The Erik Karlsson Effect On The Ottawa Senators

With the new breaking yesterday that injured blueliner Erik Karlsson has already resumed skating, it will be interesting to see how the Ottawa Senators react on the ice thousands of miles away.

They didn’t look good in Miami on Sunday, despite outshooting the Panthers 41-17.  There weren’t many quality scoring chances among those shots, and Scott Clemmensen had a relatively easy night.

Now whether the team as a whole knew that their Norris Trophy winning defenseman was on the ice or not beforehand (Daniel Alfredsson did know), they have to be given a shot of adrenaline knowing how hard he is working to get back this season.

Feb 03, 2013; Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson (65) during the warm-up session before the first period against Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports

They certainly don’t want to have him go through all this work to get back 3 or 4 months sooner than expected just to have the team not still be playing when he can go.  It might just add that extra bit of motivation (not that it should be required) to make sure they do finish the job and make the playoffs, and go as deep as they can in order to get him back.

I don’t think the club would let him come back before he is really ready, but when you look at the video of his workout, he gets progressively more confident and he tests it more each minute.

I am still hesitant to say that he will be able to return before the regular season is over, but I wouldn’t have thought he would be on the ice this soon after his surgery, either.  I guess quick healing is another notch on the ever-growing list of reasons to really admire the 23 year old defenseman.