Jan 30: Hanna reports that Norris’ surgery is scheduled for the next few days.
Jan 23: Excitement for Ridly Greig’s recall quickly turned to sadness for Ottawa Senators fans, as the team announced Josh Norris’s season is over. He will be going for shoulder surgery in the near future. It is the same injury as earlier this season. Norris has been moved to injured reserve.
After scoring 35 goals in 66 games last season, life was good for Norris. He signed a new eight-year, $63.6MM contract that entrenched him as one of the league’s young stars, and was ready to leverage the team’s improved forward depth for an even better year.
Then he suffered a serious shoulder injury in October after just five games. Weeks went by with Norris consulting five different doctors and two specialists before it was determined that he wouldn’t need surgery.
Senators general manager Pierre Dorion told Claire Hanna of TSN that Norris “felt a subluxation” over the weekend, leading to this decision. He had returned just three games ago, meaning he’ll finish this season appearing in only eight. His two goals and three points are a far cry from what was expected, especially with a new $7.95MM cap hit in hand.
Now he faces another lengthy rehab, while the Senators try to salvage anything this season. The club is slipping down the standings, and has completely shuffled its lines around at practice today in an attempt to get things back on track.
Without Norris, the Ottawa center depth looks mighty thin, with Greig inserted into the second line between Alex DeBrincat and Claude Giroux before ever playing a game at the NHL level.
I was expecting a 7th-10th place finish this year but this season has quickly turned into a disaster. New ownership can’t come in quick enough to clean house starting with Pierre Dorion and DJ Smith.
The Senator made their bed by locking in a number of younger forwards. Trading DeBrincat might become their best option in getting back some assets to improve their backend for next season onwards.
What a nightmare. I feel for the Sens fans who were hoping for a decent push this season.
Also, in hindsight, the decision “he doesn’t need a surgery although the doctor said so” doesn’t look great
He will never be the same player. Should of had surgery when it happened…
Is there an echo in here? It has been a trend this NHL season. Bad diagnosis or players being cleared to return to soon.