According to Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia, the Ottawa Senators will be without Jacob Bernard-Docker for a month. The 22-year-old defenceman suffered a high-ankle sprain and will be out of action for the foreseeable future.
Bernard-Docker joins Josh Norris and Thomas Chabot on the list of injured Senators. Artem Zub was injured but returned Saturday to play in the 5-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils.
Shane Pinto blocked a shot in practice and it is uncertain whether he will miss any time because of it. Head coach D.J. Smith thinks he will play tomorrow versus the San Jose Sharks.
This latest round of injures is hurting the team at a key point of the season. The Senators currently have a record of 6-10-1 and if they don’t turn it around they will soon hit the point of no return for a playoff berth.
Thomas Chabot is now day-to-day after not playing in three games because of a concussion he suffered against the Philadelphia Flyers.
The injury to Jacob Bernard-Docker comes at a bad time for him. He played in six games for the Sens this year and showed signs of a bright future in Ottawa. He averaged 17:44 of ice time per game and scored an assist for his first point of the season.
If Shane Pinto misses some time with his injury, the Senators will be left with Tim Stutzle as their sole top-nine center. In that scenario, Claude Giroux might switch to the center position to fill the gap.
The Senators currently have six healthy defencemen in the lineup including Jake Sanderson, Erik Brannstrom, Travis Hamonic, Nick Holden, Jacob Larsson, and Artem Zub. They will likely consider calling up a defenceman from the Belleville Senators to have an extra body player around.
Lassi Thomson, Maxence Guenette, Nikita Zaitsev, and Dillon Heatherington are the most likely candidates to be called up in Bernard-Docker’s absence.
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