Last weekend, when asked about goalie Linus Ullmark’s absence from practice, Ottawa Senators head coach Travis Green told the media that it was a maintenance day.
Ullmark hasn’t played since then, and now, three games and a week later, Green isn’t sure if Ullmark will be able to make the three-game road trip, which starts Tuesday night in Salt Lake City against the Utah Hockey Club.
After an exciting 5-4 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon, the Sens have three days until their next game. So Green was asked by the media (Murray Pam) if Ullmark would be available for the upcoming road trip.
So, what we thought was a maintenance day has become a three-game absence, and today, Green didn’t rule out that it might become six. Fans have every right to be unsettled by that, especially after enduring two frustrating seasons of never knowing what was up with Matt Murray.
Jake Sanderson has just started year one of an eight-year contract, and it already looks like one of the most club-friendly deals in the NHL.
The Ottawa Senators have had some fine defencemen in their history. Chris Phillips and Erik Karlsson spring immediately to mind. Karlsson was (and is) fast, and his strength was (and is) skill and offence. Phillips was bigger and all about defence and longevity.
If you combined the best of both, you’d have an extremely well-rounded defenceman, one who might resemble Ottawa’s current number one, Jake Sanderson.
Sanderson truly seems like the complete package. He has size, speed, acceleration, puck skill, poise, vision, passing, excellent shot, and skill at both ends. He leads all Senator defencemen in ice time on the power play and the penalty kill.
What he’s bumped up this season is his offensive production. With seven points in five games, he’s second in the league in scoring among defencemen, behind only Cale Makar. More offence was a goal for Sanderson heading into this season, but this early spike has as much to do with how he’s being used as anything else.
After a three-assist performance in a 5-4 win over Tampa Bay on Saturday afternoon, Sanderson was asked about how he feels about his first five games this season.
“Yeah, not bad,” Sanderson told the media after the game. “A little bit different looks than last year, getting a little more power play time and whatnot. But you can put me in any situation, and I won’t complain. So I’m liking (my game) so far.
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