Yesterday, the Ottawa Senators began their 2025-26 season with kicking off the 2025 preseason against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Senators fell 4-3 to the Maple Leafs at Canadian Tire Centre. The two teams will meet again tomorrow night for a rematch, but this time the game will be played at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
On Saturday, preseason hockey officially returned featuring one game which resulted with the Dallas Stars defeating the St. Louis Blues 2-1 in a shootout. Yesterday, 15 games were played.
Yesterday was an opportunity for three ex-Senators from last season to make a strong first impression with their new teams. Now, it's time to see how they did.
Angus Crookshank
While Angus Crookshank struggled to get more NHL time, he became a legend in the AHL with the Belleville Senators. Crookshank set a new Belleville all-time record for goals in history. This past July, Crookshank signed with the New Jersey Devils.
Crookshank played in the Devils' preseason opener yesterday against the New York Rangers, but recorded no points with a -1 rating in over 16 minutes of ice time. Crookshank and the Devils fell 5-3.
Noah Gregor
Last season, Noah Gregor joined the Senators on a one-year contract. Gregor's tenure was a struggle by recording six points in 40 games played. By March 2025, Gregor wass traded to the San Jose Sharks in part of the Fabian Zetterlund trade.
After the season, the Sharks didn't give Gregor a qualifying offer, which made him a free agent. After going unsigned for almost all of free agency, Gregor signed a PTO with the Florida Panthers.
The Panthers played two preseason games yesterday against the Nashville Predators. Gregor played in the second game against the Predators, which resulted in a 5-3 loss for the Panthers. In the loss, Gregor recorded one assist in over 18 minutes of ice time.
Matthew Highmore
The end of Matthew Highmore's tenure in Ottawa went rough when he was scratched for the remaining five games of the 2025 playoffs against the Maple Leafs for Nick Cousins. Highmore then left the Senators to join the New York Islanders.
Highmore and the Islanders fell 3-2 in a shootout to the Philadelphia Flyers. Highmore recorded no points with a -1 rating in under 15 minutes of ice time.
Anton Forsberg, Cole Reinhardt, Adam Gaudette and Dennis Gilbert all played at least one NHL game with the Senators last season, but all four of them didn't play yesterday unlike Crookshank, Gregor and Highmore.