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Xavier Bourgault knows his National Hockey League window is opening.

“I really felt like last year was a breakout season,” Bourgault told the Ottawa Citizen in a phone interview on Tuesday. “I felt like I was finding my game like I did like back in junior. I was really confident making plays that I used to make when I was younger.”

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The 23-year-old Ottawa Senators prospect had his best season of pro hockey by a wide margin in 2025-26, racking up 57 points (25 goals, 32 assists) in 70 games for Belleville of the American Hockey League.

“When you get to that that age, you have to continue to improve — you can’t get complacent,” Belleville coach Andrew Campbell said. “Bourgy had a tremendous amount of opportunity last year, and to his credit, he took full advantage of it. As far as consistency goes, he was one of, if not the most consistent player we had all year. He took great strides in his game. He obviously earned his first couple of NHL games, which is awesome.”

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Perhaps it’s taken Bourgault a little longer than he expected to be knocking on the door of an NHL club.

Ahead of the 2021 NHL Draft, he had the highest points per game (1.38) of any draft-eligible player in his third season with the Shawinigan Cataractes of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. He was a standout shooter — scoring 53 goals in 92 games across two seasons leading up to Draft Day — and an excellent playmaker who many believed projected as a middle-six skater in the NHL.

It was nearly impossible to find a scout that didn’t have him going in the first round. And so he did.

Selected 22nd overall by the Edmonton Oilers, dreams of playing in the same forwards corps as Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl weren’t all that far-fetched several years ago. However, even after a solid first season with Bakersfield in the AHL in 2022-23, recording 34 points (13 goals, 21 assists) in 62 games, Bourgault sensed his path to the best league in the world wouldn’t be so straightforward.

“It really didn’t work out for me there,” Bourgault said of his time with the Oilers organization. “I don’t know, I had a good first year. After that, my second year wasn’t easy.

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“I think at the beginning I wasn’t really ready. Like, I wasn’t confident trying plays, going to the net.”

In Steve Staios’ first off-season as Senators general manager in 2024, he saw an opportunity to acquire a young man whom a change of scenery would serve well. Ottawa sent Finnish forward Roby Jarventie and a fourth-round pick to Edmonton for Bourgault and depth forward Jake Chiasson.

Two years later, grateful for the reset and feeling considerably less pressure, the L’Islet, Quebec, native sees his development trending in the right direction again. Watching the Carolina Hurricanes’ speedy, tenacious second line of Jackson Blake (5-foot-11), Logan Stankoven (5-foot-8) and Taylor Hall (6-foot-1) dominate the Stanley Cup Playoffs is reassurance for Bourgault, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 185 pounds. It also reminds him of why his former Shawinigan teammate Mavrik Bourque (5-foot-11, 187 pounds) just signed a six-year, $33 million contract with the Dallas Stars.

“When I was drafted by Edmonton they were telling me to gain, like, so much weight, but I wasn’t really focusing on power,” Bourgault said. “You can see in the NHL, there’s smaller players that are not the biggest, but they’re quick. … They can still steal the puck from behind. I think I can be that kind of player now.”

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In some capacity, the Senators believe that too. Otherwise, the forward wouldn’t have received a qualifying offer and a subsequent one-year, $850,000 contract for 2026-27 (Bourgault was one of 15 players across the league to file for arbitration, but he promises it was simply to give both sides more time to negotiate).

“They liked that I was doing good offensively, I was producing, I was creating chances every time I was on the ice,” Bourgault said of the messaging from management last season. “But they also told me that they liked that I was working too. It’s a big thing for me. You’ve got to work and be consistent. And I was working hard. I was stealing pucks on the forecheck, I was tracking.

“I think last year I showed everyone that I can still make it.”

While the tallies are finally beginning to pile up in the pros, Bourgault understands that he must continue to adapt his game to Sens coach Travis Green’s all-hands-on-deck defensive system in order to get an extended look with the big club.

“Ottawa is a very hard-working team, very annoying to play against,” Bourgault, who watched his Belleville teammate Stephen Halliday graduate to the NHL this year. “For me, I think I really embrace that style of game. The last two seasons, I’ve wanted to play that style too. I think I’m better at it now.”

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Two NHL games with an average of nine shifts may have been a satisfactory appetizer in 2025-26, but Bourgault is raising the bar for the upcoming campaign, his third with the organization.

“Last year was, I guess, a big year for me to prove to everyone that I can produce at the pro level,” he said. “Now, it’s (about) being effective in the NHL and getting a lot more games. After that, we’ll see what happens.”

Said Campbell: “If Bourgy continues on the path that he kind of started last year with the elevation of his game, he’s got a bright future.”

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