The Ottawa Senators shuffled the deck on defence Sunday.
The Senators sent rookie blueliner Jorian Donovan back to their American Hockey League affiliate in Belleville on Sunday after Lassi Thomson returned from a leg ailment he suffered last Monday at Madison Square Garden.
Since Donovan, who suited up for two games with the Senators, including his National Hockey League debut last Tuesday in Detroit, was with Ottawa on an emergency recall, he had to go back to the AHL after Thomson was healthy.
Donovan was recalled, along with rookie defenceman Carter Yakemchuk, on Monday night after the Senators lost Thomas Chabot and Thomson in a 2-1 win over the Rangers.
Of course, this led to speculation that top defenceman Jake Sanderson, who has been out since March 7 with a shoulder injury he suffered against the Seattle Kraken, will return against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday, after the club’s 4-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.
There are no guarantees that will be the case.
The Senators had Sunday off in the Sunshine State and will return to the ice in Fort Lauderdale on Monday, so we’ll get a better idea of Sanderson’s status then, but the expectation heading into this trip was that he wouldn’t suit up until later this week.
He’s expected to skate with his teammates for the first time since suffering the ailment, but has been on the ice on his own. But Sanderson will also need to be cleared for contact to get the green light from the club’s medical staff to return, and he has to be comfortable enough to play.
Sanderson has missed 11 games due to the injury, and the club is also without Chabot. He had surgery on a broken forearm on Thursday and is expected to miss six to eight weeks.
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