Eller's injury may create an intriguing opportunity for rookie Stephen Halliday.
The Ottawa Senators have been stung by the injury bug yet again.
Veteran centre Lars Eller was hurt while blocking a shot in Columbus on Thursday night during a 6–3 victory over the Blue Jackets. After practice Friday morning, head coach Travis Green was unable to say exactly when Eller would be back in the lineup, but didn’t sound overly optimistic that it would be anytime soon.
“Yeah, Lars is going to unfortunately be out for a little while,” Green told Senators host Jackson Starr. “Blocked a shot. Not sure quite exactly how long, but we won’t see him the rest of this road trip for sure.”
Eller, the 36-year-old veteran, signed with Ottawa on a one-year contract last summer. He arrived as a fourth-line centre replacement for Adam Gaudette, who left in free agency to sign with the San Jose Sharks.
Gaudette shocked everyone last season when he scored 19 goals for the Senators, and he’s keeping up that pace again this year, tracking toward just over 20 goals with the Sharks.
Meanwhile, Eller turned some heads in October with six points in his first 12 games and appeared to be turning back the clock. However, he’s gone stone cold since then and hasn’t recorded a single point in the last month and a half (16 games).
Between the lack of production and what sounds like a meaningful stint on the injured list, this represents a nice opportunity for Senators rookie Stephen Halliday, who has two points in seven games, almost exclusively on the fourth line.
Eller joins fellow centre Shane Pinto on the injured list. Pinto’s absence has already created an opportunity for Ridly Greig to move back to centre, the position he played throughout his junior career.
Fortunately for Ottawa, that’s as deep as the centre-ice injuries go.
But with Tim Stützle absent from Friday’s practice, there was briefly some concern he had joined the club’s list of walking wounded down the middle. Green quickly put those worries to rest, explaining it was simply a chance to get Stützle some rest with an afternoon game coming up Saturday in Minnesota.
Based on Josh Norris' history, Sens fans are used to injuries at the centre ice position. But after Norris was shuffled off to Buffalo and replaced last March by Dylan Cozens, the club's second-line centre position is suddenly (and refreshingly) occupied by a stalwart.
Steve Warne
The Hockey News - Ottawa
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