Nick Jensen Undergoes Surgery For A Lower-Body Injury

Earlier this month, Senators defenseman Nick Jensen acknowledged that he might need surgery to address a lower-body injury that nagged him in the back half of the season.  While it took some time to decide the best course of action, the blueliner has indeed gone under the knife, according to Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch.

With further details beyond that unknown, it’s uncertain how long Jensen will be out for.  At the exit meetings roughly three weeks ago, the 34-year-old indicated that he was hopeful he would be ready for the start of training camp.  With surgery being delayed until just recently, that goal might be a little more difficult to reach, depending on how invasive the procedure was.

Despite requiring the surgery, it was a solid first year in Ottawa for Jensen.  Acquired last offseason as part of the return for Jakob Chychrun, he put up 21 points in 71 games, tying the second-best point total of his career.  Jensen also logged over 20 minutes a night for just the second time in his career and was a key cog on their penalty kill.  That continued into the playoffs in their opening round when he averaged just shy of 21 minutes per game despite playing through the injury.

Earlier this month, GM Steve Staios acknowledged (video link) that if Jensen’s availability for the start of the season was in question, he might examine an external addition to help cover for the blueliner’s absence.  At the moment, Ottawa has five blueliners under contract with Tyler Kleven being a restricted free agent while Travis Hamonic and Dennis Gilbert will hit the open market in July so there will be a roster spot available for Staios if he wants to add to hedge against Jensen potentially being unavailable to start in October.