The Ottawa Senators will have had to dig deep on defence.
Already without top blueliner Jake Sanderson and veteran Nick Jensen, the Senators took another hit on Saturday night (March 21) when defenceman Dennis Gilbert suffered an upper-body injury and didn’t finish the club’s 5-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Gilbert was slammed into the glass by Toronto defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson with less than five minutes remaining. Gilbert won’t face the New York Rangers on Monday night and didn’t make the trip because he was undergoing further examination.
“He’s going to miss a little time,” said coach Travis Green.
Gilbert was inserted into the lineup when the Senators learned Jensen would be out for at least six weeks after having knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus he suffered on March 11 against the Montreal Canadiens.
Acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers earlier this season, Gilbert, who is in his second stint with the Senators, had been reliable in the third pairing with Nikolas Matinpalo.
He was only inserted into the lineup regularly after the Senators lost Sanderson with a shoulder injury. The club recalled defenceman Lassi Thomason from its American Hockey League affiliate in Belleville after the Sanderson injury.
The expectation is that Thomson will face the Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night at Little Caesars Arena. He will become the 10th defenceman to suit up for the Senators this season.
Thomson hasn’t played a National Hockey League game since Nov. 25, 2022, when he was with the Senators. He has 14 goals and 25 points in 55 games with Belleville this season.
He spent last year with the Malmo RedHawks in the Swedish Elite League. Thomson was brought back to North America by Ottawa’s president of hockey operations and general manager, Steve Staios, in the off-season.
Ten defencemen in a season is a big number, and the Senators are running out of options in the organization.
The club could recall top prospect Carter Yakemchuk, selected No. 7 overall in the 2024 NHL draft, from Belleville. He has 10 goals and 36 points in his rookie season in the AHL, but is a whopping minus-30.
Another option is Zachary Bolduc, a veteran AHL defenceman who was acquired from the Montreal Canadiens at the deadline in exchange for Jan Jenik. But Bolduc wouldn’t be eligible to play in the playoffs because he was acquired at the NHL trade deadline.
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