It’s by no means straightforward to lose a captain to a long-term damage, however for the Ottawa Senators, dropping Brady Tkachuk means a lot greater than lacking their greatest participant. Tkachuk is the crew’s coronary heart and soul, refusing to again down from any problem and carrying his coronary heart on his sleeve every time he steps onto the ice.
Nonetheless, after a clumsy fall towards the Nashville Predators on Monday, it has been confirmed that Tkachuk will miss the subsequent 4 weeks with a hand damage, and the Senators might want to discover somebody to fill his spot on the primary line with Tim Stutzle and Fabian Zetterlund. Whereas nobody can substitute Tkachuk, the Senators have just a few choices who might cowl for him over the subsequent month.
Drake Batherson
After lacking a lot of the preseason and the crew’s first three video games, Drake Batherson is about to make his season debut on Wednesday towards the Buffalo Sabres, and it couldn’t be higher timed, as he’s simply one of many Senators’ greatest wingers. Final season, he completed second on the crew with 26 objectives and 68 factors and sometimes performed alongside Tkachuk and Stutzle on the facility play. With them and former Senator Josh Norris, the unit scored 22 objectives in 127 minutes and put 109 pictures on web, which works out to roughly a shot each minute and a purpose each six.
Batherson additionally spent a while on Stutzle’s line with Claude Giroux on the opposite facet, and that additionally labored out nicely. In 113 minutes, the road scored 9 objectives and allowed 4 whereas proudly owning a 65 Corsi for share (CF%) at even power. He even has expertise enjoying with Stutzle and Zetterlund, spending simply over 9 minutes collectively final season. Though that line didn’t produce something of their transient look, they have been a robust possession crew with a 68 CF%.
Batherson is well your best option to fill in for Tkachuk. He’s essentially the most tenured participant on the crew behind Thomas Chabot and has expertise enjoying with practically each participant on the roster and in each state of affairs. He’s additionally confirmed that he can throw his weight round when wanted, and final season, he was second in hits behind Tkachuk. It received’t be straightforward to return again after lacking a big chunk of time, however he has the pedigree to make it as easy a transition as attainable.
Ridly Greig
Ridly Greig is superb at what he does. He’s a fiery agitator who is aware of how you can put the puck within the web. Final season, the 23-year-old put up a career-high 34 factors and 138 hits whereas primarily enjoying on the third line with Shane Pinto and Michael Amadio. However, with Tkachuk out, possibly the Senators wish to add a little bit of a snarl to their prime line by transferring up Greig.
It’s not as unusual because it sounds. Tkachuk, Greig, and Stutzle performed collectively for practically 70 minutes final season, and though they have been scored on greater than they scored, they have been nonetheless a optimistic possession line. Greig additionally joined Stutzle and Batherson on the facility play for about 18 minutes, which went very nicely – they scored each 4 and a half minutes on common. Within the preseason, Greig briefly reunited with Stutzle and was one among Ottawa’s greatest gamers, scoring two factors in two video games and recording one of many crew’s lowest anticipated goals-against counts.
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It’s not an ideal match, as Greig is extra undisciplined than Tkachuk and can take the odd unhealthy penalty, however having a younger participant who performs an analogous position to the Senators’ captain may be an ideal match. If Ottawa desires to check out some new mixtures, this may be an excellent one to see if they’ll discover some magic for just a few video games.
Claude Giroux
Nonetheless, changing Tkachuk won’t be an possibility. On The Sick Podcast, host Alex Adams requested his visitor, Senators’ play-by-play commentator Dean Brown, who might fill in for the captain on the highest line. For Brown, nevertheless, the largest situation is who can play with Stutzle.
“It’s tough for a brand new man on that line to get used to enjoying with Tim Stutzle as a result of Tim is so quick, so inventive, and so unpredictable,” mentioned Brown. “These are among the issues that make him nice, (however) it’s additionally among the issues that make him so exhausting to play with.”
If familiarity is important, the perfect match is Claude Giroux. The oldest participant on the crew has seen just about every thing over his 19-year profession, together with enjoying alongside Stutzle. On this 12 months’s preseason, he was a extra frequent face on the highest line than Zetterlund and was the first proper winger beside Stutzle and Tkachuk in final season’s playoffs, enjoying over 580 minutes with Stutzle within the center final season.
A lot has been mentioned about Giroux’s age, however Stutzle doesn’t see it. “That is in all probability the coaching camp he’s appeared the strongest for me ever since he got here to us,” Stutzle mentioned on the Missin Curfew Podcast. “He simply performs the sport the precise means; he will get it completed each time he goes on the ice.” That’s excessive reward from probably the most dynamic younger gamers within the sport, and proof that he has the intelligence and conditioning to return to a spot on the highest line, not less than for a short time.
Senators Taking a look at Some Lineup Shuffles
Whereas the Senators should shuffle their traces to accommodate Tkachuk’s prolonged absence, his influence is just too nice to get replaced by only one participant, and the crew might want to discover new mixtures that work. That may imply that Zetterlund strikes again right down to the second or third line, or Stutzle is moved again over to the wing and the red-hot Shane Pinto is introduced as much as the primary line. Every part is on the desk for the subsequent month.
The one shiny facet is that Tkachuk is injured now and never later. “I’d moderately him be out for 4 weeks now than in March,” mentioned The Hockey Writers’ Jacob Billington. “If that is going to occur, get it out of the way in which now.”
This early within the season, the Senators have time to adapt whereas Tkachuk heals. That’s a lot tougher to do when the season is winding down. Tkachuk is a comparatively wholesome participant, lacking a mean of 4 and a half video games per season. The damage was a bizarre play and unlikely to occur once more. That’s nice information for Ottawa as they proceed to push for a return to the playoffs once more this season.
Line mixture statistics from Dobber Line Combos.
