Senators’ Josh Norris out for season

Excitement for Ridly Greig’s recall quickly turned to sadness for Ottawa Senators fans, as the team announced Josh Norris’s season is over. He will undergo for shoulder surgery in the near future. It is the same injury as earlier this season. Norris has been moved to injured reserve.

After scoring 35 goals in 66 games last season, life was good for Norris. He signed a new eight-year, $63.6M contract that entrenched him as one of the league’s young stars and was ready to leverage the team’s improved forward depth for an even better year.

Then he suffered a serious shoulder injury in October after just five games. Weeks went by with Norris consulting five different doctors and two specialists before it was determined that he wouldn’t need surgery.

Senators general manager Pierre Dorion told Claire Hanna of TSN that Norris “felt a subluxation” over the weekend, leading to this decision. He returned just three games ago, meaning he’ll finish this season appearing in only eight. His two goals and three points are a far cry from what was expected, especially with a new $7.95M cap hit in hand.

Now he faces another lengthy rehab while the Senators try to salvage anything this season. The club is slipping down the standings and has completely shuffled its lines around at practice Monday in an attempt to get things back on track.

Without Norris, the Ottawa center depth looks mighty thin, with Greig inserted into the second line between Alex DeBrincat and Claude Giroux before ever playing a game at the NHL level.