Senators’ Artem Zub leaves game against Kings with upper-body injury

During the Ottawa Senators’ Monday afternoon game on Canadian Thanksgiving against the Los Angeles Kings, defenseman Artem Zub had to leave the contest with an upper-body injury.

Early in the first period, the Senators’ blueliner received a hard hit from Kings forward Tanner Jeannot. Zub seemed a little dazed after taking the hit and was eventually looked at by Ottawa’s training staff.

Zub was seen walking down the tunnel later on in the period, with the team ruling him out for the remainder of the game once the second period began.

The Senators didn’t let Jeannot get away scot-free, as Zack MacEwen squared off with the former Tampa Bay Lightning grinder moments after the hit.

Zub was credited with just 2:38 of ice time across four shifts prior to being taken out of the game. So far, in three games this season, the 29-year-old has yet to register a point and has a plus/minus rating of +1.

While the extent of Zub’s injury is unknown, it comes after a tough 2023-24 season for the Russian defender. He missed a handful of games due to injury and was held out of the lineup for multiple weeks last February. In 69 games, he scored five goals while setting career-highs in assists (20), points (25) and plus/minus (+5).

Zub went undrafted after coming up through the ranks in his homeland before being signed by the Senators in May 2020. He has spent all five of his NHL seasons in Ottawa, making an impact during the 2021-22 campaign, scoring 22 points in 81 games.

In 252 games, Zub has scored 17 goals and 54 assists for 71 points and a career rating of +13. He is in the second year of his four-year contract extension, which he signed when Pierre Dorion was in charge in Dec. 2022. The deal carries a $4.6 million cap hit through the 2026-27 season.