The Ottawa Senators are back home after a five-game road swing, but the lineup picture is still a little fuzzy heading into Saturday night’s meeting with the Utah Mammoth.
The biggest question marks sit with Ridly Greig and Linus Ullmark. Greig is expected to miss the game, while Ullmark appears to be moving closer to a return.
Travis Green said Friday that Greig is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. The 24-year-old was a late scratch for Wednesday’s 2-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres and also missed practice Friday.
It isn’t clear exactly when Greig got hurt, though he did take a heavy collision with Ducks goalie Laurent Brossoit on Sunday. After that, Tim Washe, all 6-foot-3, 215 pounds of him, jumped on him while he was lying on the ice to let Greig know he didn’t much care for that.
Greig has two goals and two assists in 14 games this season. The scoring line is modest, but his value runs deeper than that. He’s a key part of Ottawa’s penalty kill and has the versatility to slot in anywhere in the lineup.
That matters even more with William Eklund, Warren Foegele, and Andre Burakovsky already sidelined. Another forward out of the mix is the last thing the Senators need.
Ullmark’s situation is more encouraging. Ottawa’s No. 1 goalie has been out since suffering a lower-body injury during “Trash Brady Night,” a 5-1 win over the Florida Panthers on October 21.
Before the injury, Ullmark was on a ridiculous run to open the season, going 7-1-0 with a 1.33 goals-against average and a .945 save percentage.
At practice Friday, he was out there in his new Hometown Remix gear and said he’s still taking things “day by day.” Both he and Green said he’ll be reevaluated, but neither ruled out a return against Utah.
The Senators have felt his absence. Samuel Ersson and Jonas Johansson have tried to keep things afloat, but the results have been uneven.
Ersson, though, has shown signs of turning a corner in his last two outings, including Wednesday in Buffalo when he stopped 24 shots. That kind of steadiness matters, because Ottawa won’t get where it wants to go unless its No. 2 goaltending settles in at least at an average level.
There was also some good news on the blue line. Tyler Kleven, who missed Wednesday’s game in Buffalo because of an illness, was back at practice Friday and appears set to play Saturday. Carter Yakemchuk filled in for him on Wednesday, and it will be worth watching whether Yakemchuk goes back to being a healthy scratch for the fourth time in five games.
Ottawa enters the night at 10-6-1, the same record as Utah, which has been one of the league’s more dangerous offensive teams early on.
Puck drop at Canadian Tire Centre is set for 7 p.m.
In Other News...
Senators Face An Early Test With Lineup Questions Still Lingering
The Senators get right back to work at Canadian Tire Centre with a matchup that should tell them a little more about where they stand this early in the season. Ottawa and Utah both enter at 10-6-1, and the Senators are trying to build on a tight 2-1 win over Buffalo while the Mammoth arrive after a 5-4 overtime loss to Montreal. Both clubs are dealing with injuries, but each has still put together projected lineups, which at this point of the schedule is often as revealing as the standings themselves.
For Ottawa, the bigger question is not just the opponent but how much certainty the lineup will actually have once puck drop gets closer. The Senators have been managing absences while trying to keep their recent momentum intact, and the game presents another chance to test their depth against a team with similar results so far. There is still some pregame uncertainty hanging over the group, and how the final lineup settles in could matter just as much as the result against a Mammoth team that has already shown it can push games deep into the night. [Read more 🡒]
Senators Face A Carter Yakemchuk Decision That Could Shape Their Blue Line
Tyler Klevens return has given Ottawa a healthier look on the back end, but it has also created one of those early-season roster puzzles that can linger for weeks. Travis Green now has to decide how to handle Carter Yakemchuk, a young defender whose offensive upside is obvious enough to keep him in the conversation, even as his positioning and puck management have made his learning curve hard to ignore.
The Senators have options, and none of them are simple. Green can keep Yakemchuk in the mix, shift him in and out with Nikolas Matinpalo, or consider a longer developmental reset with Belleville if the growing pains start to outweigh the flashes. For now, Yakemchuk is getting the nod as Ottawa faces the Utah Mammoth, which at least buys the club a little more time before the bigger blue-line decision comes due. [Read more 🡒]
MacKenzie Weegar Was Almost Headed Somewhere Else Before Calgary Dealt Him
MacKenzie Weegars path out of Calgary had a very different landing spot in mind before the Flames finally moved him. Ottawa was in the mix at one point, but the Senators never had the pieces needed to complete a deal, leaving the veteran defenseman to wait for another opening as the trade market kept shifting around him.
When the move finally came on March 4, 2024, it sent Weegar to Utah, where he quickly settled into a top-four role and later locked in his future with the Mammoth through the 2030-31 season. For Utah, it was a major add on the blue line. For Ottawa, it was another reminder of how close a team can get to a difference-making defenseman without quite having the assets to finish the job. [Read more 🡒]