The Sens recalled the Finnish d-man this morning and he'll be in the Senators lineup tonight against the Sabres.
"We wanted another look at him down the stretch before the All-Star break," Sens head coach D.J. Smith said. "By all accounts he's been really really good in Belleville and we wanted to get him up and see where he's at compared to where he was in the stretch of games he played before that."
While Erik Brannstrom was placed in the NHL's Covid-19 protocol today, Thomson's recall was not related to that news. According to Smith, he was on his way to Ottawa regardless.
However, with Brannstrom out, Thomson will take his spot on the team's second power play unit. During today's morning skate, Thomson was paired with Thomas Chabot.
"It's a huge opportunity every time I get called up and I get the chance to play here," Thomson said. "I like to play with Chabot. He moves the puck well. It's fun to play with him. You know where he is.
"He's talking lots [and in] my first call-up I played a couple games with him and I'm comfortable with him."
Thomson has played 12 games with Ottawa this season where he has tallied three assists and has averaged 16:31 a game. Between Nov. 11 and Dec. 7, Thomson appeared in 11 of Ottawa's 12 games. He made a spot appearance on Jan. 1 against Toronto.
In nine games with Belleville since Dec. 7, the 21-year-old had six points (four goals).
"He can play a lot of games in a short amount of time," Smith said. "We're at home [and] we can put him in some good spots."
While Thomson, who was the 19th overall pick in 2019, will get a run of games before the All-Star break kicks in Feb. 2, fellow defenceman Jacob Bernard-Docker was reassigned to Belleville Monday.
Bernard-Docker has played eight games with Ottawa this season where has one assist and a +1 rating.
Although he is headed back to Belleville, Smith was pleased with what he saw from the 26th overall pick in 2018.
"I thought he played great," Smith said. "There was a huge step from training camp. His defensive reads were really good. He jumped when he had to.
"My message to him was 'the jump [you've] taken from the start of the year to today is huge.'"
And while Bernard-Docker and Thomson have seemingly swapped places today, there's zero doubt that both players will be crucial contributors to the Senators moving forward.
"It's good internal competition, but at the end of the day, for this organization to take the next step, we know that both those guys are going to be on this team going forward and will be huge pieces of this," Smith said.
