Before boarding the plane for their longest trip of the season, the Ottawa Senators decided to bring in some reinforcements.
Forward Stephen Halliday and defenseman Lassi Thomson were recalled from Belleville on Tuesday.
Halliday could be in for some big moments in the coming days. If called upon, he will make his NHL debut in California.
The 6-foot-4, 212-pound center was a fourth-round pick (104th overall) of the Senators in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. After a successful stint at Ohio State University, he has gained experience and confidence in the American Hockey League.
This season, with the Belleville Senators, he has excelled at feeding his teammates, as evidenced by his stat sheet of one goal and 15 assists in 15 games. This puts him at the top of the B-Sens scoring charts.
Halliday scored an important goal — one that doesn’t appear on his stat sheet — last weekend. He found the back of the net in a shootout to cap off his team’s comeback in Utica.
Belleville had a perfect weekend, winning three games in four days on the road.
Unlike Halliday, Thomson has solid NHL experience. A first-round pick (19th overall) by the Senators in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, the Finnish defenseman has played in 18 NHL games. His last NHL appearance was in November 2022.
In 15 games with Belleville this season, he has scored three goals and added one assist for four points.
The Senators will play their next seven games on the road. The first game of this long road trip will be played at the Honda Center in Anaheim on Thursday.