Brady Tkachuk’s torn ligament proves Ottawa Senators can’t have anything nice
Brady Tkachuk was finally shaping up to be a bright spot for the Ottawa Senators, and now he’s gone because the Senators are just doomed to suffer.
How can things get any worse for the Ottawa Senators? Glad you asked. Brady Tkachuk, one of the few bright spots for the Senators, has suffered a torn ligament in his leg and will be out of commission for about a month, the team announced on Wednesday.
The coach confirms that Brady Tkachuk will be out about a month with a torn ligament in his leg.
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) October 17, 2018
Tkachuk suffered the injury in the first period of the Senators 4-1 win over the Dallas Stars on Monday, but still finished the game and went on to score the game-winning goal and his third goal of the season. Nothing appeared to be wrong at the time, but further testing revealed the injury.
“I knew that there was something there but he finished so well,” said head coach Guy Boucher via NHL.com. “If it was up to him, he’d be on the ice today. He’s a tough kid and certainly not someone who’s looking to bail out that’s for sure.”
The 2018 fourth overall pick for the Ottawa Senators missed the first two games of the season with a groin injury, but since making his debut in the lineup he has posted three goals and three assists in his first four games. He’s been a large part of the reason why the Senators have done pretty well for themselves right out of the gate with a 3-2-1 when they were projected to be a basement team.
“It’s a tough one for him,” said Boucher. “It’s a tough one for us too because he was doing so well. He’s a big part of our identity.”
Tkachuk is just another in a long line of injuries to a lineup that already looked like one of the worst in the league. Jean-Gabriel Pageau will several months with a sliced Achilles tendon, Cody Ceci is rehabbing an upper-body injury, and Alex Formenton is still recovering from a concussion. The Senators are hoping they can bring Ryan Dzingel and Max McCormick back into the lineup against the Montreal Canadiens, but neither has skated in practice yet.
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If there is any good news in this scenario, it’s that Tkachuk won’t need any surgery to repair the torn ligament and long-term damage is unlikely. There’s no point in the Senators rushing him back either since obviously it’s early in the season, and they don’t want to risk re-injury which could do serious damage. Without a first round pick or any hope of making the playoffs, the best thing Ottawa can hope for is the youth looking like they can make the team into something next year.