Senators recall Tomasino, Bourgault from AHL Belleville, Foegele moved to IR

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Help is on the way for the Ottawa Senators’ forward corps, decimated by injuries and a pending suspension with a back-to-back looming in California.

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The Senators have recalled the two top scorers from their American Hockey League affiliate in Belleville, Xavier Bourgault and Phil Tomasino.

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Tomasino leads the farm team with 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in 10 games, while Bourgault is second with nine (three goals, six assists).

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Winger Warren Foegele was moved to the injured reserve list to make room for the call-ups. He remains week to week with an apparent knee injury.

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The additions to the NHL roster also likely mean that forward Andre Burakovsky will not dress when the Senators face the San Jose Sharks on Saturday. He sustained a lower-body injury on Thursday when Los Angeles Kings defenceman Mikey Anderson roughed him up in the corner. Coach Travis Green did not give an update on Burakovsky’s status post-game and he did not speak after an optional skate on Friday.

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Depth forward Hayden Hodgson will soon learn his fate after taking out Kings defenceman Brandt Clarke with a dangerous hit. Hodgson charged at Clarke and made contact with his head — there’s no debating it.

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Hodgson was expected to take part in a hearing on Friday with the NHL’s department of player safety. As the Ottawa Citizen‘s Bruce Garrioch reported, it’s likely Hodgson’s was by phone, which would mean a suspension of five games or fewer.

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Predicament in the paint

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Like you and I need oxygen, the Senators need Linus Ullmark back.

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Ottawa’s No. 1 netminder still hasn’t practiced with the team since sustaining a lower-body strain in the third period of the Senators’ 5-1 win against the Florida Panthers on Oct. 21.

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Ullmark’s NHL-best .945 save percentage has propped up a Sens squad that isn’t defending half as well as it did last season. It’s remarkable that he began the campaign 7-1-0. Ullmark is the top reason the Senators are still clinging to a playoff spot.

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According to Natural Stat Trick, Ottawa allowed a league-low 24.4 scoring chances per 60 minutes at all strengths in 2025-26. Through 14 games in 2026-27, that number has skyrocketed to 29.9, 10th-most in the NHL.

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However, that doesn’t give Jonas Johansson and Samuel Ersson a pass.

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Of goaltenders with a minimum of three starts, Johansson’s .861 SV% ranks 55th, while Ersson’s .849 is 59th. Only three netminders — Jordan Binnington (.846), Dustin Wolf (.839) and Kevin Lankinen (.812) — have been worse.

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While Johansson is simply a stopgap for organizational depth after Leevi Merilainen was claimed by the Vancouver Canucks in September, the Senators truly believe they can help Ersson rediscover his game. Despite Ersson’s save percentage dropping by an average of 10 points in each of the three seasons that followed his rookie year with the Philadelphia Flyers, the Sens still signed him to a $4.4 million contract over the summer. It’s early, but he remains winless at 0-3-1.