Belleville Senators

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Wikipedia

Belleville Senators
CityBelleville, Ontario
LeagueAmerican Hockey League
ConferenceEastern
DivisionNorth
Founded1972
Home arenaCAA Arena
ColoursRed, black, white
     
OwnerMichael Andlauer
General managerMatt Turek
Head coachAndrew Campbell
CaptainGarrett Pilon
MediaAHL.TV (Internet)
CJBQ
AffiliatesOttawa Senators (NHL) Allen Americans (ECHL)
WebsiteOfficial website
Franchise history
1972–1992New Haven Nighthawks
1992–1993New Haven Senators
1993–1996Prince Edward Island Senators
2002–2017Binghamton Senators
2017–presentBelleville Senators
Championships
Division titles1 (2019–20)
Current season

The Belleville Senators (colloquially known as the B-Sens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Belleville, Ontario. They are the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Ottawa Senators. The Senators play their home games at CAA Arena. The franchise was previously based in Binghamton, New York, as the Binghamton Senators.

History

In July 2016, Broome County officials stated that the Ottawa Senators intended to relocate their franchise, then known as the Binghamton Senators, closer to the parent club for the 2017–18 season despite still having three more years on their lease.[1] On September 26, 2016, Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk confirmed that he had purchased the Binghamton team and would be relocating it to become the Belleville Senators for the 2017–18 season with the Binghamton Devils eventually announced to be taking over their lease.[2] In order to accommodate an AHL team, the City of Belleville approved more than $20 million in upgrades to Yardmen Arena once the Senators agreed to an eight-year lease.[3]

The Senators kept Kurt Kleinendorst as head coach for the franchise's inaugural season in Belleville, but after a 29–42–2–3 record and missing the playoffs, his contract was not renewed.[4] He was replaced by Troy Mann, the recently released coach of the Hershey Bears.[5] The team improved in the 2018–19 season, finishing in fifth place in the North Division behind the play of younger players Drake Batherson, Logan Brown, Rudolfs Balcers, and Erik Brannstrom.

Led by Josh Norris, Alex Formenton, and Drake Batherson, the B-Sens were leading the North Division when the 2019–20 season was cancelled on May 11 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The team had amassed a 38–20–4–1 record and were the best road team in the league having won 23 games and a .790 road win percentage. The B-Sens' 234 goals were the most in the AHL.

The start for the following 2020–21 season was delayed due to the ongoing pandemic. In December 2020, the Senators agreed to a seven-year lease extension with the city of Belleville through the 2026–27 AHL season.[6] In January 2021, the league announced a temporary realignment due to the pandemic border restrictions and the B-Sens were placed in an all-Canada division, but had no set start date due to venue usage and restrictions in the province of Ontario. The league eventually announced a start for the teams in Canada for one week after the rest of the league, but without any games initially scheduled in Ontario.[7] The Belleville Senators started on the road before announcing their home games would be played in Ottawa at the Canadian Tire Centre for the entire season.[8]

During the 2022–23 season, Belleville fired Troy Mann as coach on February 2, 2023, while sitting sixth in the AHL's North Division. Assistant coach David Bell was named new head coach.[9]

After the departure of captain Dillon Heatherington in the offseason, on October 8, 2024, Belleville named Garrett Pilon the sixth captain in franchise history.[10]

In August 2025, the City of Belleville and the Senators agreed to a three-year lease extension through the 2029–30 AHL season, with the option to extend the lease another five years up to 2034–35.[11]

After going 11–14–3 to start the 2025–26 season, Belleville fired David Bell as head coach on December 17, 2025, while sitting fifth in the North Division. The Senators named assistant coach Andrew Campbell as interim head coach.[12]

Broadcasting

The official broadcasting partner of the Belleville Senators is radio station 800 CJBQ. Commentators David Foot and Tim Durkin cover all games. David Foot also has a weekly podcast featuring news on the Belleville Senators and the AHL.

Season-by-season results

Calder Cup champions Conference champions Division champions League leader
Regular season Playoffs
Season Games Won Lost OTL SOL Points PCT Goals
for		 Goals
against		 Standing Year Prelims 1st
round		 2nd
round		 3rd
round		 Finals
2017–187629422363.4141942666th, North2018Did not qualify
2018–197637313582.5392282285th, North2019Did not qualify
2019–206338204181.6432341971st, North2020Season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2020–213518161037.5291021113rd, Canadian2021No playoffs were held
2021–227240284084.5832192184th, North2022L, 0–2, ROC————
2022–237231316472.5002332587th, North2023Did not qualify
2023–247238283382.5692092114th, North2024W, 2–1, TORL, 1–3, CLE———
2024–257234276579.5492062236th, North2025Did not qualify
Totals5382652232921580.5391,6251,7122 playoff appearances

Players

Current roster

Updated February 26, 2026.[13]

No. Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace Contract
5 United States Wyatt Bongiovanni C L 26 2024 Birmingham, Michigan Ottawa
16 United States Tyler Boucher LW R 23 2022 Scottsdale, Arizona Ottawa
13 Canada Xavier Bourgault C R 23 2024 L'Islet, Quebec Ottawa
4 Canada Cameron Crotty (A) D R 26 2025 Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa
10 Canada Philippe Daoust LW L 24 2022 Barrie, Ontario Belleville
11 Canada Jorian Donovan D L 21 2023 Calgary, Alberta Ottawa
8 Canada Mark Duarte RW R 23 2025 Hamilton, Ontario Belleville
48 United States Dennis Gilbert D L 29 2025 Buffalo, New York Ottawa
29 Czech Republic Tomas Hamara D L 21 2024 Prague, Czech Republic Ottawa
14 Canada Scott Harrington (A) D R 32 2025 Kingston, Ontario Belleville
42 Canada Hayden Hodgson (A) RW L 30 2024 Windsor, Ontario Ottawa
39 Canada Landen Hookey RW R 22 2025 Sarnia, Ontario Belleville
24 Czech Republic Jan Jenik (A) RW L 25 2024 Nymburk, Czech Republic Ottawa
43 United States Arthur Kaliyev RW R 24 2025 Tashkent, Uzbekistan Ottawa
15 Sweden Olle Lycksell RW L 26 2025 Oskarshamn, Sweden Ottawa
35 Finland Leevi Merilainen G L 23 2023 Oulu, Finland Ottawa
32 Sweden Oskar Pettersson RW R 22 2024 Halmstad, Sweden Ottawa
22 Canada Garrett Pilon (C) C R 27 2023 Mineola, New York Ottawa
19 Canada Jamieson Rees LW L 25 2024 Hamilton, Ontario Belleville
30 United States Hunter Shepard G L 30 2025 Grand Rapids, Minnesota Ottawa
40 Denmark Mads Sogaard G L 25 2021 Aalborg, Denmark Ottawa
33 Finland Lassi Thomson D R 25 2025 Tampere, Finland Ottawa
27 Canada Keean Washkurak (A) LW L 24 2024 Kitchener, Ontario Belleville
26 Canada Carter Yakemchuk D R 20 2025 Fort McMurray, Alberta Ottawa

Team captains

Team scoring leaders

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game average;

Points
PlayerPosGPGAPtsP/G
Egor SokolovLW240761041800.75
Angus CrookshankLW20277721490.74
Cole ReinhardtLW27054771310.49
Drake BathersonRW10338781161.13
Maxence GuenetteD23627891160.49
Jake LucchiniLW13339651040.78
Garrett PilonC1302966950.73
Lassi ThomsonD2022469930.46
Filip ChlapikC1463751880.60
Roby JarventieLW1363848860.63

Notable alumni

The following players have played both 100 games for the Belleville Senators and 100 games in the National Hockey League:

References

    1. ↑ Miller, Jason (July 8, 2016). "Binghamton Sens moving north to Belleville say Broome County officials". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
    2. ↑ "Sens Owner Purchases AHL Team Partners W/ Belleville". Ottawa Senators. September 26, 2016. Archived from the original on September 27, 2016. Retrieved September 26, 2016 – via NHL.com.
    3. ↑ "Ottawa Senators finalize deal to move AHL team to Belleville from Binghamton". Ottawa Sun. September 26, 2016. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
    4. ↑ "Report: Coach K out as Belleville Senators bench boss". Belleville Intelligencer. May 1, 2018. Archived from the original on May 2, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
    5. ↑ "Troy Mann named second head coach in franchise history". Belleville Senators. June 25, 2018. Archived from the original on June 26, 2018. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
    6. ↑ Tidcombe, Matt (December 9, 2020). "Belleville Senators extend lease with city" (Press release). Ottawa Senators – via NHL.com.
    7. ↑ "February schedule set for Canadian Division clubs". American Hockey League. February 9, 2021. Archived from the original on February 9, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
    8. ↑ "Belleville Senators Announce Temporary Relocation For Home Games for 2020-21 Season". Belleville Senators. February 23, 2021. Archived from the original on February 23, 2021. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
    9. ↑ "Senators fire longtime AHL Belleville coach Troy Mann". Sportsnet. February 2, 2023. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
    10. ↑ Durkin, Tim (October 8, 2024). "Pilon is the leadership pillar for Belleville". Quinte News. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
    11. ↑ "Senators and the City of Belleville announce extension of lease agreement". Belleville Senators. August 13, 2025. Retrieved August 29, 2025.
    12. ↑ Garrioch, Bruce (December 17, 2025). "David Bell fired as head coach of Senators' AHL team in Belleville". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved December 18, 2025.
    13. ↑ "Belleville Senators current roster". American Hockey League. February 26, 2026. Retrieved January 31, 2026.
    14. ↑ "Logan Shaw Named 4th Captain in Franchise History". Belleville Senators. March 1, 2021. Archived from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved March 1, 2021 – via OurSports Central.