While the Senators got some tough news yesterday on the injury front after it was revealed that defenseman Chris Wideman will undergo hamstring surgery on Monday that puts his availability for the rest of the season into question, that’s not the only bad news from their back end. Head coach Guy Boucher told reporters, including Postmedia’s Ken Warren, that blueliner Mark Borowiecki continues to experience concussion symptoms despite being inactive. As a result, it’s hard to imagine that he will be able to return to the lineup anytime soon either. That gives youngsters like Thomas Chabot and Ben Harpur a chance to really solidify a spot on Ottawa’s back end in the weeks and months to come.
More injury notes from around the league:
- The Blue Jackets have activated winger Matt Calvert off of injured reserve, per a team release. He had missed the last dozen games due to an upper-body injury. Prior to getting hurt a month ago, Calvert had gotten off to a strong start to his season with three goals and five assists in 14 contests. To make room for him on the roster, the team placed defenseman Ryan Murray on IR with an upper-body issue of his own. He has missed the last two games which means they can back-date the placement to late-November.
- Capitals winger Andre Burakovsky is on pace to return to Washington’s lineup within the next three weeks, reports Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post. He has been sidelined since late October after undergoing thumb surgery. The original timeline for his return was six-to-eight weeks so he appears to be on right on schedule. Tarik El-Bashir of NBC Sports Washington adds that Burakovsky was skating earlier today and doing some light shooting which is certainly a good sign as well.
- Martin Hanzal’s tough year with the Stars continues. After missing time due to a lower-body injury as well as a hand injury already, the center is now listed as week-to-week with a hamstring issue, notes NHL.com’s Sean Shapiro (Twitter link). When healthy, Hanzal has yet to live up to his three-year, $14.25MM contract he signed back in July; he has just a goal and two assists in 19 games this season.