Ottawa Senators Should Offer Connor Ingram a PTO

The Ottawa Senators have made the playoffs in two consecutive seasons and will be looking to at least go one better in 2026-27. The team has been consistent with Travis Green at the helm, coming agonizingly close to reaching 100 points in the regular season before suffering disappointing first-round knockouts.

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The Senators will be hoping to improve this season and progress beyond the first round. To do that, the team will need to make the playoffs for a third consecutive season, which hasn’t been done since the early 2000s. Their chances of doing this will largely come down to the performances of their goaltenders, with Linus Ullmark returning as the starter after a tough year in 2025-26.

Ullmark started 49 games last season and had a 28-12-8 record, but had just a .891 save percentage with a 2.73 goals-against average. This is a step down from the .909 and 2.72 he had the previous season, and the hope will be that he can turn things around this year and put in performances closer to what saw him with the Vezina Trophy in 2022-23 with the Boston Bruins.

While it’s not likely that Ullmark will hit those same heights, having him hit closer to the .909 he had in his first season in Ottawa would certainly go a long way to helping the Senators’ success. However, he can’t do it all alone, and the team’s backups will need to prove they deserve their spot when called upon this year.

With so much riding on success between the nets, the Senators should be considering one of the current unrestricted free agents for a possible PTO, with Connor Ingram still unsigned in mid-August and with plenty to offer the team.

Ersson is a Huge Gamble

The presumed backup behind Ullmark this season is recent acquisition Samuel Ersson, who the Ottawa Senators traded a 2027 fifth-round draft pick to the Toronto Maple Leafs for before signing him to a two-year, $2.2 million AAV contract extension.

This should solidify his position as the team’s primary backup after playing 143 games with the Philadelphia Flyers over the past four seasons. The only problem is that Ersson’s numbers with the Flyers during this stretch are disappointing, to say the least.

Ersson is coming off a season where he was considered one of the worst-performing goaltenders in the NHL, with just a .870 save percentage and a 3.12 goals-against average in 29 starts. His career average is just a .884 Sv% and a 3.01 GAA, which are not numbers that will give Senators fans much hope for the upcoming season.

He is a huge gamble for the Senators to have between the pipes, especially if they find Ullmark missing any extended amount of time this year. If Ullmark starts 49 games this season, matching last season’s number, there would still be 35 games left in the expanded 84-game season, meaning Ersson could be called upon for nearly 42% of all starts.

This is not ideal, and the hope is that playing with a new team will help the Falun, Sweden native find a rhythm and put up better numbers, especially with the defensive core he’ll have playing in front of him. Ersson did lead Sweden to back-to-back World Championship bronze medals in 2024 and 2025, posting impressive numbers at the international level.

If Ersson can play closer to a .900 pace, that would be adequate. The history, though, is not on his side.

Ingram Compared to Ersson

Connor Ingram is a goaltender who has been up and down in his career so far, but his average performances have been better than Ersson’s overall. He has a career average .901 save percentage while matching Ersson’s goals-against average in 129 starts with the Nashville Predators, Arizona Coyotes, Utah Mammoth, and Edmonton Oilers.

His best season came in 2023-24 with the Coyotes, where he started 48 games, had 23 wins, a .907 save percentage, and a 2.91 goals-against average. Last season, while not having as much success in 30 starts with the Oilers, he still came close to .900 with a .899 Sv% and a 2.60 GAA.

In one less start, Ingram had two more wins (16) than Ersson (14) while also having .633 quality starts compared to Ersson’s .414.

Ingram has shown that when playing with a solid defensive group in front of him, he can be a solid performer and put up numbers that would be ideal for a backup goaltender. Still a UFA at this stage, he could be willing to accept a contract toward the cheaper end, with his last cap hit coming at just $1.95 million.

Why a PTO Makes Sense

Bringing him in on a PTO could benefit both player and team, without any financial cost tying them together. A PTO would allow Ingram the chance to demonstrate what he brings to the table for the Senators, while pushing to prove that he is better than Ersson and could be a better choice for the team’s backup role.

Equally, it could push Ersson to step up and perform at his peak, which could still be untapped potential with a higher ceiling than what has been seen so far in the NHL. All the while, if the Senators then decide he’s not worth a contract, they don’t lose out in terms of real dollars or cap space.

They could, however, lose out if Ingram does outshine Ersson and shows that the team should not have given him such an extension when he could have simply accepted a qualifying offer, having been an RFA this summer.

Either way, the Ottawa Senators need the very best goaltending possible this season and need to do anything they can to ensure the position is as solid as possible. Bringing in Ingram on a PTO would give the team the chance to assess their current situation and determine if it can truly be the best solution before the 2026-27 season even begins.

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