(Ottawa) Wrist surgery and a wedding ring didn’t seem to hurt Thomas Chabot’s swing on his golf tee shots. The Quebec defenceman is confident the surgery will improve his performance on the ice this season for the Ottawa Senators.
Chabot, Claude Giroux and Tim Stützle were among the Senators players in attendance at the team’s charity golf tournament on Monday. All three said they were excited to get back on the ice, especially with the recent additions to the roster.
“I took care of some things this summer,” Chabot said. “It’s exciting. It’ll be fun to go into the season without any bruises, feeling healthy and getting ready to play hockey.”
Chabot admitted that his wrist injury had hampered his performance in recent seasons.
“It’s not an excuse, but it’s not easy to go into every game knowing you’re going to play a certain way because of injuries,” he said. “I’m just excited to get this behind me. I can just focus on training camp so I can be ready to win games.”
A healthy Chabot will provide a significant advantage for the Senators, and that’s also the case with Stützle. After dealing with nagging injuries last season, Stützle has made his health a priority this offseason.
“It shouldn’t be an excuse, everyone has injuries and nobody plays at 100 percent,” Stützle said. “But for me it was about getting to 100 percent to feel good this year.”
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Tim Stützle
The Senators finished last season with a 37-41-4 record. They announced the hiring of Travis Green as head coach on May 7, along with the additions of Mike Yeo and Nolan Baumgartner as assistant coaches.
The Senators also made a number of roster changes, including adding goaltender Linus Ullmark in a trade with the Boston Bruins on June 24. The Massachusetts club got Mark Kastelic, Joonas Korpisalo and a 2024 first-round selection that became Dean Letourneau.
The Senators completed five trades in July and added eight players through free agency, most recently Nick Cousins on Aug. 29.
Like many of his teammates, Stützle is excited about the team’s new acquisitions.
“I think we added some really good, character players, and that’s really important, and guys that are known around the league and have had a lot of success in their careers,” Stützle said. “I’m really excited about the team that we have and I couldn’t wait to get back here and start practicing with the guys.”
Ullmark is 138-73-23 in nine NHL seasons with the Buffalo Sabres and Bruins, posting a 2.51 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Linus Ullmark
“Just watching him on the ice, he’s a big goalie who covers a lot of space in front of the net,” Giroux said. “He’s been in the league for a while and we’re excited to have him on our side.”
Giroux will be playing his third season with the Senators, and he too is excited about the new campaign.
“Every year at this time of year, there’s a buzz, new faces,” Giroux said. “But with the season we had last year, and the way we want to start this year, we’re a little bit of an older team.
“We’ve had some great additions, both offensively and defensively, so we’re looking forward to getting started and building some chemistry.”