Historically bad: How goaltending has tanked Ottawa Senators' season

Leevi Merilainen snarled as he reached for his water bottle, furious with himself. He had just offered up the right third of the net to Florida Panthers defenceman Gustav Forsling on a mid-range, sharp-angle slap shot that ripped over his glove for the 3-1 goal on Saturday night.

Seconds before the ensuing faceoff at centre ice, the Hockey Night In Canada broadcast showed three Ottawa Senators forwards on the bench, each of them staring into the abyss of what would soon be a fourth straight regulation loss. Brady Tkachuk and Dylan Cozens chomped on their mouth guards; Tim Stutzle shook his head ever so slightly as the visual faded out.

“There’s been ups and downs, for sure,” Merilainen said. “But overall, I don’t think it’s been that horrible. It’s just, it’s not going my way, our way, right now. We don’t give up a lot of shots, but when we do, it usually feels like it’s a bit of a scoring chance. … It’s hard to, like, stay always, like, really sharp and ready for those. Yeah, not too bad. Not great.”

The Sens’ skaters will never admit that goaltending has almost entirely derailed their season, and they shouldn’t. Hockey players are uniquely protective of their netminders, acknowledging the pressure and loneliness that comes with being the last line of defence.

But the numbers do not lie. Through 44 games, the Senators are dead last in the league with an .868 team save percentage. That is historically bad.

Since the franchise’s inaugural season in 1992-93, three teams have recorded a lower save percentage: The 1992-93 Senators (.852), the 1993-94 Senators (.857) and the second-year 1992-93 San Jose Sharks (.866).

What has arguably had an even more tangible impact on Ottawa’s uninspiring 20-19-5 record is the fact that neither Merilainen nor Linus Ullmark has truly stolen a game this season.

I triple checked.

Ullmark does have one shutout, but it came in a 4-0 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins that could’ve been 8-0; he made 22 stops in a 2-1 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers, but the Senators outshot Philly 33-23. Merilainen’s best performance was 29 stops in a 4-2 win against the Utah Mammoth with no empty netter.

At the other end of the rink, it’s happening for the Senators’ opponents almost constantly.

You don’t have to reach too deep into the memory bank to recall Mammoth goalie Karel Vejmelka making 32 saves in a 3-1 win last Wednesday, or John Gibson exactly one week ago making 35 stops for the Detroit Red Wings in a game the Sens absolutely dominated. Ottawa was thwarted by Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Jet Greaves’ 27-save performance just before the new year, and St. Louis Blues netminder Joel Hofer’s 41 saves just over a month ago.

It is especially painful for Sens fans to look around the NHL and see their former netminders thriving. Filip Gustavsson will start for Team Sweden at the 2026 Winter Olympics in February. Joey Daccord is one half of a strong Seattle Kraken tandem, with Philipp Grubauer, helping hold down a wild-card spot in the Western Conference. In Los Angeles, Anton Forsberg has a tidy .900 save percentage, three points above the league average. And on Sunday night, Joonas Korpisalo had a 27-save shutout for the Boston Bruins for good measure.

All this should be considered with two major caveats.

As Ullmark’s personal leave stretches into a third week with no return in sight, it’s impossible to fully grasp what he has been dealing with mentally. And it is unfair for Merilainen to be thrust into No. 1 status so early in his career, when he clearly needs more time to develop. He’s 23. That is a toddler in goaltender years.

“He’s a young guy trying to find his way,” coach Travis Green said of Merilainen on Saturday. “The one thing about him is he always seems calm off the ice. I don’t know if he’s like a duck, where his legs are going 100 miles an hour, but he seems in control and he wants the opportunity. He’s going to give us everything he has all the time, that’s for sure.”

It must also be said that president of hockey operations and general manager Steve Staios chose to enter 2025-26 with goaltenders Mads Sogaard and Hunter Shepard in Belleville, and neither can be trusted at the NHL level.

The current trade market is not prime for a goalie acquisition, so Staios’ last-ditch effort to close the floodgates will come in the form of veteran James Reimer, who made 22 saves in a 6-5 loss for the organization’s AHL affiliate on Sunday during a professional tryout.

It’s unknown whether Reimer will be signed to an NHL contract and promoted in time to start for the Senators when they host the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.

Though, if he does, it’ll be in a building that has felt like a home away from home his entire career. Sens fans might remember some frustrating nights in the early 2010s when Reimer was unsolvable while donning blue and white for the archrival Toronto Maple Leafs. The 37-year-old is 12-4-1 with a spectacular .935 save percentage in 17 starts at the Canadian Tire Centre.

To think Reimer will be the saviour the Senators sorely need is a bit of a long shot. But at this point, anything better than historically bad will do just fine.

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