Ottawa Senators defenceman Thomas Chabot underwent surgery to repair a broken bone in his forearm on Thursday the club announced.
Chabot was on the receiving end of a cross check from Rangers forward J.T. Miller near the end of the first period on Monday night. The 29 year old was in visible pain and left the game immediately. No penalty was assessed on the play.
Ottawa would subsequently lose Lassi Thomson due to injury in the same game, though head coach Travis Green said that his situation was more of a “day-to-day” variety. With Olympic gold medallist Jake Sanderson already on the shelf, Ottawa is now precariously thin on the blue line as they push for a playoff spot in the tightly packed Eastern Conference.
Sprinkle in injuries to depth defenders Nick Jensen and Dennis Gilbert, Ottawa was forced to make emergency call ups to rookie defencemen Carter Yakemchuk and Jorian Donovan for the team’s 3-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday. Sanderson has yet to confirm a return date, though he’s been skating for several days now and will travel with the team as he nears a return to the lineup.
While the team has stopped short of providing a definitive recovery timeline for Chabot, these types of injuries generally take between 4-8 weeks to fully heal depending on the severity. With 7 goals and 24 assists across 55 games this season, the former 1st round pick was well on his way to another highly productive season for Ottawa.
Now, the Senators would simply be happy to have him back for the postseason at some point should the club secure either a wildcard berth or continue their ascent up the standings. As of Thursday morning, the team currently occupies the final wildcard spot with 85 points. However they’re only 3 points out of 3rd place in the Atlantic, with both Detroit and the Islanders within a point of the Senators with just over 10 games to go for each club.
Ottawa will play host to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday before heading down to Florida for a series vs. the Lightning and Panthers to close out the month.
Photo: Jenn G. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.