The Ottawa Senators announced on Saturday morning that defenceman Calen Addison has been released from his professional tryout.
Addison, who has been a regular in the NHL for the past two seasons with the Minnesota Wild and San Jose Sharks, was unable to surpass other right-shot defensemen on the Senators’ roster, including Travis Hamonic, Jacob Bernard-Docker, and rookie Carter Yakemchuk.
Notably, Addison was Canada’s top-scoring defenseman at the 2020 World Juniors, recording nine points in seven games. He also achieved a point-per-game average for three consecutive seasons in Lethbridge.
In 2022-23, Addison came out of the gate well as a rookie in Minnesota, leading all first-year NHL defencemen (including Jake Sanderson) in points per game (0.47). But the offensive push faded last year in his sophomore season and the Wild moved him to San Jose.
Still just 24, Addison remains an intriguing prospect in the right situation, but that situation wasn’t Ottawa. He’s an offensive defenceman who’s not a shutdown guy or highly physical. It was a slight surprise that Senators GM Steve Staios brought him in because he’s been trying to rebalance and unload some of his players like that.
While Thomas Chabot remains, Staios traded away Jakob Chychrun and opted not to re-sign Erik Brannstrom – two players that former management gave up a lot to acquire.
Staios also trumpeted his preference at the draft for big-bodied defensemen, which Addison is not. The Sens selected three defencemen this year: 6-foot-4 Carter Yakemchuk, 6-foot-7 Gabriel Elliason, and 6-foot-4 Eerik Wallenius.
Additionally, the Senators announced the reassignment of five players to the Belleville Senators AHL camp: Tyler Boucher, Angus Crookshank, Stephen Halliday, Hayden Hodgson, and Filip Roos. These players were called up to participate in Friday night’s game in Detroit, allowing several veterans to avoid back-to-back games.
ROSTER UPDATE: The following players have been reassigned to the @BellevilleSens: Tyler Boucher, Angus Crookshank, Stephen Halliday, Hayden Hodgson and Filip Roos.
Calen Addison has been released from his PTO.
Les joueurs suivants ont été cédés aux @BellevilleSens: Tyler…
— Sens Communications (@Media_Sens) October 5, 2024
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