Thomas Chabot is back for the Ottawa Senators sooner than anyone expected. The defenseman, who broke his arm on March 23 and had forearm surgery on March 26, was set to dress against the Florida Panthers on Thursday night after skating on a second pair with Jordan Spence at Thursday morning skate.
Chabot returned 17 days after the injury, far ahead of Travis Green’s initial 4-8 week recovery estimate. He said the healing went “a lot quicker than we all expected” and that he felt “really good” before deciding to play again, adding that the last few days gave him confidence every time he faced contact and “everything reacted really well.”
The rapid turnaround matters because Ottawa has been forced to lean on depth defenders while Chabot, Jake Sanderson, Tyler Kleven, Nick Jensen and Dennis Gilbert were all out at different points. Cam Crotty came out of the lineup to make room for Chabot, a move that underscores how much the Senators have had to patch together their blue line while still chasing points in a playoff race they have treated as urgent for months.
Chabot credited a heavy workload with the team’s medical staff for getting him back this fast. He said he was “lucky” and called it a best-case scenario, while Brady Tkachuk said the defenseman’s preparation, work ethic and commitment “speak volumes” and that having him back “lights everybody up” in the room. Green said he could not remember a player returning from that kind of injury this quickly, and called the push for the playoffs “a big part of it.”
Ottawa’s timing has been helped by scoring support elsewhere, including Tim Stützle’s goal and two assists in Tuesday’s 6-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Stützle finished that stretch with 48 assists and 82 points, a reminder that the Senators have been finding ways to win while waiting for injured players to return. Chabot’s return does not solve everything, but it gives Ottawa back one of its most dependable pieces at exactly the point when every game carries more weight.
