It has been a tough year on the injury front for Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot. He has dealt with a pair of upper-body injuries, the second of which came in his first game back from the first one. They’ll now hope that the second time is the charm as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch relayed that the veteran was activated off injured reserve as expected to suit up in their game this afternoon against Chicago. The 28-year-old has been limited to just 18 games so far this season due to those injuries and has done well when he’s in the lineup, picking up 10 points while averaging nearly 22 minutes per game of ice time. Chabot has been one of Ottawa’s better two-way threats from the back end for quite some time and if he stays healthy this time around, he’ll give their blueline a big boost. With his activation, Ottawa’s active roster is now full at 23 players.
More from the Atlantic:
- While former GM Kevyn Adams held contract talks with pending UFA winger Alex Tuch, it appears they were using Tage Thompson’s deal ($7.14MM AAV) as a benchmark, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in his latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link). Considering the escalation that’s coming to the Upper Limit of the salary cap in future years, that number is certainly too low relative to what he could get on the open market. New Sabres GM Jarmo Kekalainen has said that working out an extension with the 29-year-old will be a top priority but clearly, there’s a big gap to bridge based on where talks left off. Tuch enters play today with 11 goals and 18 assists in 32 games.
- The Canadiens will get a boost to their back end tonight as they begin a home-and-home set with Pittsburgh. The team announced that Mike Matheson will return to the lineup after missing the last two games with an upper-body injury, taking the place of Jayden Struble who will be a healthy scratch. Matheson, who signed a five-year, $30MM extension late last month, has four goals and 12 assists in 32 games this season while averaging nearly 25 minutes per game of ice time.