The Senators were on the ice for practice this morning ahead of tomorrow night’s home game against the Florida Panthers.
The lines looked pretty similar to the other night against Montreal but with one change as Matt Puempel took Shane Prince’s up front. That means Puempel will start his NHL career on a line with David Legwand and Alex Chiasson. Here’s how Dave Cameron had them lined up this morning.
Hoffman-Zibanejad-Ryan
Michalek-Turris-Stone
Condra-Pageau-Lazar
Puempel-Legwand-Chiasson
Bryan Murray spoke with the media following today’s practice and provided an update on the status of both Robin Lehner and Clarke MacArthur. It won’t come as a huge surprise but it turns out both players suffered a concussion as a result of that huge collision the other night against Carolina.
Timelines are always tricky with this sort of injury and considering the team’s current situation, there’s obviously no rush. Both players can take their time and make sure they’re back to 100% before even thinking about a return. Right now the team is saying that MacArthur will not join the team on the California trip but Robin Lehner might. Zack Smith is also expected to join the team out West but mostly just to get some sun. He’s not expected to play.
Murray also provided an update on Chris Neil’s injury. Neil had surgery on his broken thumb yesterday and will have a cast on the hand for a couple weeks. And then it sounds like he’ll probably need a couple more weeks to heel after that. At least four weeks until he’s ready to return. Those timelines obviously extend well beyond the March 2nd trade deadline. That won’t scare teams away completely but at this point it certainly seems like Neil will be staying in Ottawa beyond the trade deadline.
Craig Anderson remains sidelined with no real timeline on his return either. His issue is apparently a deep bone bruise that is preventing him from holding the stick. Wonder if that kind of injury would heal a little faster if this team was in the thick of a playoff race.
-Lots of talk about Chris Phillips the last couple days and in particular, some suggesting that there may be a specific team showing interest. Doesn’t sound like that’s the case. Not at this point anyway. Murray is still sort of waiting to hear from Phillips on his level of interest in a trade to a playoff-bound team, assuming one is interested that is. Phillips has been MIA for a couple weeks now and there’s still no real clear timelines on his status. Hard to imagine teams are lining up for his services. Montreal seems like a potential fit given that it would allow Phillips to stay close to home and they are shopping for defensive help. As of right now though, not a lot going on. Nobody is calling.
-Bryan Murray was on TSN1200 this afternoon and had some interesting thing to say leading up to the deadline. Sounds like it would take an outstanding offer to trade Chris Neil before the deadline. Not just that, it would take an interest from Chris Neil to go elsewhere. Could still happen but it sounds like a long shot. He also seemed to indicate that Erik Condra is available leading up to the deadline suggesting that there have been no contract talks to this point. The team also plans to call up another forward before heading out West next week. Buddy Robinson and Derek Grant were mentioned as candidates.
