While the Ottawa Senators are in the middle of their playoff push with 84 points, the Belleville Senators have seen a major jump from Stephen Halliday.
At 22 years old, Halliday has caught the eyes of many within the Senators organization all season. Halliday has led Belleville in scoring for majority of the season.
As the Senators host the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight at 7 p.m. ET, the team has seen two forwards struggle deeply. So much so that it could be worth giving Halliday a chance to play over one of them.
Gaudette and Highmore's struggles are hurting Senators, Halliday could offer more
Two bottom-six forwards that are heavily struggling for the Senators at the moment are Adam Gaudette and Matthew Highmore. With both Gaudette and Highmore cold, Halliday could be a stronger impact in the lineup over both of them.
Halliday's 44 points this season is the most among the Belleville roster. While Halliday has made strides in Belleville, Gaudette and Highmore are struggling and getting low minutes.
Since 2025, Gaudette has only recorded six points. Gaudette's goal scoring has dropped significantly as he finished 2024 with 13 goals, but has scored three goals in 2025.
For Highmore, he made a strong impression in his second game played of the season on Jan. 12 by scoring his first goal since April 2022. Since then, Highmore has only recorded four assists in 32 games played.
The ice time of both Gaudette and Highmore are recently low as well. Against the Buffalo Sabres last game on Tuesday, Highmore had an ice time of just 6:36. In 12 of 15 games in March, Gaudette played under 10 minutes of ice time. Both Gaudette and Highmore only recorded one assist in March.
With both Gaudette and Highmore struggling, the chance to give Halliday a shot in the lineup could be needed. Angus Crookshank got inserted into the lineup last game on Tuesday night when Brady Tkachuk was unable to play, but Halliday has yet to play an NHL game in his career despite his big strides in Belleville.
The Senators will need their roster to be full effect in order to make the playoffs, but the team is getting struggling play from Gaudette and Highmore that Halliday might need to be given a chance to play in the NHL soon.