Two players could get the chance to make their NHL debuts with the Ottawa Senators in the near future.
Jorian Donovan and Carter Yakemchuk were recalled from Belleville on Tuesday morning. The Senators’ management is calling on their services as two more experienced players, Thomas Chabot and Lassi Thomson, are sidelined with injuries. After Monday night’s game at Madison Square Garden in New York, head coach Travis Green suggested that Chabot and Thomson could be “out for a while.”
Due to various injuries, the Senators have recalled four defensemen from Belleville since the beginning of March.
In his first pro season, Yakemchuk has just played his 50th game in the American Hockey League. The former first-round pick (seventh overall in 2024) has scored 10 goals and recorded 26 assists for 36 points. He is currently enjoying one of his best stretches, with 11 points — three goals and eight assists — in his last nine games.
At the time of his recall, he ranked 10th among the American Hockey League’s most productive defensemen. On that list, only one rookie ranks ahead of him (by two points).
Donovan is in the midst of his second season with Belleville. He has set new personal bests in goals — four — and points — 21 — while appearing in 58 games.
The young left-handed defenseman won the OHL championship in 2022 before reaching the Memorial Cup final with the Hamilton Bulldogs. Steve Staios served as general manager and president of that team at the time. A few weeks after the season ended, Donovan was drafted in the fifth round (136th overall) by the Senators.
Donovan’s father, Shean, spent the final three seasons of his NHL career with the Senators, from 2007 to 2010. The Donovans could become the first father-son duo to play for the Senators.
The Senators will wrap up their brief two-game road trip by facing the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday night.
