Senators Recall Arthur Kaliyev from Belleville Senators for NHL Return

Arthur Kaliyev was recalled to the Ottawa Senators from the Belleville Senators on Feb. 26, 2026, rejoining an NHL roster that will now have an AHL All-Star who has scored 30 goals and compiled 50 points in 52 games for Belleville this season. The move restores one of Belleville’s primary scorers to Ottawa’s depth chart less than a year after Kaliyev signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Senators on July 2, 2025.

Kaliyev’s NHL experience includes 202 games and 75 career points, a mark repeated across team materials; the supplied records differ on his goals total, with one entry listing 38 goals and another listing 37 goals while both agree on 75 points. He has appeared with the Los Angeles Kings and the New York Rangers in the NHL and added a goal and an assist across four preseason contests with Ottawa this fall.

The recall follows a league review that cleared Kaliyev to return to NHL play. The NHL and the NHLPA confirmed the outcome, and the league said, "The League has conducted a thorough review of this matter and found no basis to conclude there was a violation of League policy or grounds for discipline." Earlier allegations by his former partner, Lauren Mochen, had alleged she was scammed out of more than $50,000 to fund a gambling habit and subjected to verbal abuse; Senators GM Steve Staios had said in September the situation was being monitored and that there was "nothing" to the allegations.

Kaliyev has been part of Ottawa’s roster churn this season. He was recalled on Oct. 16, 2025 when Brady Tkachuk landed on injured reserve with a wrist injury, played two NHL games, and was reassigned to Belleville on Oct. 20, 2025. During that two-game stint he skated on Ottawa’s fourth line in a victory over the Seattle Kraken and was elevated to the first line in a loss to the New York Islanders, recording an assist on David Perron’s power-play goal in the Islanders game.

The forward’s professional trajectory has been interrupted by recent injuries. Last season he suffered two clavicle fractures that ended his campaign early; in 14 games with the Rangers after a midseason waiver claim he had three goals and one assist before suffering the second shoulder fracture. Transaction logs also show multiple upper-body injury entries and a December 2024 stretch that included missing 34 games with a clavicle injury.

Ottawa’s recall brings a high-volume AHL scorer back to the NHL lineup at a time when the Senators have used call-ups earlier this season for precautionary reasons, including a prior situation when Tim Stützle was a game-time decision for a matchup in Detroit and Kaliyev did not see the ice. Whether Kaliyev slides into Ottawa’s lineup or serves as depth will be determined in the Senators’ next roster setting, but his 30-goal output in Belleville gives the organization a proven scoring option to deploy as the NHL stretch run approaches.