Senators expecting return of key defenseman

The Senators hope defenseman Artem Zub will be ready to return to the lineup for Thursday’s game against the Kings, Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reports. Zub was on the ice for practice Monday after not playing since taking a puck to the jaw in an October 18 contest against the Capitals.

Zub is widely regarded as Ottawa’s best shutdown defenseman, and the numbers back that up since he signed with the team as a free agent out of Russia in 2020. The incident against the Capitals was Zub’s second jaw injury in as many seasons, and it’s caused him to miss the team’s last four games. They’ve gone 1-3-0 in his absence and now sit seventh in the Atlantic Division with a .500 record, another slow start for a team consistently plagued by early-season ineffectiveness.

Through four games this season, Zub had a goal and two assists in 17:57 of average ice time. His +3 rating still ranks first among Ottawa’s defenders.

Head coach D.J. Smith did not initially expect Zub’s absence to be “long-term,” and while he was right, almost half a month is certainly longer than Ottawa would like to be without his services, especially given the circumstances. Injuries have sidelined both Erik Brännström and number-one defenseman Thomas Chabot, decimating the team’s defensive depth and forcing veterans like Travis Hamonic into top-pairing minutes. Those injuries have necessitated recalls from AHL Belleville like Tyler Kleven and Nikolas Matinpalo, who both played under 10 minutes and took less than 15 shifts in Ottawa’s 5-2 win over the Penguins last Saturday.

Zub, 28, is in the first season of a four-year, $4.6M AAV extension signed last December.