faceoffs with Ben Sexton every practice. And I was sitting in the press box and unfortunately (Jake Sanderson) and (Thomas Chabot) got hurt last year, and I’m sitting with those guys, watching the game, seeing how they’re breaking it down because they’re two top Dmen in the league.
I tried to be like a sponge and learn a bit so that when I did get in I understood how to play the game a little bit better.”
In Other News...
Every Day Ottawa Waits, Batherson Becomes A Bigger Contract Problem
Drake Batherson has been eligible for a contract extension with the Senators for three weeks now, and the longer Ottawa waits, the more complicated the situation gets. His game has climbed year by year, capped by career highs last season, and that kind of upward trajectory usually gets expensive fast, especially with the NHL salary cap rising and the market for top-end talent moving higher around the league.
Batherson has already said he is open to staying in Ottawa long-term, so this is not a question of fit so much as timing and price. The Senators have watched his value grow into something much harder to pin down than it would have been earlier, and with other big deals resetting expectations across the league, every quiet day only makes the eventual negotiation feel a little more loaded. [Read more 🡒]
Flames May Have Another Mid Round Steal Brewing In Their System
Ethan Wyttenbachs first year at Quinnipiac has already turned heads in Calgary circles, and for good reason. The fifth-round pick was one of the most productive freshmen in college hockey, piling up 25 goals and 59 points while leading the Bobcats in scoring by a wide margin, a kind of breakout that can change how a prospect is viewed almost overnight.
For the Flames, the appeal is obvious: a player taken 144th overall who chose the college route and immediately looked like more than a long-term project. Wyttenbachs rise has put him in the conversation with some of the sports more notable freshman scorers, and it has also made him one of the more intriguing dark horse names in the system as Calgary waits to see whether this was a one-year surge or the start of something bigger. [Read more 🡒]