On Wednesday, the Ottawa Senators have acquired the rights to forward Jan Jenik from Utah in exchange for those of forward Egor Sokolov.
Both are unsigned restricted free agents.
Jenik just completed his fourth professional season with the Arizona Coyotes’ organization while spending most of it with Arizona’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners where he ranked third among Roadrunners in scoring with 36 points (16 goals, 20 assists) over 55 regular-season games. He also skated in five contests with Arizona and recorded one assist.
He was selected by the Coyotes with the team’s second third-round, 65th overall pick at the 2018 NHL Draft.
Senators president of hockey operations and general manager Steve Staios sees a bright future for Jenik in Ottawa.
“Jan is a versatile and skilled forward,” said Staios. “Capable of playing at both centre and on the wing, he’s tenacious and demonstrates good offensive upside.”
As for Sokolov, he became the all-time games-played leader for the Belleville Senators with 240 this past season. He only has 13 NHL career games under his belt, in which he posted a goal and an assist and could get more in Utah as the club enters its inaugural season.
Sokolov was selected in the second round, 61st overall by Ottawa in the 2020 draft.