The Ottawa Senators are once again in the trade talks to find a starting goaltender. Since the departure of Craig Anderson, the greatest goalie in franchise history, the Senators have been a nonstop carousel that keeps cycling through netminders, hoping to find a long-term solution.
Anderson played in parts of 10 seasons with the Senators and did everything he needed to do for them in that time. He wasn’t a Vezina-caliber goalie, but he was consistent and got the team wins. He had some incredible seasons and some more mediocre, but he was never a bad goalie in Ottawa. His tenure will always be remembered by two things. One was his run in the 2016-17 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the other was his shutout in his return to the team after his wife was diagnosed with cancer. Senators fans love Andy.
Senators Haven’t Found Their Solution
Since Anderson’s last game in Ottawa, the Senators have used 13 goalies. Some goalies have been thrown to the wolves in an emergency due to injuries, while some were acquired to be starting goaltenders and didn’t pan out that way.
The first big move the Senators made was acquiring Matt Murray.
Matt Murray:
Senators Stats: 47GP – 15-25-3 – .899 SV% – 3.23 GAA
Acquired Via: Trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins (for a 2020 second-round pick & Jonathan Gruden)
Murray was a bold move at the time, and the Senators were looking to do just that. Murray was excellent for the Penguins, being an important part of their back-to-back Stanley Cup run, but had shown some signs of slowing down in the two years in between. That being said, Murray was only 26 years old, so it made sense to take a shot with him. Realistically, the package given to Pittsburgh wasn’t bad, but the contract (four years, $6.25 million per) was significantly higher than needed.
Murray just didn’t work in Ottawa. He wasn’t playing well, he dealt with many injuries, and the trade almost immediately blew up in the face of then-general manager Pierre Dorion.
Filip Gustavsson:
Senators Stats: 27GP – 10-13-3 – .905 SV% – 3.12 GAA
Acquired Via: Trade with the Penguins (Part of the return in Derick Brassard trade)
Filip Gustavsson was a very promising young goalie who didn’t get a true chance in Ottawa. In 27 games, behind a poorly constructed roster amidst a rebuild, Gustavsson had some great showings but also some not-so-great ones. He needed a chance to really prove himself and wasn’t given the opportunity.
He was given up on far too early, and in his first season with his new club, Gustavsson looked incredible, posting a .931 SV% in 39 games. The trade, which we will get to, made no sense for the Senators and is yet another move that blew up in their face.
Anton Forsberg:
Senators Stats: 112GP – 51-44-7 – .906 SV% – 3.06 GAA
Acquired Via: Waiver Claim (from Winnipeg Jets)
Anton Forsberg is the only success story on this rather lengthy list. Yes, some of the young guys who played a handful of games were good, but none have had the impact of Forsberg. After being waived multiple times in 2021, the Senators gave him a real shot, and he did very well with it. He played eight games to close out that season with the Senators, and in the next season, ended with a .917 SV%, which earned him his first big NHL contract.
Since then, Forsberg has played another two seasons and has looked fine. He isn’t a .917-caliber goalie, but he is a steady tandem option, which is an absolute win for a waiver claim.
Marcus Hogberg:
Senators Stats: 42GP – 9-17-9 – .894 SV% – 3.39 GAA
Acquired Via: Drafted (third round, 2013)
Marcus Hogberg’s journey was both lengthy and brief. It took him a while to get to the NHL, but after making his debut, he played just 42 games with the club across three seasons. His development looked steady through years in the American Hockey League (AHL) and ECHL, but once he got to the NHL, he wasn’t good enough to stick around.
Joey Daccord:
Senators Stats: 9GP – 1-4-1 – .894 SV% – 3.50 GAA
Acquired Via: Drafted (seventh round, 2015)
Related: Ottawa Senators’ 2024 NHL Mock Draft
Joey Daccord didn’t get much time in Ottawa, but he was on his way to at least getting a chance with the club. The Seattle Kraken claimed him in the expansion draft, and in the 2023-24 season, Daccord took over as their starting goaltender with a .916 SV% in 50 games. Would this have happened in Ottawa? Probably not, but the fact that he is doing better than anyone else has done in Ottawa since the departure of Anderson hurts.
Mads Sogaard:
Senators Stats: 27GP – 10-10-3 – .884 SV% – 3.44 GAA
Acquired Via: Drafted (second round, 2019)
The first goalie still with the organization on this list, Mads Sogaard is the closest prospect to becoming an NHL goalie. He has had some great stints in his development so far, and while he isn’t looking like a full-time, elite starting goaltender, he certainly has an NHL future. Sogaard has played in parts of three seasons for Ottawa, and in 2024-25 or the season after, he should be ready to make the full-time jump to NHL minutes.
Cam Talbot:
Senators Stats: 36GP – 17-14-2 – .898 SV% – 2.92 GAA
Acquired Via: Trade with the Minnesota Wild (for Filip Gustavsson)
As alluded to in the Gustavsson section, this trade made no sense. Giving up on a young, promising goalie for an aging veteran really hurt this team. Cam Talbot came into Ottawa, had a bad season, left for the LA Kings, and was great again. Dorion gave the Minnesota Wild a starting goaltender for one season of bad performances from Talbot. By the end of the season, which the Senators used seven goaltenders, Talbot was sidelined for the last few games in lieu of a younger, better tandem.
Kevin Mandolese & Leevi Merilainen:
(Mandolese) Senators Stats: 3GP – 1-2-0 – .916 SV% – 3.29 GAA
(Merilainen) Senators Stats: 2GP – 0-1-1 – .878 SV% – 4.23 GAA
Acquired Via: Drafted (Mandolese: sixth round, 2018 – Merilainen: third round, 2020)
Both goalies fall under the same umbrella here. The Senators dealt with an insane number of goaltending injuries and had to call upon two young goaltenders to take the crease at different times. Kevin Mandolese isn’t projected to be an NHL goalie any time soon but has some impressive stats, including his NHL debut, while Merilainen, a younger, more promising prospect, didn’t have a great showing.
Dylan Ferguson:
Senators Stats: 2GP – 1-1-0 – .940 SV% – 2.52 GAA
Acquired Via: Free Agency Signing/AHL Trade
Dylan Ferguson, now playing overseas, signed a one-year contract at the tail end of the season in an emergency need for the Senators. They had run out of usable goaltenders at the NHL level and needed an extra body, and Ferguson came in and did excellent. He likely has no NHL future, but he did very well in his two games with the Senators.
Joonas Korpisalo:
Senators Stats: 55GP – 21-24-4 – 8.90 SV% – 3.27 GAA
Acquired Via: Free Agency Signing
The latest goalie to play for the Senators is Joonas Korpisalo. One of the last moves Dorion made almost immediately blew up in the face of the team. Korpisalo is a better goaltender than his number suggest from this past season, but to sign a goalie for five years at $4 million per season, getting that kind of performance is a tough pill to swallow.
The idea was that the Senators had found their starter. Less than a year later, they tried to trade him and upgrade in the crease at the 2024 Trade Deadline and are expected to revisit talks in the 2024 offseason.
Senators Can’t Find Consistency
Since moving on from one of the most consistent goalies they have ever had, the never-ending cycle of goalies struggling in Ottawa continues. Having attempted to find the answer three times, the Senators keep coming up short and have disappointing performances from projected starters.
That begs the question: Is the problem the goalies or the team defense in front of them? Well, the answer is both. The team and the goalies both need to improve.
