The 2025–26 Ottawa Senators season was the 34th season of the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League.
The Senators qualified for the playoffs for the second consecutive season. In the regular season, the team recovered from a last-place standing in January to qualify for the last playoff spot in April despite the loss of six defencemen to injury. In the playoffs, the Senators could not continue their winning pace and lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes in the first round in four straight games.
Team business In a step forward in the process of building a new arena downtown, a land sale agreement for the LeBreton Flats site, was signed in August 2025 with the NCC.
The team will have a new third jersey that will be worn at four "Ignite The Red" home games. The new third jersey has a red base and a slightly modified logo chest crest with enhanced embroidery. The shoulder area is black with gold trim. The arms will have similar black stripes with gold trim. The player name lettering and numbers will be a different font. The shoulders will have the Senators 'S' secondary logo.
In October 2025, media website bookies.com surveyed the NHL arenas to determine the cost for a family of four to attend an NHL game. For four of the cheapest tickets, plus parking, two beers, two soft drinks and four hot dogs, the Senators were ranked the lowest-cost in the NHL at an average of per family, below the NHL average of . Website statista.com had most recently ranked the Senators the third least-expensive in August 2024.
In February 2026, it was announced that the Senators will play the Montreal Canadiens in the Kraft Hockeyville Game, to be played in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, celebrating the 2025 winner Saint-Boniface, Quebec.
In April 2026, the Senators announced that they had renewed their broadcast deal with Bell Media, owner of The Sports Network (TSN). The parties committed to a 12-year term, keeping Senators regional television broadcasts on TSN and RDS and local radio broadcasts on TSN 1200.
Off-season In a draft-day transaction, the Senators traded for the Los Angeles Kings' Jordan Spence, a right defenceman. The team did not offer contracts to goaltender Anton Forsberg, forwards Adam Gaudette, Matthew Highmore and Angus Crookshank and defenceman Travis Hamonic. All became unrestricted free agents and signed with other NHL teams. The team signed veteran centre Lars Eller as a free agent. Near the end of the pre-season, the team traded Zack MacEwen to New Jersey for Kurtis MacDermid.
Regular season Restricted free agent defenceman Maxence Guenette held out in a contract dispute and was dealt to the Philadelphia Flyers in November 2025 for former Senator defenceman Dennis Gilbert. Gilbert reported to Belleville.
The Eastern Conference was very competitive this season. While the Senators did not have a sub .500 month, the team dropped in the standings from December through January to a tie for last place in the Eastern Conference. During this time, goaltender Linus Ullmark took a personal leave and backup Leevi Merilainen struggled. The Senators would sign free agent veteran goaltender James Reimer who stabilized the goaltender position. For the season, the team had a sub .900 save percentage.
The team struggled on the penalty kill, placing it near the bottom in percentage. The team changed the coaching responsibility for the penalty kill from Nolan Baumgartner to Mike Yeo at mid-season.
At the March trade deadline, the team traded forward David Perron to the Detroit Red Wings for a 2026 fourth-round draft pick, and picked up forward Warren Foegele from the Los Angeles Kings along with an exchange of draft picks. Foegele scored in his first game with the Senators, paired with Lars Eller and Fabian Zetterlund on the fourth line.
Later in March, the team received some good news from the NHL head office when it was learned that the team would regain a 2026 NHL entry draft first-round pick, although the team would have to pay a million fine. The draft pick would be the last in the first round. The draft pick had been forfeited over a dispute over the status of a trade of Evgenii Dadonov to the Vegas Golden Knights who claimed that they had not been properly informed of a no-trade clause in Dadonov's contract. Dadonov subsequently voided a trade to the Dallas Stars by the Golden Knights.
In March and into April, while fighting for a playoff spot, the team suffered a long streak of injuries to its defencemen. First, Nick Jensen injured his knee and was finished for the season. Next, Jake Sanderson suffered an upper-body injury, putting him out for six weeks. Call-up Dennis Gilbert also injured his upper body. This was followed by Thomas Chabot who suffered a fractured right arm. Call-up Lassi Thomson was injured in the same game, versus the New York Rangers, the team managing a win with just four defencemen for most of the game. The team called up Carter Yakemchuk and Jorian Donovan, both NHL rookies, for the next game. Thomson returned and Donovan was returned to Belleville. In a game on March 31, Yakemchuk was injured with a concussion, necessitating the call-up of Cameron Crotty, who had not played in the NHL all season and who had only played two NHL games previously. On April 2, Tyler Kleven, their only uninjured left-shot defenceman) was hit by a shot to the upper body and injured.
Only two weeks after surgery on his arm, Chabot returned to the lineup against the Panthers on April 9. The surgery required two plates and screws to hold the bone in place and he wears extra protective equipment on his arm. He had not been expected to return until a possible second round of the playoffs.
Divisional standings
Conference standings
Playoffs With both a win against the New York Islanders and a loss by the Detroit Red Wings against the New Jersey Devils on April 11, 2026, the Senators clinched their second straight postseason berth and their first in consecutive years since the 2012–13 season.
Eastern Conference first round: Ottawa vs Carolina As the second wild-card team, the Senators played division champion and conference leader Carolina Hurricanes. This was the first time the teams have played each other in a playoff. Carolina won the regular-season series two games to one.
In the first game, the Hurricanes played tight defensively and shut out the Senators 2-0. In game two, the Hurricanes built a two-goal lead before the Senators tied the game only to lose 3–2 in the second overtime period. Back at home in game three, the Senators drew a lot of penalties but could not score on the power play and lost 2-1. In the deciding game four, the game was tied into the third period before the Hurricanes scored on the power play to take the lead and they did not relinquish it. The game ended 4–2 to end the Senators season.
Highlights for the Senators included the play of goaltender Linus Ullmark and forward Drake Batherson. The injury woes continued for the Senators, losing Artem Zub in the first game, and Jake Sanderson in the third. Top forwards Tim Stützle and Brady Tkachuk were shut down by the Hurricanes, and neither scored, although both did deliver shots to the post and crossbar. The Senators held the Hurricanes to only two power play goals in the series, but only scored two power play goals themselves.
Schedule and results
Preseason The preseason schedule was published on June 26, 2025. 2025 preseason game log: 3–3–0 (home: 1–2–0; road: 2–1–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Recap 1 September 21 Toronto 4–3 Ottawa Sogaard 16,254 0–1–0 2 September 23 Ottawa 3–2 Toronto OT Shepard 15,162 1–1–0 3 September 28 New Jersey 0–2 Ottawa Ullmark 12,159 2–1–0 4 September 30 Montreal 5–0 Ottawa Merilainen 18,259 2–2–0 5 October 2 Ottawa 1–7 St. Louis Merilainen 15,922 2–3–0 6 October 4 Ottawa 3–1 Montreal Ullmark 20,962 3–3–0 Notes: Game played at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City, Quebec.
Regular season The Ottawa Senators regular season schedule was released on July 16, 2025.