When defenseman Nikolas Matinpalo was injured in Thursday night's 3-2 victory in Anaheim on Thursday night, attention immediately turned to the idea of Lassi Thomson. After being called up to travel with Ottawa in case of injury, the Sens' 2019 first-round draft pick seemed like the logical replacement option if Matinpalo couldn't play on Saturday night in San Jose.
Not only will Thomson not get that opportunity, but he's heading back to Belleville. The Senators loaned him to the B-Sens on Saturday morning.
The Senators still have a long way to go on this road trip, so that means Ottawa's blue line is about to add at least one defenseman. It's most likely going to be an injured player who's now healthy again.
If it were only Matinpalo, then nothing would have changed, and Thomson would still be with Ottawa as the seventh defenseman. So either Thomas Chabot or Dennis Gilbert must be ready to join the team in California, bumping Thomson even further down the depth chart.
Chabot and Gilbert have both been close to a return from injury, but Gilbert is on Belleville's roster and hasn't played in almost a month, so the assumption is that he'll get some games in Belleville before joining Ottawa.
In all likelihood, Chabot has rejoined the Senators in San Jose. Assuming he dresses against the Sharks, that would restore Ottawa's blue line balance with three lefties and three righties, and Travis Green can go back to rotating Jordan Spence and Nikolas Matinpalo (if he's healthy) in the six hole.
Chabot was injured in a November 11th game against the Dallas Stars, possibly from a hard hit against the boards by Stars forward Colin Blackwell. The bodycheck occurred at the Stars' bench, where there's no glass, and it looked like Chabot's lower back or left rib area took the brunt of the hit, colliding with the hard edge at the top of the boards.
Among Sens defensemen, Chabot is tied with Artem Zub for second in scoring with 10 points this season.
As for Thomson, his second act in the NHL will have to wait. He will rejoin the B-Sens, who are 4-0-1 in their last five games. In 15 games with Belleville this season, Thomson has three goals, one assist and 32 shots.
The Senators are in San Jose on Saturday at 7 p.m. EST.
Steve Warne
The Hockey News Ottawa
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