The 2025-26 season is a quarter of the way through, which means it’s the perfect time to take a look at how the Ottawa Senators’ farm system has been progressing. Previously, we looked specifically at the 2025 Draft Class, so this time we’ll take a look at the Senators’ farm team, the Belleville Senators.
After missing the playoffs last season, Belleville will be eager to return to the postseason race. That won’t be easy, especially in a highly competitive North Division, but the team is in a good spot at the quarter-season mark. With 20 points in 18 games, the team sits in fourth place with a 9-7-2 record, comfortably ahead of the Toronto Marlies and just two points behind the Rochester Americans and Syracuse Crunch.
Part of Belleville’s success appears to stem from the Senators’ youth movement. At an average age of 23.9, it’s the sixth-youngest roster in the American Hockey League (AHL), yet only the 13th least experienced. So, with a few players starting to get some looks from the NHL, let’s take a look at how Belleville’s young squad is faring so far this season.
A quick note – because this is a prospect report, I’ll only be looking at players who still qualify as an NHL rookie: under 26 years old and have not yet played in 25 games in a single season (or six games in any two preceding seasons). That still leaves 13 players and one exception, which I’ll get to later.
Starting on the Right Foot in 2025-26
Jan Jenik, C
Despite making his NHL debut back in 2020-21, Jan Jenik still technically qualifies as an NHL rookie; the 25-year-old has only appeared in 24 NHL games and has only played more than six games once, playing 13 in 2021-22. Injuries and inconsistency have been his biggest road blocks to securing a full-time NHL role, but things began looking up for him last season despite another dip in points.
This season started with an injury, delaying his AHL debut until Nov. 7, but since then, Jenik has five points in nine games, which puts him on pace to have his best season since 2023-24, and is playing on the top line with Arthur Kaliyev and Jamieson Rees. He plays a gritty, 200-foot game, and with Angus Crookshank and Cole Reinhardt no longer with the organization, he should appear in a few more NHL games as an injury replacement, especially if he keeps up this pace.
Stephen Halliday, C
Stephen Halliday has become one of the most interesting prospects in the Senators’ organization. An overage fourth-round pick in 2022, he had shown to have high-end offensive upside, but given his age and size, there were doubts about whether his skill would translate to higher levels of competition. Those doubts were immediately silenced after he led Ohio State in scoring for two straight seasons, put up nine points in seven AHL playoff games, and then led Belleville with 51 points as a rookie.
Halliday got off to another strong start this season with a 16-point run in his first 15 games to lead the team once again, so when Ridly Greig went down with an injury ahead of a big road trip, the Senators recalled Halliday to fill in. He’d participated in a few practices with the Senators last season, but had never drawn into the lineup. Yet, on Nov. 18 against the Anaheim Ducks, he made his NHL debut, and while on the power play, he sent a perfect pass to Shane Pinto, who scored to tie the game, leading to a 3-2 win.
While there are still concerns over his skating, namely his lack of speed, Halliday has proven time and time again that he can still produce at every level. If David Perron, Lars Eller, or Nick Cousins don’t re-sign with the Senators next season, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him on the fourth line in 2026-27.
Carter Yakemchuk, RD
This season arguably couldn’t have started better for the Senators’ top prospect. After 18 games, Carter Yakemchuk leads Belleville’s defence with 13 points and sits sixth in defencemen scoring overall. If he keeps up that pace, he could hit 50 points as an AHL rookie, making him one of the most productive 20-year-old defencemen in league history. His minus-12 is mildly concerning, but defence was always his weakest part of his game, which is why he needed to start in the AHL as opposed to the NHL.
Scoring 50 points as an NHL rookie defenceman is impressive – it practically guarantees that he’ll win the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie – but doing that in the AHL is almost more difficult. To see Yakemchuk thriving already is incredibly promising. “Our league is full of junior college stars, ex-world junior players — it’s a really good league,” said Belleville’s general manager Matt Turek. “It’s for men and Carter had adjusted really well.” (from “Senators prospect Carter Yakemchuk impresses with strong start in Belleville,” Ottawa Citizen – 14/11/2025)
Xavier Bourgault, RW
Acquired last season in a trade with the Edmonton Oilers that saw the oft-injured Roby Jarventie head the other way, Xavier Bourgault has begun to find his game in the AHL this season. In 18 games this season, the 2021 first-round pick has seven goals and 13 points, putting him on pace for 28 goals and 52 points, his highest total in any league since 2021-22. He still has a long road ahead of him before he’s an NHL option, but this is a step in the right direction, at least towards earning another NHL contract.
Jackson Parsons, G
Before signing with the Senators last summer, Jackson Parsons was named the top goalie and best overage player in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Despite the accolades, however, it was going to be a steep learning curve for the 20-year-old; if it’s a tough league for skaters, it’s that much more so for goaltenders.
Parsons been relatively sheltered to start his professional career, playing just four games in the AHL and two with the ECHL’s Allen Americans, but his .930 save percentage (SV%) leads Belleville, and he’s the only netminder on the team to record a shutout. If he keeps this up, he could push some other goalies in the Senators’ system out of a job.
Perfectly Fine Starts With Room to Grow
Lassi Thomson, RD
After departing on less than friendly terms, the Senators brought back former top prospect Lassi Thomson on a one-year deal. He was one of the most electric defencemen in Sweden last season and led all defenders with 17 goals, and if he could do that on a weak team, what would he be able to do with a better one like Belleville?
However, Thomson has largely looked like his old self in his North American return. Not that he was bad before; in 15 games, he has three goals, four points, and was called up to the Senators along with Halliday for the Senators’ seven-game road trip. He’s a reliable veteran who can skate and has a deadly right-handed shot. But whether he’s taken the next step to prove that he’s an NHL-calibre prospect this time around has yet to be seen.
