Anders Nilsson’s recovery from a concussion hasn’t gone well. The Senators had hoped he’d have been back a while ago but symptoms still linger and as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch notes, Nilsson’s season may be over. He’s not accompanying Ottawa on their upcoming road trip and with there now being less than a month left in the season, there may not be enough time for him to be cleared, get back into game shape, and return. The 29-year-old is already under contract for next season with a $2.6MM cap hit.
Nilsson’s continued absence should mean more playing time for youngster Marcus Hogberg. Garrioch notes that he’s expected to return from his personal leave next week. The Sens seem to prefer to send him back to AHL Belleville to help in their playoff run but if there are considerable NHL minutes available, that would be crucial for his development as he’s likely to garner consideration for the full-time backup job to Nilsson next season.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic Division:
- Panthers center Brian Boyle won’t play on Saturday against Montreal but is expected to return next week, reports TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie (Twitter link). He has been out with an upper-body injury for the last month and his return would be a good boost to Florida’s bottom six. Meanwhile, NBC Sports Boston’s Joe Haggerty reports that winger Evgenii Dadonov will not face any supplemental discipline from the league following his elbowing penalty on Bruins blueliner Brandon Carlo on Thursday. The hit initially received a five-minute major penalty but was reduced to a two-minute minor after video review.
- Sabres winger Zemgus Girgensons is questionable to play in Saturday’s game against Philadelphia due to a lower-body injury that caused him to miss practice today, mentions Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News. If he is unable to play, Michael Frolik would likely draw in after missing the last four games as a healthy scratch which wasn’t what anyone was hoping for when Buffalo acquired him back in January.
Was hoping to see frolik bounce back but not surprised in the least to see him struggle. He wasn’t good anymore in Calgary and blamed the team for not giving him enough playing time
Kind of surprised that Dadonov isn’t even getting a fine. He turned to look at carlo then 1 second later drove his elbow backwards into the middle of his face. Not sure how that was only worth a 2 min penalty
He clearly was just trying to reverse the puck behind him. That was a great call by the refs to reverse the call from major to minor.
Guess we will have to disagree on this one
Agreed, Boston announcers were clearly bias and trying to see the call to their fan. Dadonov looked over his shoulder, not at the defender but to see who was following up so he could make an offensive play. NHL and their fans have clearly gone soft. It’s hard watching the NHL some days with all the non contact, stick checking and complaining about non calls.
Panthers announcers said Carlo put his face into the elbow and you want to talk about bias? Hahahahahahahaha what a joke. And the NHL is a joke when it comes to player safety. By their own rule book that should have been a 5 minute major, and probably should have received a fine. They have no interest in getting headshots out of the game, because it doesn’t get anymore black and white than an elbow to the face that causes an injury.
Never saw the FLA broadcast. Fines and majors come from intent to injure, not incidental contact. It should have been a penalty, never said it shouldn’t, but not a fine or a major.
As a bruins fan I think Jack Edwards is the worst. He isn’t a bad announcer but his over the top biased attitude is brutal to listen to night in and night out. I didn’t think it deserved a suspension but was a little surprised they didn’t take a further look
I agree it’s gone soft and it sucks but I would just like it to be consistent