Injury Updates: Norris, Saad, Matheson, Mitchell

While it was recently revealed that Senators center Josh Norris would miss several months due to needing shoulder surgery, that procedure hasn’t happened yet.  Instead, as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports, the 23-year-old is seeking a second opinion in the hopes of avoiding having to go under the knife and miss that much time.  Head coach D.J. Smith indicated that the team is still proceeding with the expectation that Norris won’t be available for the rest of the season while Garrioch notes a final decision from the center is expected in the next couple of days.

Other injury news from around the NHL:

• Blues winger Brandon Saad has resumed practicing as he works his way back from a back injury, relays Joe Lyons of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The 30-year-old has missed six straight due to the issue and hasn’t gotten onto the scoresheet in his three contests so far this season.  At this point, there’s no timeline for a return just yet and it’s worth noting that he’s not on injured reserve so a roster move won’t need to be made when he gets the green light to suit up.
• Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson skated today for the first time as he continues to work his way back from an abdominal injury, relays TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie (Twitter link). The 28-year-old was originally designated as day-to-day but that was later amended to an eight-week absence.  There still are a few weeks left in that timeframe so it’s unlikely that Montreal will be getting one of its top defenders back for a little while yet.
• Blackhawks defenseman Ian Mitchell told reporters including Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago (Twitter link) that his wrist injury basically boils down to a pain tolerance issue at this point. He’s hoping to skate with the team next week when they return from their current road trip and if all goes well, he could be cleared to return soon after.  That said, while he should be getting back to game action before much longer, it appears that this injury will linger for a little while yet.