UPDATE: Senators coach Pierre Dorion spoke with the press this morning, and TSN’s Brent Wallace relays the news that Duchene’s condition is worse than initially expected. Dorion revealed that his star center suffered a groin injury and gave a rough timeline of “weeks” before a return. Any hope that Duchene would miss only three games is lost, as he could easily be out through the holiday break. Not to be ignored in Wallace’s report is that Bobby Ryan has also been placed on IR by Ottawa, having suffered a concussion. The Senators will now be missing the skaters ranked first and sixth on the team in scoring into the foreseeable future.
9:30 am: The 12-14-3 Ottawa Senators need Matt Duchene in the lineup to win hockey games. They also need him on the ice and scoring as much as possible to boost his trade value if the impending free agent center has no plans to re-sign with the team. In either case, an injury absence is of no help to the Senators. Yet, that is what they are dealing with currently. NHL.com reports that Ottawa has placed Duchene on the injured reserve with a lower-body injury.
Duchene left the Senators’ match-up against the division rival Montreal Canadiens on Thursday after apparently suffering the injury at hand. While no specific incident prior to his departure could be identified as the source of the injury, the team quickly ruled him out following his exit. They have since worked quickly to place him on IR.
Duchene’s stint must last at least seven days, although he could be sidelined even longer. At the very least, Ottawa’s No. 1 center will miss a difficult back-to-back this weekend against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins and even tougher contest against the Nashville Predators on Tuesday. On one hand, the Senators would be underdogs in each game with or without Duchene, but on the other their odds of an upset drop considerably now that he is out. Any absence longer than the required week could put Duchene at risk of missing six games, as Ottawa plays three games in four nights next weekend, facing the Detroit Red Wings and rematches with the Canadiens and Predators.
Duchene hits the injured reserve as a top ten scorer in the NHL at present. Last season’s high-profile trade acquisition, Duchene has found his stride in Ottawa this year, notching 34 points in 29 games thus far. That mark ties him for ninth in league scoring with the likes of Jack Eichel, Alex Ovechkin, and Niklas Backstrom for now, but his stint on the IR will certainly drop him down the ranks. Nevertheless, Duchene is proving his value this year, whether that means earning the big-money extension that Ottawa has seemed hesitant to hand out or establishing himself as a prime free agent target this off-season. Either way, both the team and player would be best served to see this injury recovery move along as quickly as possible.