Senators Recall Cameron Crotty

The Senators have recalled defenseman Cameron Crotty from AHL Belleville, the team announced Thursday.

Crotty gets elevated to the NHL blue line amid yet another injury in Ottawa. Top defense prospect Carter Yakemchuk, who was an injury-related call-up in his own right last week after Thomas Chabot needed surgery on his right forearm, left the Sens’ loss to the Panthers on Tuesday after a hit from Noah Gregor left him dazed. He presumably won’t be playing tonight against the Sabres with his upper-body injury, although it’s unclear whether he’s in concussion protocol.

And, while #1 option Jake Sanderson is close to returning from the upper-body injury that’s sidelined him for the last 12 games, that won’t happen tonight, per Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia. He’s been upgraded to day-to-day but still carried a non-contact designation at Thursday morning’s practice. With Dennis Gilbert also out another two weeks with an upper-body issue and Nick Jensen done for the regular season, that’s five defense options, including three regulars, that the Sens are missing as they chase down a wild-card spot.

As such, Crotty will make his Ottawa debut and just his third career NHL appearance tonight against Buffalo with a long-awaited playoff berth for their opponent on the line. The 26-year-old is an Ottawa-area native and signed a two-year, two-way pact with the Sens last offseason.

The Sens are Crotty’s third NHL organization. He was a third-round pick by the Coyotes in 2017 and stayed in Arizona until becoming a Group VI unrestricted free agent in 2024. He then signed a two-way deal with the Wild, spending just last year with Minnesota before landing in Ottawa.

Crotty’s two career NHL appearances came at the tail ends of the 2023-24 and 2024-25 campaigns with the Coyotes and Wild, respectively. The 6’3″ defensive-minded righty didn’t record a point in either, logging a -2 rating with two blocks and four hits with only 15:11 of total time on ice.

In 49 games with Belleville this season, Crotty has three goals and seven assists for 10 points with a -4 rating. He’s now up to 59 points in 332 career AHL outings over the last six seasons.

All these injuries will leave Tyler Kleven as Ottawa’s lone left-shot option on defense tonight. That means Nikolas Matinpalo and Lassi Thomson will dress on their off-sides on the second and third pairings, respectively.