How Worrisome is Marc Methot’s injury?

Lingering Injury

Heading into a contract year, Marc Methot is hoping for big things and bigger dollars.

After a stellar shortened season and a set-back year in 13-14, Methot has proven his role in the NHL. A top 4, shutdown defenceman has shown the price they can fetch come Free Agency.

Looking at examples of Mark Fayne, Nikita Nikitin, and Brooks Orpik, the range for these defenseman seems to be $4 – $6 million on a long-term contract. Methot is looking for money somewhere in the middle of that, and it will take a big season for him to earn that from Ottawa.

After a set-back last April during the World Championships, Marc Methot seems to be dealing with back problems.. and that’s a tricky problem.

Methot has been held out of training camp and the pre-season. He will not play for Ottawa’s next three games due to his placement on Injury Reserve. The Sens have been patient and Methot hasn’t skated in over a week. That being said, how worrisome is Marc Methot’s injury for himself and Ottawa?

Well, Methot is going to miss the next 3 games. That’s a concern for Ottawa. Sens GM Bryan Murray labelled Methot a “Top-pairing defenseman” this past week. While there may be debate on that, Methot is certainly a key piece to Ottawa’s lineup.

The severity to Methot’s injury is unknown at this point, and its nice to see that Ottawa is not rushing Methot onto the ice,

Paul MacLean was quoted as saying:

"“We need him on the ice healthy, not 80 percent. At the start of the season we need players at 100 percent.” Via Ottawa Sun"

The back is not something to kid around with in a modern NHL which puts skating ability above all else. Look at the Nathan Horton’s situation in Columbus where it is unsure as to whether he will ever play again, as a degenerative back injury may have taken a career.

Contract Talk

The Sens hadn’t tabled an offer to Methot’s camp in a week, until another one was offered. It has been reported that the Senators were only a few hundred thousand apart on a a term-agreed contract.

What came as interesting to me, was in Elliotte Friedman’s “30 Thoughts” blog post.

Friedman, an insider wrote:

"“Methot is a tougher case. as they (Senators and Methot) are one year and several million dollars apart.”"

If the above is true, maybe we won’t see Methot in a Senators uniform too much longer. Although Bryan Murray wouldn’t want to trade Marc for futures, if the right offer comes along… you can’t blame him for taking it.