Josh Norris news is grim, but deeper, more mature Senators built to keep rolling

Above all, you feel for the player.

Josh Norris is just 23. He should be soaking up the sunshine of this early season, enjoying the ride with his teammates: the Senators are winners of four straight home games and looking to make it five on Thursday night against the Minnesota Wild.

Instead, who could blame Norris if his spirits are sagging lower than his left shoulder as he left the ice after suffering a face-off injury against the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday. Until now, the Senators have been circumspect concerning the health of their young centre, awaiting better information from an MRI once the swelling settled.

On Wednesday, Oct. 26, head coach D.J. Smith delivered the news that no Senators fan wanted to hear. Norris is going to be out for a while, as long as four or five months and possibly for the entire season.

“Different injury this time,” Smith said. “Is he going to require surgery this time or is it a rehab situation? We’ll know a little more in the next four or five days, but it’s long-term.”

The coach said he couldn’t be certain if “long term” translates to three, four or even five, six months.

“At some point, if we get him back, great,” Smith said, referencing this season.

Norris will decide on whether the shoulder requires surgery, but it’s interesting to hear Smith qualify the injury as “different” from the shoulder injury that required surgery when Norris got hurt in the 2019 world junior tournament. Norris re-injured his shoulder last season and came back after missing 15 games.

How it plays out this time, as far as surgery, will depend on Norris after gathering all the pertinent information and medical opinions.

“Ultimately, it's the player’s call,” Smith said. “It’s his body and he’s going to get all the opinions of the best people, and this is a brand new injury to him, so there’s no telling as to what he’s going to do or what’s best – but ultimately it’s what’s best for the player long-term.

“He’s a young guy, with the rest of his career in front of him,” Smith added. “So whatever is going to make him the healthiest going forward, will probably be the option he takes.”

As we mentioned earlier this week, the Senators are so much better equipped to handle an injury to their number two centre than they would have been at any time during their rebuild.

Naturally, the hockey club does not want to diminish the loss of a player awarded an eight-year, $63.6-million contract in July. Norris will be missed.

As Smith said, any team in this tough Atlantic Division would bemoan the loss of a player like Norris, who is remarkably responsible at both ends of the ice, despite his young age. With 35 goals scored last season in just 66 games, Norris proved to be one of the league’s top young snipers, a legitimate weapon on the power play.

“He’s one of our best players, one of our most responsible centres at this point,” Smith said. “He has the ability to play against elite players, he can score, he can do a lot of things. So, if you take that player out of a lot of teams' lineups, it changes the dynamic if you just look around our division and take everyone’s (number) one or two centres out.

“But in saying that, we’ve got no time to worry about that. We’ve got to go and be better, everyone underneath has to be a little bit better.”

And that is the point. Everyone playing the centre ice position has been outstanding, which makes it possible for the Senators to absorb the loss of Norris for however long they must.

Shane Pinto, who missed most of last season with a shoulder injury, has been beyond outstanding, punctuated by a current five-game goal scoring streak, the best by any Sens rookie in club history. Though he has been mostly on a third line with Tyler Motte and Mathieu Joseph, Pinto could be elevated at any time to take Norris’ spot on line two with Alex DeBrincat and Claude Giroux.

Smith said as much on Wednesday.

In the meantime, veteran Derick Brassard was activated for Monday’s win over Dallas and didn’t miss a beat, between DeBrincat and Giroux. He will get a chance to be there again on Thursday.

Smith said it will be up to Brassard, 35, to show he can “hold” that spot.

“He’s done it in the past, and we’re pulling for him to do it now,” Smith said, adding that Brassard will have to “dial it in” and get lots of rest and nutrition to play a top-six role for an extended period.

Meanwhile, centre Tim Stützle has been terrific on a top line with Brady Tkachuk and Drake Batherson, the latter two leading the way in team scoring with 10 and nine points respectively.

Mark Kastelic, the National Hockey League (NHL) leader in face-off percentage, has been a revelation – rock solid on line four. Other options include sliding Giroux back to centre, which he played for many years. Also waiting in the wings is American Hockey League (AHL) Belleville centre Ridly Greig, just returned to the B-Sens lineup from a shoulder injury.

We haven’t even mentioned Dylan Gambrell, who was a fourth-line centre last season and couldn’t hold off the charging Kastelic for a starting job this fall.

Options. The new-look Sens are loaded with them. They are deep down the middle and more mature in their ability to withstand the loss of a top-two centre.

Batherson, who is playing at the level that got him named as the Senators’ all-star game representative last season (an injury kept him from going), said he has deep empathy for Norris. The two were injured pals on the sideline together for the entire month of February. Norris returned to the lineup in early March, Batherson later that month.

“It’s tough,” Batherson said. “We spent a lot of time out together last year. We’re going to miss him, but we’re going to be here for him. We’ll get through it.”

Batherson said that while Norris was very upset when the injury happened, the past couple of days he has come into the rink with positive energy. The team is rolling. Stand back and encourage.

“When I was hurt, I stayed positive,” Batherson said. “Josh will as well.”