Senators Recall Jonas Johansson, Reassign Jorian Donovan

The Ottawa Senators have indirectly confirmed that Linus Ullmark won’t dress tonight after being pulled from last night’s game against the Boston Bruins. The Senators announced they recalled netminder Jonas Johansson and reassigned defenseman Jorian Donovan to the AHL’s Belleville Senators.

Although Ullmark won’t dress tonight, his injury isn’t considered anything serious. According to on-air host Jackson Starr, Ullmark is “fine”. Still, Ottawa could keep him on the bench as a backup, which would have negated today’s transaction. Regardless, the Senators are avoiding that risk altogether.

Johansson, 31, in his first few weeks of being with Ottawa. The Senators acquired him on September 27th from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for future considerations.

The former third-round pick has spent the last three years with the Lightning, backing up one of the league’s top netminders, Andrei Vasilevskiy. Despite showing flashes of solid play, his tenure in Tampa Bay was mostly disappointing. Over the past three years, Johansson managed a 32-23-10 record in 70 games with an .889 SV% and 3.28 GAA.

Despite his subpar performance over the past few years, the Senators needed a third-string netminder. Ottawa lost Leevi Merilainen on the waiver wire to the Vancouver Canucks a few days before trading for Johansson. Having already acquired Dennis Hildeby earlier in the offseason, the Lightning no longer needed him.

Meanwhile, Donovan ends his call-up without featuring in a game for the Senators. The former fifth-round pick is in his third season playing in the organization after ending his OHL tenure after the 2023-24 campaign. Donovan scored four goals and 17 points in 61 games for AHL Belleville last year with a -15 rating.