Senators’ Prospect Stephen Halliday Prepared To Make The Next Step

If there was ever prime example of the saying, “If you don’t succeed, try, try again.” it’s Ottawa Senators’ prospect Stephen Halliday. Not being drafted until age 20, Halliday is the epitome of a player who worked his way through the ranks to earn a two-year, entry-level contract signed in March.

The native of Ajax, ON, had the talent and ability; however, it wasn’t until his third season with Dubuque in the United States Hockey League that everything seemed to fall into place for Halliday.

Coming off two modest campaigns playing for the Fighting Saints, Halliday scored 23 goals and 63 assists in 98 games. Heading into a third season in the USHL, which is rare in itself, Halliday pledged to change his off-ice habits and routine. His biggest accomplishment was dropping a whopping 35 pounds in one summer.

Halliday was rewarded for his efforts, going on to lead the league in assists (60), in addition to being second in points (95), fifth in goals (35). His drew the eyes of amateur scouts leading the six-foot-three, 214-pound centre to being selected 104th overall in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.

Halliday explained his success during the Senators Development Camp in early-July, “I think it just builds on a lot of my off-ice habits. I cut down like, like 35 pounds that summer, which is a lot for me, obviously. And I kind of just started getting into a better routine. Whether it’s working out five days a week, skating as much possible. I work with a video coach. I just kind of like seeing what I can add to my game and I love hockey, it’s pretty easy for me to do that.”

It’s been a long road for Halliday to get to where he is today. He was not drafted in those first two seasons toiling in the USHL and de-committed from the University of North Dakota, where he would’ve been a teammate of Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson.

“I didn’t get jobs in my first two years. And then I got decommitted from North Dakota. So, I was kind of like a little bit down on that. So I think just kind of honing in and doing like the stuff away from the rink where they brought my game back. And I was really fortunate that Ottawa picked me in 2022. So really grateful, and I’ve kind of just been trying to show them that they made a really good selection and they believed in you when other teams didn’t. And so I definitely think thatom the rink,”  now that it’s kind of becoming like a possibility, and I’m just kind of more and more committed to doing the right stuff away.” said Halliday.

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Now, after having played two solid seasons at Ohio State, leading the Buckeyes in assists (32) and points (41) in his freshman 2022-23 campaign, Halliday followed up by accomplishing the same last season, registering a team-high 26 assists, 36 points, before making his professional debut for the Senators’ American League affiliate in Belleville, April 24.

To his credit with assistance from the Senators Development staff and several “BSens” veteran players, Halliday’s jump to the AHL was deemed a success.

“The development guys I’ve been working with for the last like two or three years Jesse (Winchester) and “Dono” (Shean Donovan) just like kind of told me like to play my game stuff was on the air so far, but definitely I had to transition just a little bit like the less run and gun, more like sticking into the zone a little bit more. I kind of figured it out as I went along. But I had a lot of good guys with like “Highsy,” Matthew Highmore was there. I was watching “Charts” (Rourke Chartier) a lot and those guys were really easy to like. “Pills,” (Garrett Pilon) was another one, just watching those guys every day in practice definitely helped me like realize what it took to you know, translate a lot of my skills,” noted Halliday.

While failing to notch a goal in his 10 regular season games for Belleville, Halliday recorded five assists. However, the lanky centre carried a hot stick in during the playoffs, registering two goals, seven assists in his club’s final five postseason outings.

Halliday told Full Press Hockey, it was a relief to tally his first two pro career goals in such meaningful games.

“It was definitely cool to score and just in the playoffs. I felt the fans were unbelievable. In the playoffs almost a sold out barn every game we played. Guys were giving me crap when I wasn’t scoring in the regular season – that I was just passing it all the time. No, it was just fun to get the goals and obviously playing  meaningful games in the playoffs was really fun.”

Always studious, Halliday can hardly wait until he attends training camp in mid-September to hone his game to become a full-time Ottawa Senator down the road.

“I think playing my game is a big one, but I think just like learning when I go to main camp. There’s going to be guys like Timmy (Stuztle) and Brady (Tkachuk) on the ice, and (Drake) Batherson, (Josh), Norris. It’s all those guys. Just kind of like learning what they do that makes them good at what they do. And watching them off the ice and learning a lot from them. I feel like doing that will help me in the long run. And then obviously, I think coming in to play my game, whether it’s puck protection or making plays in offensive zone; and then playing the game within the game, whether it’s up a goal when we don’t need too much offense or just learning a little bit more of a pro style gaming situation. So I think that will go a long way too.”