Senators defenseman Jakob Chychrun doubtful for Devils showdown

Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen is reporting that Ottawa Senators defenseman Jakob Chychrun is doubtful for Saturday's game against the New Jersey Devils. The exact nature of the injury has not been divulged to reporters, though Ottawa head coach DJ Smith did let on that Chychrun “tugged something there a little bit" before adding that the team would "see how he reacts to treatment here.”

Chychrun left Friday's win over the Tampa Bay Lightning after taking a third-period hit. He was in obvious discomfort as he skated to the Senators bench and would subsequently take the runway to the locker room. Smith said after the victory that he did not believe Chychrun was dealing with an injury, but rather cramping.

Since coming over to Ottawa in a trade at the beginning of March, Chychrun has posted two goals and three assists in 12 games while averaging 21 minutes of ice time a contest. Ottawa can ill afford to lose their prized trade deadline acquisition, as they are running out of runway on the schedule with just ten games remaining in the regular season.

As of this posting, Ottawa sits five points back of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the final Wild Card slot in the Eastern Conference.

Other injury notes from around the NHL:

• The Detroit Red Wings announced on Friday that Filip Zadina is day-to-day with a lower body injury and will not be available for Saturday’s contest against the Philadelphia Flyers. This after Zadina missed over three months of action with a lower-body injury earlier this season. It been a tough campaign for the former Halifax Moosehead, who has largely struggled to stay on the ice. When he has managed to play, he has been largely ineffective, posting just seven points in 30 games. The 23-year-old had a career year last season with 24 points in 74 games, but has yet to live up to the expectations the Red Wings hung on him when they took him sixth overall in the 2018 NHL Draft.
• Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg reports that Chris Tanev did not practice on Friday morning after missing the Flames' previous two games with a lower-body injury. The 33-year-old Toronto native has logged 13 points in 61 games this season while averaging over 20 minutes a night in ice time. Calgary should be considered a long shot to make the postseason with just nine games remaining on their regular-season schedule. The team sits six points back of Winnipeg for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference and would need to leapfrog Nashville (which has 12 games remaining on schedule). Calgary can ill afford to lose Tanev’s defensive prowess as they battle down to the wire.
• In a bit of good news for Calgary, injured defenseman Michael Stone has begun skating on his own. Stone has missed the Flames' last 17 games with a lower-body injury that he suffered in late February. He has five goals and five assists in 46 games this season while averaging just over 13 minutes a night in ice time. Stone is hardly an option to replace Tanev should the latter's injury require a long-term recovery, but Stone could offer some additional depth for the Flames as they head into the final pivotal weeks of the season, assuming he can return to ice without setback.