Ottawa Senators Prospect of the Week – Leevi Merilainen

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, including Brady Tkachuk, who led the team with nine shots on goal. Jake Sanderson finished with a team-leading four points, with Tim Stutzle and Drake Batherson following with three apiece. To cap off a dominant win was Merilainen, who turned away all 16 shots he faced to earn his third career shutout. Not only was he the youngest Senator to have three shutouts, but he was also the second-fastest goalie to hit that number, needing just 14 games to get there. Only Hasek was quicker, recording three shutouts in his first 10 games with the Senators.

With those two starts, Merilainen had a .980 SV% over 120 minutes of ice time. Only Marc-Andre-Fleury, Nico Daws, and Sergei Bobrovsky had a higher SV% last week, but none of them were on the ice for longer than the Senators’ young netminder, and only Bobrovsky saw multiple starts. Seeing him return to the minors is bittersweet, but at least Senators fans can be confident that, if anything happens to their top goalies, they have another ready and waiting in Belleville.

Senators Honourable Mentions & Check-Ins

Tomas Hamara had a massive weekend, scoring seven points in just two games. He scored a goal and two assists to help the Brantford Bulldogs get past the Soo Greyhounds 6-4 while earning the game’s second star on Friday, then on Sunday, he added three primary assists and a secondary assist in a 9-3 win over Sudbury Wolves. He now sits fifth in team scoring and leads the Bulldogs defence by a 25-point margin. After being told by the Senators to “come here and dominate” after training camp this season, he seems to have taken those words to heart.

Javon Moore has also been on a heater recently, scoring a goal in his last three games, including a three-point night against the Sioux City Musketeers on Feb. 1, after which he was named the game’s second star. He enters February as the Sioux Falls Stampedes’ sixth-highest scorer and looks to be building momentum.

After winning his debut last week with the Nanaimo Clippers, goalie Vladimir Nikitin remains undefeated in his return to the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL). He has a .923 SV% in three starts, and in his most recent appearance, he faced 43 shots and managed to stop 39 of them, earning him the FortisBC Energy Player of the Game.

Finally, Stephen Halliday had a streaky first half of the season, scoring in bunches before going quiet for a few games. Some of those inconsistency issues have started to work themselves out, though, and the AHL rookie is on a four-game point streak heading into this week. Last week alone, he put up four points, giving him the scoring lead in Belleville with 31 points on the season.

Tune in next week to see which prospect stood above the rest.