We’re proud to announce that defenceman Nikolas Matinpalo has signed a two-year, one-way contract extension with the Ottawa Senators, carrying an average annual value of $875,000 through the 2026-27 NHL season.

Matinpalo, 26, took a major step forward this season, appearing in 40 regular-season games and all six Stanley Cup Playoff games for Ottawa. He recorded 1 goal and 3 assists during the regular season and proved to be a steady, physical presence on the Senators’ blue line down the stretch and into the postseason.

Signed as a European free agent in 2023, the 6’3” right-shot defenceman has now played 45 NHL games and 91 AHL games over two seasons with the organization. He began the 2024-25 campaign with Belleville before earning a full-time role in Ottawa following his recall in December.

Internationally, the Espoo, Finland native represented Team Finland at the 2025 Four Nations Faceoff and has represented Finland at the IIHF World Championships each of the last two seasons.

This new deal reflects Matinpalo’s strong development and growing impact at the NHL level.

The Ottawa Senators have locked down another young up-and-comer with today’s signing of Espoo, Finland native defenceman Nikolas Matinpalo. The one-year, two-way contract carries a $775,000 value in the NHL and a $200,000 value in the AHL.

The 2023-24 season was the Finnish 25-year old’s first in North America. It was a season of milestones for Matinpalo, who made his NHL debut with the Ottawa Senators on October 28, 2023, in a 5-2 road win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Matinpalo played four games with the NHL club.

In his 67 regular season games with the Belleville Senators, Matinpalo recorded four goals and 10 assists for a total of 14 points, tallying 26 penalty minutes to boot. He appeared in all seven playoff games for the team as well, providing the team with steady defence on the backend.

The move from Finland to North America proved to be no problem for Matinpalo, and Sens fans can be sure to look forward to even more growth from the young defenceman in the coming season.

The Ottawa Senators called up a pair of players and moved Thomas Chabot to long-term injured reserve on Saturday morning ahead of their game against Pittsburgh.

Defencemen Tyler Kleven and Nikolas Matinpalo were recalled from the club’s AHL team in Belleville, while Chabot was moved to LTIR to make room.

Matinpalo, 25, has one goal in four games so far in his first season with the AHL club

Matinpalo will make his regular season NHL debut in Pittsburgh against the Penguins.

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Austin Watson and Drake Batherson scored in a 47-second span in the third period to help the Ottawa Senators beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-2 on Saturday night.

Watson broke a tie at 4:31 into the third period with a deflection of Travis Hamonic’s point shot and Batherson fired a wrist shot from the slot past past goalie Sam Montembeault at 5:18.

The gritty winger had also tallied seven minutes in penalties during the game, the majority of which came from a fight with Michael Pezzetta in the second period.

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WD Sports & Entertainment client Austin Watson was on the Wally and Methot Show, hosted by Brent Wallace and former NHL defenceman Marc Methot. 

Watson lightheartedly recaps his summer, talks about the Ottawa Senators’ upcoming season, and even has a couple surprise guests stop by his house during the course of their conversation.

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WD Sports and Entertainment Client Austin Watson has been selected to represent Team USA at the upcoming IIHF World Championships in Tampere and Helsinki Finland. The Michigan native had a fantastic finish to his 2021-2022 NHL season with the Ottawa Senators netting seven goals in the month of April and finishing with 10 goals on the year.

Watson was relied on heavily for veteran leadership on a young Senators team.

This will be the third time Watson has represented his country in total, and the first time in close to a decade since the 2012 U20 IIHF World Juniors where Watson led the USA in points with 3 goals and 6 assists in 6 games played.

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Austin Watson reached two huge milestones in the Ottawa Senators game Saturday. Watson, playing in his 400th career NHL Game also recorded his 100th career point sending a shot towards the net before being redirected into the net by a teammate. Now in 400GP Watson has 47 goals and 53 assists for 100 points and has recorded 8 points in his last 12 games.

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