Senators sign Blake Montgomery, winger joins Belleville on ATO for playoff push

Ottawa did not wait until training camp to start Blake Montgomery’s pro clock. The Senators signed the left winger to a three-year entry-level contract on April 15 and immediately set him up to finish this season with the Belleville Senators on an amateur tryout agreement, a move that gives the organization a live look at a 2024 draft pick just as the AHL race tightens.

That timing matters. Montgomery is coming out of his first NCAA season at Wisconsin, and Ottawa chose the moment right after the Badgers’ year ended to pull him into the pro system. Wisconsin fell 2-1 to Denver in the national championship game on April 11 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, a third-period rally that gave the Pioneers their 11th national title and third in five years. Montgomery is walking straight from Frozen Four-level hockey into the Belleville lineup, which is exactly the kind of transition the Senators can afford to fast-track in late April.

The contract also clarifies where Montgomery sits in Ottawa’s prospect pipeline. He was taken in the fourth round of the 2024 NHL Draft, 117th overall, and now he moves from draft asset to a player the Senators can evaluate in their own building. His entry-level deal does not kick in until the 2026-27 season, so Belleville gets the immediate benefit without burning a year of the contract. For an affiliate trying to balance playoff urgency with development, that is the sweet spot: low risk, real upside, and a chance to see how a young winger handles pro pace and pro responsibility before next season’s roster competition even begins.

Montgomery said the moment meant “everything,” calling it surreal to sign his first NHL contract after growing up watching the league. He also arrives with some momentum from campus, where he earned Big Ten First Star of the Week during the 2025-26 season, his first career weekly honor in the conference. That is not the profile of a depth body being parked in Belleville. It is a prospect move, and Ottawa is treating it like one. The Senators have opened the door for Montgomery to turn a strong freshman year into a real foothold in their organization, and Belleville now gets the first test case.