Ottawa Senators general manager Steve Staios has full confidence in backup goaltender Leevi Merilainen after a rough pre-season.
Merilainen struggled mightily in the pre-season for Ottawa. He appeared in three games, allowing 13 goals on 67 shots with an .806 save percentage and 5.69 goals-against average.
His low point came in a 7-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues, allowing six goals on 19 shots before Mads Sogaard took over.
Despite his struggles, Merilainen edged out Sogaard for the backup job behind Linus Ullmark.
Staios said on TSN Radio 1200 on Thursday morning that team is not concerned about his performance.
“We went to St. Louis and had quite an inexperienced defence corps in front of us. I’m not going to read too much into it,” said Staios. “We know that he can perform in big situations, he’s proven that.
“Is he a younger goaltender? Will there be some ups and downs? Absolutely. It always gets highlighted with the goaltending position as well. We feel comfortable with our depth. No concerns about Leevi. We know he’s a young goaltender and trust that he’s going to continue to grow.”
The 23-year-old Merilainen spent the majority of the 2024-25 season with the AHL’s Belleville Senators, where he went 18-12-7 with a .913 save percentage and 2.37 goals-against average in 37 appearances.
In 12 games with the NHL club last year, he went 8-3-1 with a .925 save percentage and 1.99 GAA.
On June 30, he signed a one-year, $1.05 million contract extension.
A third-round pick (71st overall) by Ottawa in 2020, Merilainen joined the Senators at the end of the 2022-23 season after playing with Karpat in Finland’s SM-Liiga.
The Senators open their 2025-26 campaign with a Florida road trip, taking on the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight before facing the two-time reigning Stanley Cup champion Panthers on Saturday.