Oskar Pettersson, C
Oskar Pettersson was a high-scoring junior in Sweden, but in Belleville, he’s become more of a reliable defensive presence. In his first season and a half in North America, he had just 12 goals 22 points in 96 games, but was just a minus-2. Only five other forwards had a higher plus/minus over the past two seasons in Belleville, three of which are currently playing in the NHL this season with other franchises.
This season started off strong for Pettersson as he was given the Jonathan Pitre Hardest Worker award at training camp, with development coach Sam Gagner saying Pettersson was “tirelessly working to get better.” After 18 games, he has three goals and five points and is sitting at a plus-8. He was even recalled to the Senators earlier this season, and although he didn’t play in any NHL games, it’s a recognition of where he sits within the Senators’ organization.
Jorian Donovan, LD
Heading into 2025-26, Belleville was down five of their top defencemen from last season. While that put the team in a tough situation, it was a great opportunity for someone like Jorian Donovan, who was largely given bottom-pairing assignments throughout 2024-25. Yet as the season progressed, he was given more responsibilities and put up decent numbers, putting up three goals, 12 points, and 83 penality minutes (PIM), a record for Belleville rookies, which included seven fighting majors.
Related: Ottawa Senators at the Quarter Mark: Encouraging Signs and Reasons for Concern
The gaps on the top four have served Donovan well. Currently, he’s lining up alongside Cameron Crotty on the second pair and already has a goal, nine points, two fights, and 24 PIMs, a pace which could see him finish his sophomore season with 36 points. He was a skilled producer in the OHL thanks to his high-end skating, but in the AHL, he’s been much more willing to engage physically. For a team that lacks some depth on the left side, he’s proving himself to be an intriguing future option for Ottawa.
Tomas Hamara, LD
As mentioned with Yakemchuk, the AHL is not an easy league to break into, no matter how successful you were in junior. Tomas Hamara broke out last season with the Brantford Bulldogs, putting up nearly a point per game and was one of the go-to players on the blueline. As an AHL rookie, though, he has just one assist in 13 games while serving as Belleville’s seventh defenceman. Given his age, it’s not concerning that he’s not producing yet; he arguably wasn’t an impact OHL player until his last season. But it would be nice to see him take another step this season and become a regular on the
Prospects Who Have Room for Improvement
Tyler Boucher, RW
After going 10th overall in 2021, Tyler Boucher has struggled to look like a future impact player. Injuries and suspensions limited his impact in the OHL, cut short a successful World Junior tournament, and delayed his AHL debut in 2023-24. This season started much better with three goals and six points in his first 12 games, but then he suffered an upper-body injury on Nov. 18, and coach David Bell commented that he’ll be out for weeks.
With Boucher in the last year of his entry-level deal, he needs this season to go smoothly. Over the past two seasons in the AHL, he has played just 68 games and scored seven goals, and recorded 15 points. That’s barely better than a bottom-six player in Belleville. Another injury is not going to help him gain any momentum, and it would not be surprising if the Senators cut ties with him this summer.
Mads Sogaard, G
Surprisingly, Mads Sogaard no longer qualifies as an NHL rookie, as he played 19 games in 2022-23 and six in 2023-24. For the purpose of this list, though, I will keep him as a ‘prospect.’
For a moment, Sogaard was Ottawa’s goalie of the future, but injuries derailed his early success, allowing Leevi Merilainen to jump ahead of him. When Merilainen struggled early, though, Sogaard was breifly called up in early October, but didn’t appear in any games before returning to Belleville. Since then, he’s played four games and and has a .857 SV%, often playing third-string duties behind Parsons and Hunter Shepard. He’s also the only Belleville goalie without a win this season, which isn’t a good look.
Like Boucher, 2025-26 is an important season for Sogaard, as he enters the last year of his two-year, two-way deal. With Merilainen clearly the Senators next best goalie, Parsons showing promise, and unsigned prospects Lucas Beckman and Kevin Reidler having strong seasons, he might be at the end of his rope, especially if injuries rob him of another season.
Matthew Andonovski, LD
The only player to do even less than Toure is rookie defender Matthew Andonovski, who’s played just three games this season, has zero points, and hasn’t dressed with Belleville since Nov. 1. It’s not a great start to a pro career, as he projects to challenge for an NHL job in two to three seasons and if he misses too much more time, that will impact his outlook.
Djibril Toure, RD
It’s easy to cheer for Djibril Toure. The 6-foot-7 defender joined the Senators in 2024-25 after a succesful rookie camp tryout, loves to play a physical game, and also is not afraid to make statements, which he did in a prospect game against the Toronto Maple Leafs when he sported a durag in warmups. But he hasn’t had a chance to do much this season yet. He’s played just nine games, as he’s often the odd-man-out on the blue line, and is still looking for his first point of the year.
Jake Chiasson, RW
Acquired along with Bourgault, Jake Chiasson was always a longshot to make the NHL and has spent the majority of his time in the ECHL. This season, he’s up full-time with Belleville, but after 14 games, he has just one assist, which is so far his only AHL point in his career. With him set to become a restricted free agent at the end of the season, it makes sense that the Senators would let him go in favour of prospects with higher upsides.
Belleville is in a Good Spot
The Senators have done incredibly well with later-round selections and free-agent signings, which has led to a much more successful farm team in Belleville. At the quarter-season mark, the B-Sens sit in a playoff spot, and with many of their young players trending upwards, it’s likely that the team remains in contention come April. Not only will that help the Senators top prospects develop, but it will set the franchise up for more long-term success. While the season is still early, most things are trending in the right direction.
