Oh, the injury gremlins have struck again, and this time, they’ve nabbed Ottawa Senators’ resident tough guy, defenseman Travis Hamonic. In what looked to be just another day at the office, Hamonic was blindsided by an upper-body boo-boo during a face-off with the Philadelphia Flyers—and just like that, poof, he vanished from the game after a whopping five minutes and some change. Yep, the 33-year-old has been lugging his skates around the ice for 40 matches this season, snagging a grand total of five points while munching on about 14:59 minutes of ice time per game.
If Hamonic can’t shake it off and his jersey starts collecting dust in the locker room, the Senators might just give their benchwarmer extraordinaire, Erik Brännström, a whirl. Now, Brännström’s got wheels and likes to shake things up a bit more than the old-school, stick-in-the-mud style Hamonic is known for. So, if the kid does slip on Hamonic’s skates, be prepared for a little game of defensive musical chairs with the Senators’ pairings.
In other “who’s hurt now?” news around the NHL:
– Roll out the red carpet cause the drama never stops. Carolina Hurricanes’ shining star Andrei Svechnikov has gone from “just missing practice” to “sitting out the big game” with an upper-body hiccup. If you’re keeping score, Svechnikov’s no stranger to the injury list, but even so, he’s turned the rink to his own personal highlight reel, pocketing 30 points in 29 games this pitch.
– Meanwhile, The Athletic’s own Joe Smith played messenger, delivering some cryptic non-updates from Minnesota Wild’s head honcho, John Hynes. We’ve got radio silence on team favorites like Marc-Andre Fleury and Frederick Gaudreau, but Hynes threw us a bone by not ruling out Fleury for a later comeback this week. Oh, and Vinni Lettieri’s been spotted doing laps back in St. Paul. He’s been a bench ghost for 2024 but did flex his skills in 19 games this season, in case you’ve forgotten his stint from the 2021-22 season with the Anaheim Ducks.