Ottawa Senators Prospect of the Week – Leevi Merilainen – The Hockey Writers – Senators Prospects

Good news, Ottawa Senators fans! Linus Ullmark is nearing his return to the net for the first time since Dec. 22. With him between the pipes, the Senators were a competitive team and able to rely on him to get them out of tough jams – something they hadn’t been able to do in the past. Now that they sit third in the Atlantic Division and two points (and two games) ahead of the Boston Bruins, they could be a serious threat to make the playoffs for the first time since 2016-17.

The only negative side effect is that to make room for Ullmark, the Senators had to re-assign Leevi Merilainen to the American Hockey League (AHL). The 22-year-old rookie has been stellar since coming in to relieve Ottawa’s injured starter, posting a 1.99 goals-against average (GAA) and a .925 save percentage (SV%) over 12 starts. Ironically, last week was one of the best performances of his career. Only three goalies posted a higher SV% than him and none had more minutes played. Although he will start with the Belleville Senators next week, Merilainen is the Senators’ Prospect of the Week for Jan. 27-Feb. 2.

Merilainen

Merilainen claimed his first Prospect of the Week honours after he recorded his first NHL shutout, blanking the Pittsburgh Penguins on Jan. 11. Two games later, he put up his second shutout, stopping all 24 shots from the New York Islanders to become the youngest goalie in franchise history to record two shutouts. He also was the fourth fastest goalie since the start of his career in Ottawa to hit the milestone; his nine games just fell short of Dominik Hasek’s seven, Andrew Hammond’s six, and Mike Condon’s record-setting five games.

Already, Merilainen was etching his name in the Senators’ history books, but he wasn’t done quite yet. After a couple of rough games that saw the rookie allow seven goals and post a .841 SV%, he bounced back on Jan. 26, turning away 34 of 35 shots from the Utah Hockey Club to earn his seventh win of his career. Even though veteran backup Anton Forsberg was starting to find his game again, the Senators went with the rookie again on their back-to-back, letting him start against the Minnesota Wild on Jan. 27.

Despite being one of the top teams in the Western Conference, the Senators bowled over the Wild, defeating them 6-0. Ottawa’s stars were on full display, with six different goal-scorers,…