As we learned the hard way on Saturday night, the Ottawa Senators are not deep enough to sustain multiple injuries to their top forwards.
And as we barrel towards the month of March and as the standings tighten up in the Eastern Conference, getting back to full health is critical for the Senators.
The team was back on the ice for practice earlier this morning and the good news is, they were joined by all three injured forwards. Brady Tkachuk, Josh Norris and Shane Pinto all practiced with the team, although Pinto did it a non-contact jersey and Tkachuk lasted just 16 minutes and then left early.
Tkachuk spoke the to the media afterwards and said the early departure was just being cautious. He also provided some additional context on the injury, calling it a lower-body thing and saying it happened just before he crashed into the post during the Four Nations game against Sweden.
Despite leaving practice early, Tkachuk started practice in his usual spot on the team’s top line.
Josh Norris sounded hopeful about his status. “We’ll see tomorrow” he boldly declared, which is true, because that is when the next game will take place. Shane Pinto had the no-contact jersey on so would assume he’s the least likely of the three.
In conclusion, we have no idea if any of these guys are playing tomorrow.
