Leevi Meriläinen’s stint with the Ottawa Senators ended quickly, and the Vancouver Canucks were the ones to scoop him up.
The Senators placed the young goaltender on waivers yesterday after a rough night in Toronto, where he allowed six goals on 27 shots. It was a performance that looked a lot like what Ottawa saw from him last season, when he finished among the league’s worst goalies in goals saved above expected.
By this afternoon, Meriläinen was on the move. Vancouver announced that it had claimed him off waivers from Ottawa.
General Manager Ryan Johnson announced today that the #Canucks have claimed goaltender Leevi Meriläinen off of waivers from the Ottawa Senators.
DETAILS | https://t.co/gdadi7psJo pic.twitter.com/v3uVD5cQjJ
- Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) September 25, 2026
His departure leaves Ottawa with a thin-looking goaltending picture. In Belleville, Jackson Parsons and Kevin Reidler - ages 21 and 22 - are currently the tandem, and they have only 16 combined AHL games between them. Vadim Zherenko is also at camp on a PTO and could now be in line for a contract after this development.
Zherenko, 25, has more than 100 AHL games under his belt. He spent last season with the Springfield Thunderbirds, going 17-16-5 with a 3.08 GAA and a .902 SV%. He has still never appeared in an NHL game.
The larger issue is what this means for Ottawa’s crease moving forward. Ullmark has famously never played more that 49 games in a single season, and while Meriläinen’s play last year left plenty to be desired, there had been hope he could rebuild some confidence and rebound. With him now gone, the Senators are left with even more uncertainty behind a starter who has a history of missing significant time and a backup who has been one of the worst statistical goalies over the last several years.
A signing or another move appears likely in the coming days.
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A rough night in Toronto quickly turned into a roster decision for Leevi Merilainen, and the Senators are now navigating a situation that says as much about the present as it does about the future. Ottawa placed the young goaltender on waivers after his latest outing, a move that puts his recent struggles squarely under the spotlight and forces the club to weigh patience against the need for steadier play in net.
If Merilainen clears, the next stop is expected to be Belleville in the American Hockey League, where the Senators can try to get him back on track without keeping him in the NHL picture for the moment. It would also mark the first time in his career that he has needed waivers to reach the AHL, a reminder that this is no longer just about one bad game but about a deeper question the organization now has to answer. [Read more 🡒]
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The concern is whether Yakemchuk is ready for the nightly grind of NHL minutes, not just the flashes that stand out in camp or preseason. His defensive play and overall consistency have still been works in progress, and Ottawa does not have a long list of easy fallback options if it decides he needs more seasoning. That leaves the Senators weighing potential against reliability, a tricky call for a team that suddenly has one of its most important roster questions sitting in front of it. [Read more 🡒]
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Mikael Backlund said the jersey carried real emotion for him, which makes sense for a captain who has spent so much of his career around the building and the identity that comes with it. The Flames plan to wear the alternate four times at home against opponents they saw during that playoff journey, a fitting bit of symmetry for a season that is already going to be shaped by memory as much as results. [Read more 🡒]