Senators assign former first-round pick to AHL

With the Ottawa Senators (and the rest of the league) off Friday, they have elected to send a pair of players down to the minors, announcing that they’ve assigned center Ridly Greig and goaltender Leevi Merilainen to AHL Ottawa.

Greig has played in 20 games with the Sens this season, including nine on this most recent recall. He fared a bit better offensively in that second stint, picking up a goal and four assists in that stretch, giving him two goals and seven helpers on the season. At the minor league level, the 20-year-old has been much more productive, tallying 13 goals and 14 assists in 35 games in his first full professional campaign. Greig was the Senators' 28th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.

Merilainen, meanwhile, has gotten into two games with the Senators this month. He made 34 stops in an overtime loss to Carolina on Tuesday, but his second start didn’t go as well as the 20-year-old was yanked early in the second period versus Florida. Overall, he has a 4.23 goals-against average and a .878 save percentage with the Sens after posting a 2.02 GAA and a .918 in 42 games with Karpat of the Finnish league.

Belleville is back in action on Saturday for a rematch against Cleveland as they battle for a play-in spot in the North Division, so it’s unlikely that Greig and Merilainen will be recalled for Ottawa’s contest Saturday versus Tampa Bay.