The Senators will welcome back defenseman Thomas Chabot a bit earlier than expected as TSN’s Claire Hanna relays (Twitter link) that the blueliner will play today against Buffalo. Originally, Ottawa had been hoping that he’d be back at some point during their upcoming five-game road trip. The 26-year-old has missed the last four weeks with a leg injury and had been on LTIR. On top of that, he also missed time with a hand injury earlier in the year; as a result, he has only played in nine games so far. Chabot’s return will certainly be a welcome one for an Ottawa team that has scuffled in its own end defensively throughout the season.
Other notes revolving around the Senators:
- CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that winger Mathieu Joseph has been placed on LTIR. The 26-year-old suffered a lower-body injury a little over two weeks ago and was believed to be a candidate to return at some point on the trip. However, this placement was needed in order to stay cap-compliant with Chabot’s activation. Joseph has had a nice bounce-back campaign, picking up 19 points in 25 games so far after recording just 18 in 56 contests last season. The earliest he’ll be eligible to return now is January 9th as he must miss 10 games and 24 days from the date of the injury.
- Dominik Kubalik’s first season in Ottawa has been somewhat of a challenge as he has been limited to just seven goals and two assists in his first 31 appearances. Accordingly, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch believes that the 28-year-old is a lock to be moved before the March 8th trade deadline and that the Sens have already fielded some calls on him. Kubalik is in the final year of his contract which carries a $2.5MM cap charge and does not have any trade protection.