The rugged and tough defender of the Ottawa Senators, Matt Carkner, had surgery Monday on his knee after sustaining an injury during last season that has been lingering. According to Senators general manager Bryan Murray, Carkner is expected to miss up to a month.The 30 year old defenseman accounts for the large majority of Ottawa’s toughness and strength on the blue-line, something that will be greatly missed in the early stages of the regular season battle in the nation’s capital. Carkner finished 3rd amongst defensemen on his team in hits with 71, 6th amongst defensemen in blocked shots with 59, and 2nd on the team in penalty minutes with 136.
He missed the last 20 games of the season including some time earlier in the year with various lower body injuries. He finished up with 50 games played, scoring just one goal and 6 assists with 136 PIMS and a +0 rating. Carkner will be heading into his third full year as a Senator once he is cleared to play.
In his absence, the Sens will be looking to youth to fill the void. Rookies Jared Cowen and David Rundblad are expected to start the season on the Senators roster as the Sens look to start with seven defensemen on the roster.
The big bodied 9th overall pick of the Senators in 2009, Jared Cowen, has looked great at the NHL level through his six pre-season games, notching one goal and picking up two assists with a +3 rating. Cowen, at 6’5 228lbs. has the size and skill to be an NHL defenseman on a regular basis without a doubt. The Senators organization has been impressed by his work ethic and maturity off of the ice, and his decisions on the ice don’t differ by much. Even with such a large frame, Cowen has the ability to join the rush and get involved in the offense. After being returned to his Junior club of Spokane in the WHL, the 20 year old dominated his opponents as he recorded 18 goals and 30 assists in 48 games with a massively impressive +44 rating in 58 games.
"He's been one of the best defensemen — if not the best defenseman — in training camp. But it's a good two weeks for him and time is what makes you a National Hockey League player. His two weeks that he's been here have been very good and the expectation for him is to remain the same, knowing at the same time that young players tend to go up and down.” Said head coach Paul McLean of Cowen.
"What we have to make sure we impress upon him is the need to be here every day and do it right every day. So far he has, so great for him."
Also at the age of 20, David Rundblad enters North America after three full years with Skelleftea of the Swedish League. In 153 games with Skelleftea he has totaled 12 goals and 61 assists for 73 points. The 6’2 189lbs. Swede was acquired from the St. Louis Blues in June of 2010. The Blues drafted Rundblad in 2009, 17th overall. The deal sent the Blues Ottawa’s 1st round selection, turning out to be Vladimir Tarasenko. Through six preseason games Rundblad has scored one goal and three assists, but opposite of Cowen, he is a -3.
Rundblad’s key trait is his ability to move and play the puck. He possesses a great amount of on-ice vision, and is capable of moving the puck out of his zone with tape-to-tape passes while being able to make very accurate shots on net. His current outlook is a highly skilled offensive defenseman that could wind up quarterbacking the powerplay. If Rundblad can tidy up his defensive game a bit through NHL experience, he could very well turn out to be one of the better two-way defensemen in the Senators’ arsenal.
"The opportunity is there for both Rundblad and Cowen to be on the team and possibly play, depending on how we see fit to play it for the first game," head coach Paul MacLean said. "We'll take it day by day and see how everything irons out,”
"You go on the road in the National Hockey League and it's a hard league to learn in. Sometimes having two young defensemen out there might be a bit of a hazard as well. We're going to study it and we'll make the decision that gives us the best chance to win."
- Kendall Grubbs
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