Norris will wear a non-contact jersey to start camp but the Senators say it's nothing to worry about.
Norris will wear a non-contact jersey to start camp but the Senators say it's nothing to worry about.
The Ottawa Senators had some fine additions in the offseason, but their best was going to be the return of a healthy Josh Norris.
Right after signing a huge new contract, Norris injured his shoulder last October and was out until January. Then he hurt it again and had to undergo season-ending surgery. The usual recovery time was said to be somewhere in the ball park of four to six months.
Eight months later, Norris obviously isn't fully healed yet.
"Josh Norris tweaked something last week in the captain's skates," GM Pierre Dorion said. "He'll be wearing a yellow jersey. He'll be taking full part in practice. Josh doesn't want to wear a yellow jersey. DJ doesn't want Josh wearing a yellow jersey. But we've made the decision that he'll wear one for a very short period of time.
"If the regular season was starting in a few days, he'd be playing. We're just being extra cautious here with his ongoing rehab."
Norris had surgery on that same shoulder back in 2019 after being hurt at the World Junior Hockey Championships. That ended his season at the University of Michigan. In 2021-22, Norris missed 16 games with another shoulder issue, but still racked up a career-best 35 goals and 55 points in 66 games. He signed his big contract after that performance, then hurt the shoulder again last season while taking a faceoff.
Head coach D.J. Smith is definitely still operating like a coach who expects to have Norris as part of the mix.
"Obviously, anyone that takes that amount of time off is going to take you a little bit to get going," Smith said. "That's why the exhibition schedule is big for him, to get a lot of reps in. There's a few things we're going to tweak with our systems. But ultimately, it's about him feeling comfortable.
"The more he plays, the more minutes he gets, and the more he's going to feel at ease in his own mind, in his own skin, his ability. And then once he gets that, his ability will take over."
We'll wait to see how things pan out, but the shoulder is the most complex joint in the body, and no two rehabs are exactly the same. It would appear that Norris's shoulder wasn't ready for the rigours of a friendly summer skate last week, so it remains to be seen when it will truly be ready for NHL-level physical contact.
In the meantime, the Senators are right to be conservative, and kudos to them for being transparent about the situation. But they can't realistically expect the fan base to follow their instruction not to be concerned.
Norris is such a key player, who still has seven years left on a big-money contract. With his value to the club, his medical history, combined with the fact it's been eight months since his surgery, most fans are going to go ahead and worry.
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