Sanderson’s return much needed for Senators’ injury-riddled blueline
The Ottawa Senators are enjoying a positive start to their season, but it has come despite injuries to several key players, particularly on the blue line.
Star number one defenseman Jake Sanderson has missed time, as did his partner Artem Zub. Now, captain Thomas Chabot has been sidelined with an injury, but fortunately for the Sens, it’s just in time for Sanderson to return to the lineup.
At 6-3-0, Ottawa currently occupies the third-place spot in a competitive Atlantic Division. If the Sens can continue to hold down a playoff spot until all six of their regular defensemen are ready to roll, the Senators will be in great shape down the stretch.
On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton and co-host and former NHL video coach Steve Peters were joined by Brent Wallace of the Senators’ podcast Coming in Hot to discuss the impact Sanderson’s return could have as Chabot now exits the lineup for the time being.
Carter Hutton: Like you mentioned, Jake Sanderson, okay? So you’re going to get Jake Sanderson back into the lineup which is a huge boost, but you lose your captain in Thomas Chabot. They’ve had a lot of injury woes on the back end, but they’ve managed it. What is it going to be like to get Sanderson back and Chabot out? Like how does that dynamic go, or is this kind of by committee right now?
Brent Wallace: I believe they lead the league now in defensemen used in the first nine games of the season with 10. They have been decimated on the blue line, just like they were at the end of last season. It just doesn’t stop. Jake Sanderson coming back, obviously, let me point out the obvious, he’s a world class defenseman. He’ll likely help that power play, which has been horrendous of late. That’s a big part. Thomas Chabot was logging a lot of minutes. Until the last game when he got hurt and left the game, he was averaging I think over 27 minutes with Jake Sanderson out of the lineup. Jake Sanderson’s return will help a lot of areas. They started the season, I think the first three games when they got Zub back, without their top pairing D. Then they lost William Eklund… He’s gone 10-12 weeks. This is a team that’s been hurt by injuries to key players. Linus Ullmark has been a big part of the reason for that success, and getting Jake Sanderson back will be huge.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode below…
