Ottawa Senators’ Josh Norris out for season after surgery on left shoulder

Ottawa Senators center Josh Norris underwent surgery on his left shoulder last week and will be out for the rest of the season, as per Sens beat reporter Bruce Garrioch.

Norris, 24, suffered the injury on February 27th during a game against the Nashville Predators after an attempted hit on Cole Smith resulted in the Oxford, Michigan product falling into the back of the net and hitting the post in the middle of the net.

The injury was later revealed to be to his left shoulder, something that Norris has already had surgery on twice in the past two years. Sens interim head coach Jacques Martin mentioned on Monday morning after practice that Norris is expected to be ready for training camp in September.

Norris had a bit of an underwhelming season for the Sens, as he finishes with only 16 goals and 14 assists for 30 points in 50 games. That ends up as his least-productive season with at least 50 games played, with five fewer points than his rookie season in 2020-21.

Norris was the 19th-overall pick of the San Jose Sharks in the 2017 NHL Draft, although he never played a game for their NHL or AHL squad, as he was dealt to the Sens halfway through his college career as part of the return in the Erik Karlsson trade in 2018. He made his NHL debut in the 2019-20 season for a three game stint and has since gone on to spend the past four seasons at the NHL-level with the Sens.

Norris is currently in the second year of an eight-year contract with a $7.95 million cap hit, one he signed as a restricted free agent in the 2022 offseason.

The Senators currently sit in last place in the Atlantic Division with a 25-33-4 record, which is the fifth-worst record in the league and 18 points behind the New York Islanders for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Ottawa will look to end their seven-game losing streak when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday at 7 p.m. EST.