If you could condense Ottawa’s season into a one-hour experience, it would probably look a lot like Monday morning did for Sens fans.
Early in the day, the team announced that they were recalling Ridly Greig from Belleville of the American Hockey League. The first round pick from the 2020 Draft has looked good in the AHL and there was a collective excitement at the possibility of seeing him get a chance at the NHL level.
That excitement lasted for all of 40 minutes as later in the morning we learned why Greig was about to get an extended look. Josh Norris reinjured his shoulder in the weekend game against the Jets and this time he’s going to have surgery and this time, his season is really done.
And that’s sort of the way things have gone for the Ottawa Senators this year. One small step forward and then a giant step backwards.
As you might expect in a situation like this, the Senators are taking some heat for how they handled the Norris injury and it’s led to predictable speculation that maybe they rushed Norris back and that maybe, he should have just had the surgery in the first place. Perhaps but impossible to say without knowing the conversations that played out internally and what the doctors were saying on the issue.
Ultimately, whether or not to have surgery is a player’s decisions and it’s pretty clear that Norris was looking to avoid that option at all costs.
There’s not a lot the team can do in a situation like that. And while they could have held him out of the lineup a bit longer, that’s again a decision made by team doctors and most importantly, by the player. Norris had completed the expected period of rehab and was feeling healthy enough to play.
It’s really just a devastating turn of event for Norris.
He worked so hard to get back in the lineup and was clearly hoping to avoid going down this path. Now he just has to hope he can back up to speed in time for Training Camp in September.
Sigh.
Meanwhile, it doesn’t seem like the Senators plan to ease Ridly Greig in at the NHL level. He skated on a line with Claude Giroux and Alex DeBrincat at yesterday’s practice and that’s where he’ll start on Wednesday night against the Islanders. On one wing, a two-time 40-goal scorer and on the other side, his favourite player growing up.
Welcome to the show, Kid.
The Senators are back on the ice for practice this morning at 10:30 AM. They host the New York Islanders tomorrow night at the Canadian Tire Centre.
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SensChirp is looking for a rare hat trick at the Ottawa Awards but it’s only possible if we keep up those votes coming! We’re nominated in the Blog, Twitter Account and Sports Podcast categories. Once a day from as many email addresses as you can get your hands on.
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Just three more days until the SensChirp Beer Release Party and spots are filling up fast! Thanks to Hyperline Systems Canada we’ll be giving away three pairs of tickets in Club Bell for the game on February 13th! If anyone else has a prize for the event, let me know. You can book a spot here.
