Ottawa Senators: Meriläinen Drafted to OHL, Norris All-Rookie Team

Some important tidbits from the last week in Senators hockey

Once again Senators fans struggle through another playoffs without their beloved team fighting for the cup, but all is not gloomy as there have been some exciting happenings over the past week.

Josh Norris

The Senators superb rookie enjoyed a sensational season in 2020-21 and was awarded for his performance with a spot on the All-Rookie team, an honour that was well deserved. Norris’s 35 points placed him third amongst all rookies, trailing only Kirill Kaprizov and Jason Robertson and his 17 goals placed him in a tie for second, some could even argue he was Ottawa’s best forward.

Norris was able to drive play on both ends of the ice, his defensive game gained some recognition from some of the top names in the analytics community:

D.J. Smith could trust Norris late in games in the face-off circle as well, his 52.4% win percentage placed him first on the team, something that is quite rare for a rookie.

Leevi Meriläinen

The Senators 3rd round pick (71st overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft enjoyed a phenomenal season for Kärpät U20 where he posted a league-best 0.934 save percentage. Meriläinen was recently signed to his entry-level contract on June 14th, possibly indicating an impending move to North America?

Meriläinen was selected with the 48th pick of the CHL import draft by the Kingston Frontenacs and with his entry-level contract already signed as stated above, it’s becoming more likely that the young Finnish goaltender comes to North America.

If the18-year-old netminder decides to join Kingston he will be coming to an organization whose Assistant General Manager used to be the goaltending coach for the Belleville Senators:

Some interesting parallels could make this decision easier for Meriläinen.

Watch for more exciting news as the NHL Draft, Expansion Draft, and Free Agency period are all happening in the month of July.