Senators sign Xavier Bourgault to one-year contract

The Ottawa Senators announced on Saturday that the team has agreed to terms on a one-year, two-way contract with restricted free agent forward Xavier Bourgault.

Bourgault, a 22-year-old from Quebec, was the first round pick of the Edmonton Oilers at No. 22 overall in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.

Last summer, he was acquired by the Senators from Edmonton in a trade along with Jake Chiasson that sent Roby Jarviente and a 2025 fourth round pick the other way.

Bourgault was a key member of Ottawa’s AHL affiliate Belleville Senators in the 2024-2025 season, as he put up 12 goals and 14 assists for 26 points in 61 games played.

Bourgault, who has yet to make his NHL debut, has appeared in 178 career games at the AHL level between Belleville and Edmonton’s affiliate in Bakersfield, producing a total of 33 goals and 80 assists for a total of 113 points.

Spending his junior career in the QMJHL with the Shawinigan Cataractes, Bourgault had 40 points in 29 games in his draft year before following that up with 75 points in 43 contests in 2021-2022 as the Cataractes won the Gilles-Cortreau Trophy as the league champions.

Bourgault helped Belleville to a 34-27-6-5 record as the team narrowly missed out on the Calder Cup playoffs.

Assuming Bourgault joins Belleville again to start the 2025-2026 campaign, he’ll join some of the team’s leading scorers from a year ago in Stephen Holliday and Garret Pilon, who are both signed under contract for the upcoming season.

Ottawa has been active in retaining and adding talent to a roster that got the organization its first appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2017 this offseason, as general manager Steve Staios got deals done with restricted free agent Fabian Zetterlund and pending unrestricted free agent Claude Giroux before he hit the open market on July 1.

The team’s key newcomers include veteran forward Lars Eller and emerging defenseman Jordan Spence.