Nick Jensen is on a remarkable road to recovery.
The veteran Ottawa Senators defenceman, who had a rare form of major hip surgery on May 19, was on the ice in the morning with the rest of the players, but did not suit up against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Sunday’s pre-season opener at the Canadian Tire Centre.
The 35-year-old Jensen isn’t ready to participate in a training camp scrimmage or exhibition game yet, but it’s fair to say that, just four months after having the procedure for the ailment he played through for much of the second half of the season, he’s definitely ahead of schedule.
It’s a credit to the work he’s done since having the procedure that saw a surgeon in New York City place a metal plate in his hip to completely replace the cartilage. Jensen had spent time playing through a bone-on-bone situation.
Ottawa Senators defenceman Nick Jensen, seen in a November 2024 file photo, played injured for much of the second half of last season.
Jensen doesn’t have a timeline of when he might suit up for his first game with the Senators, and the organization will proceed with caution before that happens.
“The term schedule is a little more liberal in this sense,” Jensen told Postmedia on Sunday after the skate. “You have ACL surgeries, thousands of surgeries a year, and you get a really good sample size of a majority of people come back in a certain time frame.
“Whereas this surgery just isn’t that popular. There just isn’t a big sample size. I can name three guys in the league playing with it right now. There are probably more than that. But compared to the ACL, over the years, there (aren’t as many).
“One guy did both his hips, and he was back in eight months; another came back in six months. If we’re averaging that out, the timeline is seven months, but I don’t think that’s a real timeline.”
Jensen is feeling better, and he’s viewing every step as one in the right direction, but even he can’t tell you if he’s going to face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Oct. 9 in the season opener.
“I hit a certain point where, when I’m out there, my hip doesn’t hinder me in any sense,” Jensen said. “Once I hit that point, it’s just the other aspects of being able to play at an elite level: Conditioning, skating, the power, speed, puck handling and vision. That has to come to. You can’t just say, ‘Oh, my hip is better, let’s go play hockey.’
“I’ve just got to make sure everything is in line. Everything is feeling good. Just like during the season when I take it game-by-game, I’ve got the same mindset here. I’m not going to say that I’m going to be ready for Game 1. I came in today and I worked as hard as I could, and that’s pretty much as far as my scope goes.”
Acquired from the Washington Capitals last summer in a deal that sent Jakob Chychrun back in return, Jensen was a key addition. He played 71 games and was a strong partner for defenceman Thomas Chabot.
Jensen, a strong skater, finished with three goals and 21 points in 71 games with the Senators. He averaged 20 minutes and 13 seconds in ice time a night, which is impressive, especially when he eventually had to have such major surgery.
He did everything he could during the year to be part of the Senators’ ride to the playoffs for the first time in eight years. He worked with the club’s doctors and highly respected training staff to make sure that he was able to go every night down the stretch and into the post-season.
Having surgery was his last option.
“Definitely not during the season,” Jensen said. “I wanted to make sure I exhausted every resource we had before I did that. Even when I hit a point where there wasn’t much left to do, I didn’t want to cut ties and say it’s time to get surgery.
“I wanted to finish what we started, and I wanted to be part of what we’re trying to build. So if that meant playing through some pain, I’m far from the first person to play through an injury.”
After the surgery, he did an accelerated recovery program in Connecticut that played a big role in where he is today. He skated in July for the first time, didn’t feel good, and then took another month before getting back on the ice twice a week coming into camp.
“Four days out of surgery, I was already in the weight room and doing squats,” Jensen said. “We got at it pretty quick. I think that accelerated the recovery pretty quickly. A month out, everyday life was great. Hockey isn’t everyday life. That was the point I was able to build off this.”
Being back with his teammates on the weekend meant a lot.
“I just wanted to go out there and work as hard as I can,” Jensen said. “I know there is the aspect that I worked hard to get here, but it was nice to be able to skate with the group without a red jersey on.
“I was just happy to go out there every day and work as hard as I can. Some days I’m maybe not going to feel as good. I focused on rehab all summer so conditioning wasn’t one of the top priorities. Conditioning is still coming, but it’s coming pretty quick.”
Jensen would like to return as soon as possible.
“I definitely want to get in as early as possible, but also hit the ground running as early as possible,” he said.
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