Ottawa Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot will likely miss the next couple of weeks due to an upper-body injury, according to Sens head coach D.J. Smith.
There’s no official word on when Chabot got hurt, but it likely occurred during Monday’s game against the Florida Panthers. He only played 18:01 and didn’t have a shift in the final six minutes of the game. Chabot had an assist on the opening goal of the game as the Senators won 5-2.
That could very well mean that Chabot is done for the season for the Senators, as they only have a couple of weeks left on the season. With only eight games left on the calendar for them, their season will end on April 13, which is two weeks from this Thursday. Barring a surprise run in these final eight games for the Sens and a collapse from the New York Islanders or Pittsburgh Penguins, the Senators likely aren’t making the playoffs either, so this will likely be the season for them, giving Chabot a very small window to return.
Chabot has had a relatively normal season by his standards, with 11 goals, 30 assists, and 41 points in 68 games this season. It’s the first time he’s hit the 40-point mark since his breakout season in 2018-19, when he had 14 goals, 41 assists, and 55 points in 70 games, although his previous two seasons also saw him score at a higher per-game rate than his 0.6 this season.
Jakob Chychrun and Tyler Kleven were the healthy scratches in Monday’s game, and with Chychrun also dealing with an injury, that likely means that Kleven will make his NHL debut for Thursday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers barring another roster move. Kleven signed with the Senators last week after finishing his NCAA season at the University of North Dakota, where he had eight goals, 10 assists, and 18 points in 35 games.
Chabot’s injury may be the nail in the coffin on any attempt at a playoff run for the Sens, as they’d need a miracle to make the postseason at this point. They currently sit five points back of the final wild-card spot with a 36-33-5 record.
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