Ottawa Senators
Brady Tkachuk may not return before the Stanley Cup Playoffs because of an upper-body injury.
When asked Wednesday if the forward and Senators captain would be in the lineup if the playoffs started tomorrow, president of hockey operations and general manager Steve Staios said, “I would think so, yes. I can’t give you a definitive [answer].”
The Senators (42-30-6) clinched a playoff berth Tuesday for the first time since the 2016-17 season. Tkachuk, who leads them with 29 goals and has 55 points in 71 games, has missed five games since taking a hit from Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Ryan Graves on March 30 that was deemed interference.
Ottawa hosts the Montreal Canadiens on Friday (7 p.m. ET; RDS, SNE, SNO, SNW). The Senators are three points ahead of the Canadiens for the first wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
“He continues to progress,” Staios said of Tkachuk. “Now that we’ve clinched a playoff spot, I think every team goes through these discussions. Like, what is the best situation? Do you rest players? How do you manage that? We haven’t figured that part out yet, but to me, you always want to keep the team moving along and competing at a high level to roll into the playoffs at the right time. But certainly, those will be discussions that we’ll have, as far as lineup for the last four games.”
Nick Cousins, who has missed 29 games since sustaining a knee injury in a collision with Toronto Maple Leafs forward Jacob Quillan on Jan. 25, traveled with the team for its game at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday (a 5-2 loss) but did not play.
“He’s very close.” Staios said of Cousins. “I don’t know if there has been a player that has attacked his rehab the way this guy has. He really deserves a lot of credit. He’s pushed through very quickly and sort of expedited his possible return to play.” — Callum Fraser
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
