The Ottawa Senators will have to go without one of their key defenders tonight, as Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reports that Nikita Zaitsev is back in Russia for personal reasons. Zaitsev has been logging more than 23 minutes for the Senators this season, his first with the team after following head coach D.J. Smith up the highway from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
In his place, the team has recalled Christian Jaros (in addition to Maxime Lajoie and J.C. Beaudin earlier today) and will insert him into the lineup. More from Ottawa:
- Vladislav Namestnikov has a tailbone injury and will be out a week, according to Garrioch. That’s a tough break for a player that has found new life in Ottawa, scoring six goals and 12 points through his 20 games since being acquired from the New York Rangers. Namestnikov, who turns 27 today, is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year.
- As CapFriendly points out, these recalls have stretched the Senators organizational depth incredibly thin, at least on defense. The team has just a single defenseman, Andreas Englund, still in the minor leagues on an NHL contract. Lassi Thomson and Olle Alsing have also signed their entry-level deals, but were both loaned away at the start of the season. If the team suffers any further injuries, we could see an interesting recall.
Gavin – old: “at least one defense” new: “at least on defense” (I know – why the bleep are you paying attention to details involving the Sens??? Looking out for JD…)
I’m actually very interested in the career of Zaitsev and how he fares away from Toronto. Cause it seems like ottawa has done a good job rebuilding his value
While it may be a bit premature, you could say this speaks to the “D.J. Smith factor.” He may very well have been underappreciated in TOR.
Z has been surprisingly decent so far. Granted, my expectations were very, very low entering the season but he’s been a steady player. I almost feel like he’s just like the most vanilla defender possible, which is fine considering who he is replacing. If all goes well with our development, he’ll be demoted to the second or third pairing in future seasons where he really fits and won’t have to play top forwards. It is early though and this could blow up in Ottawa’s face.