The Ottawa Senators have added another veteran to their 2024 training camp mix. They’ve signed 35-year-old goalie Dustin Tokarski, who was on the ice today for the club’s first on-ice sessions.
Tokarski backstopped Canada to their fifth consecutive gold medal at the 2009 World Juniors. Since then, he’s proven to be a valuable goalie at the professional level but has never quite managed to carve out a full-time NHL niche.
His career has rolled through the Tampa, Montreal, Anaheim, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh organizations. His longest NHL tenure came in Buffalo in 2021-22 when he started 29 times for the Sabres.
Tokarski’s arrival in Ottawa on a PTO is probably due to Leevi Merilainen’s early absence from camp. Merilainen was slated to be the Sens’ number-one goalie at the Prospects Challenge in Buffalo, but he missed the tournament with a groin injury and was still absent today as the big dogs hit the ice for the first time at camp.
As it was, the Sens only had five goalies on their main camp roster – Linus Ullmark, Anton Forsberg, Mads Sogaard, Merilainen, and Michael Simpson. Tokarski restores the number, provides more competition for camp, not to mention insurance in Belleville if Merilainen’s injury isn’t short-term. They say it’s a tweak, but with groins, you never know.
At a glance, five seems like a curious number when, in the past, the club would require a sixth goalie to fill out their ECHL roster. But after two years of affiliation with the Allen Americans, the Senators will be one of three NHL teams (Carolina, Columbus) that don’t have an ECHL affiliation this season.
That said, it’s almost certain the Senators will send a few of their contracted players to the ECHL on loan this season.
Last year’s roster of six was Forsberg, Joonas Korpisalo, Kevin Mandolese, Merilainen, Mark Sinclair, and Sogaard.
Thinking back to two years ago when the Sens had injuries to both their NHL goalies, Forsberg and Cam Talbot, and eventually used seven different goalies, Tokarski’s arrival is another reminder of how quickly organizational goalie depth can be tested.
