For the second time in less than 15 games, Bryan Murray had to speak to the media about an injury to one of the team’s star players.
In an address this afternoon, the Sens General Manager indicated that defending Norris Trophy champion had surgery on a 70% cut and that the recovery time is expected to be 3-4 months. Murray said that as expected, “Karlsson’s season is effectively over.”
Replacing Erik Karlsson is impossible but unless the Sens can find help via trade (Murray says he's made calls) or free agency (see below), this becomes a good opportunity for some of the young guys to get some serious playing time.
Patrick Wiercioch is now an every night player as is Andre Benoit.
It will be interesting to see how Paul MacLean distributes the minutes in Karlsson’s absence.
- Earlier today, the National Hockey League ruled that there would be no supplemental discipline handed out to Matt Cooke as a result of last night’s incident. I guess I’ll just say it’s the decision I expected. Murray felt that Cooke's history should be considered when making the decision but the league obviously disagreed.
- Murray also provided an update on Milan Michalek who had what the team called a "twisted knee" that should only keep him out for a couple games. Peter Regin could return as early as next week.
- Lost in all the talk about Karlsson’s injury is an interesting comment by TSN’s Bob McKenzie last night. During the quiz portion of the show, McKenzie suggested that Ottawa was the most likely suitor for Avs hold out Ryan O’Reilly. Ottawa has a need at centre and the pieces to get a deal done. I do wonder if McKenzie would give the same answer with Karlsson out though.
- I’m not overly happy to be typing this but contacts have suggested to me that the Senators will at least explore the idea of bringing back Chris Campoli. Really not a road I can picture the Senators going down but I figured I would pass that bit of info along.
