When asked Monday morning if he could provide an update on the health of Ottawa Senators’ centre Josh Norris, interim head coach Jacques Martin gave the news the team and its fans preferred not to hear.
Martin stated Norris underwent shoulder surgery last week and his season is over. While Martin said that there will be more details to follow, and that he didn’t want to elaborate, it was clear the 24 year-old’s left shoulder made contact with the middle brace of the net as Norris attempted to cut around the back of it in a collision with Nashville Predators’ forward Cole Smith, February 27.
The surgery is presumably Norris’ third to the same shoulder.
The first being after the 2019 World Junior Championship when the Detroit area resident was injured while playing for the United States. Norris underwent his first shoulder procedure missing the remainder of his sophomore season at the University of Michigan prior to joining the Senators on an entry-level deal.
Norris played all 56 games for the Senators in his 2020-21 rookie campaign. However, the 2017 San Jose Sharks 19th overall pick injured his shoulder the following season in a January 27th game versus Carolina, causing him to miss five weeks of game action.
Then, only five games into last season, Norris injured his shoulder in a game versus the Arizona Coyotes. After consulting multiple doctors and specialists, he was shut down until mid-January.
Norris returned to play three more games and scored in his final appearance before he was shut down again.
It was determined that Norris would go under the knife a second time, and his rehabilitation period would bring him into September’s training camp.
When camp opened Norris was donning a yellow non-contact jersey. At the time Norris said he tweaked something during a pre-camp “Captain’s skate” and would be ready to go in a few days. Senators’ head coach D.J. Smith added Norris will likely play in at least two preseason matches.
None of this occurred, and Norris missed the team’s opening three games to start this season.
The surgery is just another blow in Norris’ young career, as he’ll have missed 122 games by this season’s conclusion out of a possible 246 (49.5 %).
Martin accentuated the positive out of a tough situation.
“When you look at the positive side, he should be able to have enough time to be able to start at training camp. It gives him some time to rehabilitate properly for the strength and everything. So, what you’re looking at is a fresh start next year,” noted the Senators interim head coach.
Per Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch’s post on X, Dr. Peter Millett performed surgery on Norris after he went for a second opinion last week.
Norris’ former Senators’ teammate Vlad Tarasenko is another player who’s undergone three shoulder surgeries over a two-year period between 2019-21. After Tarasenko’s third surgery performed by the same Dr. Millet he recorded a career-high 82 points with the St. Louis Blues in 2021-22.
At age 32, Tarasenko has shown he can return to form. While he is no longer a pure scorer, Tarasenko remains productive.
There’s no reason Norris can’t do the same starting next season.
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