The Ottawa Senators’ playoff hopes are fading fast as the 2025-26 season winds down. It’s a tough pill to swallow for fans who watched their team make the postseason last year after a long drought.
With just 14 games left, the Sens are stuck on the outside looking in. They’ve put up a decent 35-24-9 record for 79 points, but that’s still five points behind both Boston and Detroit for the final playoff spots.
There might be a glimmer of hope left.
The team has one game in hand on their closest rivals, and they’ve got some crucial head-to-head matchups coming up against the Islanders, Red Wings, and Penguins. But time’s running out.
Former NHL goalie Carter Hutton thinks he knows what went wrong.
"The decision to go with Leevi Merilainen full time after a horrible preseason might be one they’re really regretting now," Hutton said during Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE. "They should’ve brought in a veteran backup."
It’s a fair point. While Linus Ullmark hasn’t matched his stellar numbers from last season, Merilainen’s struggles have been even more concerning. The young netminder has posted just an .860 save percentage while going 8-10-1.
That’s a far cry from last year when Merilainen was one of the heroes of Ottawa’s playoff push after getting called up mid-season.
The numbers tell the story – you can’t make the playoffs with goaltending that shaky, no matter how good the rest of your team might be.
With the season’s end approaching, the Senators will need something close to a miracle to sneak into the postseason. And they’ll probably spend the summer wondering if one different decision could have changed everything.
