Thomas Chabot’s injury will create opportunities on the blueline, but may expose holes too

Ottawa’s hard-fought win against Winnipeg did not come without a cost. The team announced today that star defenceman Thomas Chabot is most likely done for the season.

Chabot was injured in the first period of last night’s game against the Jets after taking a hit from Winnipeg’s Logan Stanley.

As Ian Mendes points out, the Sens only have four games left, so the term “season-ending” isn’t worth the panic it may usually cause. Hopefully Chabot is more or less fine and will be ready to play for Team Canada at the World Championship later this month.

In the meantime, his injury, as well as that of teammate Josh Brown, means Ottawa will have two openings on the blueline the rest of the way. One of those spots will likely go to Jacob Bernard-Docker, who was likely to appear in one or two of the last four games anyways.

25-year old Olle Alsing seems to have the inside track on the other spot by virtue of being the lone blueliner on the taxi squad. Alsing was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Sweden in 2019 and split his 2020-21 season between Belleville and Austria’s Graz EC before getting the call to the taxi squad. Alsing doesn’t seem to have much upside and in his latest prospect ranking, The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler didn’t give him so much as an honourable mention, leaving him behind studs like Jakov Novak and Mark Kastelic. Other options to play down the stretch include veteran Cody Goloubef or deadline acquisition Brandon Fortunato.

By selling at the deadline, Ottawa knew the risk they were taking, but these injuries may expose just how thin this team is on the blueline. The prospect pipeline doesn’t offer much support, at least not for next season. Even if you’re of the mindset that Jake Sanderson is a can’t-miss stud on the back-end, he won’t arrive until late 2022 at the earliest. Tyler Kleven and Jonny Tychonick have much lower ceilings, and are probably even further away.

This problem is an easy one to fix in the short-term at least, as there’s always a glut of depth blueliners available in free agency. Looking at Pierre Dorion’s pickups this off-season gives me pause on how effective that route may be, but they’ll at least be better than nothing… right?

The bigger problem is the lack of game-breaking talent the Sens have on the defence. With no disrespect to the other defenders (okay, moderate disrespect to them) none of them can hold a candle to Chabot’s dynamic play in the offensive zone or his ability to play big minutes night after night. The only player who might be close is Erik Brannstrom, so this is a massive opportunity to make good on the potential he showed when he was thought of as one of the top blueline prospects in hockey. Brannstrom and Victor Mete have added some much-needed skill to the left side of the ice since becoming mainstays in the lineup, but it will be interesting to see what they can do as the top dogs.

The infusion of youth into the Sens’ lineup recently has had them looking like a team that could compete for a playoff spot if given a full season. While the Sens deep prospect pool includes a strong core of defencemen, there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of immediate help on the way.

Adding a Dougie Hamilton this off-season would no doubt improve the situation, but I’m not holding my breath on Ottawa making a splash in the open market, and like I said before, there’s plenty of reason to be skeptical of whatever “bargains” Dorion is able to find. Even if Ottawa is able to land one of Owen Power or Luke Hughes at the top of this year’s draft there’s no guarantee they would be impact players on day one, and that’s if they choose to make the jump from college right away.

Ottawa’s best hope for an improved blueline next season will likely rely on internal improvements from their young players. Defenders take a bit longer to develop than forwards, so there’s no major cause for concern just yet, but the clock is ticking. While the last four games of this season may be a small sample size, they’re our best opportunity to see what the Sens have on the blueline.