Barring some unforeseen turn of events, Ben Bishop’s 2011/12 season is over. After sustaining sustaining some undisclosed lower leg injury on Saturday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun is reporting that Bishop will miss two weeks.
He’s out two weeks with a “lower body” injury he suffered Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins, which means Craig Anderson is going to carry the ball and will start against the Winnipeg Jets Monday at the MTS Centre.
A St. Louis report said Bishop has a pulled groin. In any case, he’s not going to play anytime soon. Alex Auld will dress as the backup against the Jets and the situation will be re-evaluated when the club gets home.
That report that he was alluding to was an Andy Strickland TrueHockey.com article that said:
Sources say Ottawa Senators goaltender Ben Bishop will be sidelined for at least a week after injuring his groin over the weekend. I’m told he does not have a tear which is good news for Senators fans. The bad news is that this is a very important week for Ottawa who is still trying to secure a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Bishop has been very strong since coming over from the Blues just before the trade deadline.
Word is he’s dealing with a lower groin injury and it’s being treated as a strain.
It is a very important time of the season for Ottawa. Starting with back-to-back games in Philadelphia and Long Island this weekend, Ottawa will play every second day against Carolina, Boston and New Jersey. Suffice it to say, the volume and frequency of the games could have allowed the possibility that Bishop might have been able to get into one more game and give Craig Anderson a breather.
With Bishop out and the team not playing until Saturday, everyone’s focus will shift to whether or not the organization will decide to recall Robin Lehner. With the game in Winnipeg and Ottawa not having to play until this weekend, it didn’t make much sense to recall the young prospect and have him accompany the team to Winnipeg. Now the team is afforded the time to evaluate their goaltending situation and decide whether it’s prudent for them to burn one of their limited minor league recalls — I believe they only have two left.
One could further the argument that Ottawa’s remaining games will exclusively be used as an exercise for preparing Anderson for the playoffs, however, as the Bishop situation has shown, the Senators would be one injury away before having to turn to Alex Auld. If you thought last night’s back-and-forth game against the Jets was a stressful affair, imagine having to stomach the possibility of having Auld come on in relief in a close game because Anderson sustained an injury of his own.
Karlsson Ties Potvin
With his three points last night, Erik Karlsson tied Denis Potvin for the third most productive season by a 21-year old defencemen. His 76 points now trail only Bobby Orr (120) and Paul Coffey (96).
Speaking of Karlsson, Nicholas Cotsonika penned a thorough piece for Yahoo! Sports detailing that “Karlsson has had an incredible season. He deserves the Norris Trophy.”
Damn right he does. Nails much?
Silfverberg One Loss Closer to Coming to North America
With Brynas down one game to nothing in their Swedish Elite League series against Farjestad, Senators prospect and SEL most valuable player Jakob Silfverberg is three losses away from potentially making his long anticipated voyage to Ottawa. In the event that Brynas loses in four or five games, Jakob’s season could be over by the end of the week; giving him plenty of time to get to Ottawa and get acclimated for a playoff run with the Senators.
As a reminder to our readers, because of the age in which Silfverberg signed his entry level contract, the first year of his ELC will be burned regardless of whether he plays in North America or not this year. With absolutely nothing to lose, his addition to the lineup would be a welcomed sight.
Melnyk Selling the St. Mike’s Majors?
According to the Ottawa Sun’s Don Brennan:
Melnyk is on the verge of closing a deal to sell the OHL’s Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors. Sources say the price will be between $7.5 million and $8.5 million. Elliott Kerr, president of the Mississauga-based Landmark Sports Group, is believed to be the frontrunner to buy the club.
If Melnyk’s looking to create another revenue stream for himself and his team, he would do well to develop a line of hats that feature motivational words to sell at the Sens Store.
Chris Wideman Joins Bingo
After four seasons at Miami University (Ohio), the Senators’ fourth round selection in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft and former podcast guest of ours has joined the Binghamton Senators on an amateur tryout. Wideman may not be the only NCAA arrival to join Binghamton in the coming days, after Ben Blood’s University of North Dakota was eliminated in the Frozen Four tournament, it’s expected that he’ll follow suit.
Latest Podcast
On Sunday night, @creecher1200 and I recorded the latest episode of The 6th Sens Podcast but unfortunately, because of some technical difficulties with a new server, I’m unable to upload the podcast yet. Hopefully this situation can be rectified soon and I can publish it sometime later today. My sincerest apologies for the inconvenience.
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