Ottawa Senators Injury Analysis, Potential Call-Ups
By Jack Leiper
Today’s media update from Bryan Murray and Dave Cameron brought some interesting storylines for the current roster players as well as potential callups.
– On Neil
Chris Neil had surgery yesterday, as he’s expected to be out a while yet. Neil also had a plate put in to help with his broken thumb in the healing process.
Neil’s name was subject to trade rumours earlier in the month, and as the deadline is a week away any rumours may now be put to rest on a potential “Neil-deal”. While fans may feel it’s time for Neil to move on, it sounds as though he may be stay put.
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– On MacArthur, Lehner
Two key pieces are set to be out for a little while as Lehner and MacArthur both suffer from concussions following an ugly collision in Ottawa’s game vs Carolina.
At this point, it’s unlikely that either of them travel with the team for games between Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Jose, and Minnesota.
– On Smith
Zack Smith‘s return to the lineup may just end up becoming a roadblock for a potential call-up. He’s set to travel with the team but likely won’t play after dealing with an injury since December.
Smith is in the middle of a disappointing season, where he came into the year with offensive aspirations and somehow lost the game he had last year as a defensively responsible, solid 3rd line center. Smith is still on a favourable contract, so he might attract trade interest if the Senators did want to ship him out of town.
– On Anderson
Craig Anderson always seems to suffer from bizarre injuries. After going down again with another non-typical injury, Anderson has missed 7 games and doesn’t sound like he’ll be ready to go.
Wayne Scanlan of the Ottawa Citizen reports that Anderson has a deep bone bruise and still has trouble gripping the stick in his blocker hand. As of now, Ottawa will continue to roll with Hammond/Driedger as a tandem.
CALL-UPS:
Another interesting quote as Scanlan updates us again. Murray discusses who may be next on the call-up list, citing Buddy Robinson and Chris Wideman as the probable call-ups.
Murray says youth will be served. Expect to see F Buddy Robinson, D Chris Wideman etc down the stretch. #sens
— Wayne Scanlan (@HockeyScanner) February 20, 2015
It’s nice to see Ottawa giving their youngsters a look, Matt Puempel and Shane Prince have already been called up, and Buddy Robinson may be next in line.
Robinson is a 6foot5 forward who hasn’t been one to put up steep offensive numbers, but may slot well into a 3rd/4th line role in the future for the Senators.
Wideman saw time up earlier in the year, but didn’t play. The purpose this time will be to give Wideman some NHL time so Ottawa can evaluate what kind of prospect Ottawa has in Wideman as he looks to make the jump to the NHL.
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