With the 2026 NHL Draft now in the rearview mirror, the Ottawa Senators are moving on to the next item on the offseason checklist: free agency.
The good news for Ottawa is that it enters the market with a little over $9 million in cap space. That isn’t a massive war chest, but it should be enough for a team that doesn’t appear to have any glaring holes. The job now is less about shopping for splashy fixes and more about filling out the roster in the right places.
Claude Giroux sits at the top of that list. The veteran forward is expected back next season, and his return looks more like a formality than a real question.
Ottawa also already has 13 forwards signed, not including Giroux and RFA Arthur Kaliyev. Both are expected to be added, which would help trim the crowd when training camp opens.
The Senators also need to sort out the blue line. According to PuckPedia, the club has six defensemen under contract, which leaves the front office with decisions to make on Nick Jensen, Dinnis Gilbert, and Lassi Thomson. None of those names figures to require a huge deal, so Ottawa’s available money should be enough to handle the work if the team chooses to bring any of them back.
Goaltending may be the trickiest part of the puzzle.
Right now, Linus Ullmark is the only goalie under NHL contract for next season. James Reimer, who backed him up this past season, is a UFA, and it’s still unclear whether Ottawa wants to keep him around as insurance.
Then there’s Samuel Ersson, the recently acquired 26-year-old who is an RFA with a $1.6 million qualifying offer. The Senators are likely to extend that QO and see whether a one-year arrangement makes sense for both sides. Ersson is one year away from unrestricted free agency, so a short-term deal could give Ottawa a clean way to test the fit before revisiting the situation next summer.
Leevi Merilainen is in a similar but slightly different spot. He’s also an RFA, with a $1.05 million qualifying offer, though he remains a few years away from UFA status.
That makes his case more complicated. Even if the Senators were to sign him to another one-year contract, he would need to clear waivers to go to the AHL, and that opens the door for a goalie-needy team to claim him.
If that happened, Ottawa could simply take the cap relief and move on. The expectation is that Merilainen would clear, but that question is still part of the conversation as the Senators sort through their options.
In Other News...
Senators Could Lose An RFA Forward For Almost Nothing
The Senators may have another roster issue simmering before the next round of contract business even gets fully underway. Elliotte Friedman reported that a restricted free agent forward is looking for a way out of Ottawa because the path to meaningful NHL minutes is not clear, and the club would still hold his rights if he decides to press the issue. For a team trying to manage its forward depth carefully, it is the kind of situation that can turn into a trade conversation quickly, especially when the player in question is still trying to translate strong minor-league production into a more stable NHL role.
There is also the wrinkle of an offer sheet, which would put Ottawa in a different kind of bind depending on how another club structures the deal. The compensation would hinge on the contract value, with the return changing significantly above or below the relevant threshold, so the Senators could be forced to decide whether to match, negotiate a trade, or risk losing the asset for very little. For a front office that already has to balance opportunity, depth and cap planning, it is one more negotiation thread worth watching closely. [Read more 🡒]
Claude Giroux Suddenly Puts Ottawa In A Position Fans Feared
Claude Girouxs future in Ottawa has quietly become one of the more delicate roster questions of the summer. After four seasons with the Senators, he has given them the kind of reliable two-way presence they value, producing at both ends of the ice while fitting into a lineup that still leans on veteran poise. The problem is that what the Senators want from Giroux and what they can realistically fit into the roster are not quite the same thing right now.
Pierre LeBruns report only sharpened the uncertainty around a player Ottawa would clearly like to keep. The Senators remain interested in bringing him back, but depth on the forward group and salary-cap pressure are pushing the conversation into difficult territory. For a team that has already spent years trying to build the right supporting cast, Girouxs situation is a reminder that sometimes the hardest decisions are the ones involving the players who have helped stabilize the room. [Read more 🡒]
Senators Fans Finally Got A Key Prospect Sign They Needed
For a Senators development camp that has plenty of attention on the usual group of young skaters, the sight of Carter Hensler back on the ice carried a different kind of weight. The defense prospect had been sidelined after an injury in January and spent months working through rehab, so simply getting back into drills this week was an encouraging step for a player whose momentum had been interrupted just as he was trying to build it.
Henslers return also adds another layer to a camp that is already giving Ottawa a look at prospects with different kinds of upside, including Kasper Halttunen, who arrives with a scorers resume and a history of helping drive winning teams. For the Senators, the appeal is obvious: development camp is about talent, but it is also about seeing who can get back on the ice, settle in again and start turning promise into something more reliable. [Read more 🡒]