Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen is reporting that Jakob Chychrun of the Ottawa Senators is doubtful to play Saturday against the New Jersey Devils. Ottawa head coach DJ Smith was quoted by TSN’s Claire Hanna as saying that Chychrun, “tugged something there a little bit, we’ll see how he reacts to treatment here.”
Chychrun left Ottawa’s 7-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning yesterday after taking a hit in the third period. He was in obvious discomfort as he skated to the Senators bench before heading down the runway to the locker room. Smith said after the game that he didn’t believe it was an injury, but rather that it was cramping.
Since coming over to Ottawa in the March 1st trade, Chychrun has two goals and three assists in 12 games while averaging 21 minutes of ice time a game. Ottawa can ill afford to lose their prized trade deadline acquisition as they are running out of runway with just ten games left in the season. Ottawa sits five points back of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference and will be in tough tomorrow as they do battle with the Devils in New Jersey.
Other injury notes from around the NHL:
- The Detroit Red Wings announced today that Filip Zadina is day-to-day with a lower body injury and will not be available for Saturday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Zadina also missed over three months earlier this season with a lower body injury after blocking a shot in early November against the New York Islanders. It’s been a tough season for the former Halifax Moosehead, he has struggled to stay on the ice, and when he has played, he has been largely ineffective with just seven points in 30 games. The 23-year-old had a career year last season with 24 points in 74 games but has yet to live up to the expectations the Red Wings had for him when they took him sixth overall in 2018.
- Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg is reporting that Chris Tanev didn’t practice with the Calgary Flames this morning after missing their previous two games with a lower body injury. The 33-year-old Toronto native has 13 points in 61 games this season and has averaged over 20 minutes a night in ice time. Calgary is a long shot to make the post season with just nine games remaining on the schedule. They sit six points back of Winnipeg for the final wild card spot in the Western Conference and would need to leapfrog Nashville who have 12 games remaining. Calgary can ill afford to lose Tanev’s defensive prowess as they battle down to the wire.
- In a bit of good news for Calgary, injured defenseman Michael Stone has started skating on his own. Stone has missed the Flames last 17 games with a lower body injury that he suffered in late February. Stone has five goals and five assists in 46 games this season while averaging just over 13 minutes a night in ice time. He is hardly an option to replace Tanev should his injury be long term, but Stone could offer some additional depth for the Flames as they head into the final pivotal weeks of the season.