Senators Have 3 Viable Options to Fill Artem Zub’s Spot – Hockey Writers – Ottawa Senators

As if dropping Game 1 of their first-round series against the Carolina Hurricanes by a 2-0 deficit wasn’t enough, the Ottawa Senators’ injury woes continue — this time, to one of their most reliable defensemen in Artem Zub. After jumping from the point and throwing Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis in the second period, Zub got up in discomfort, headed to the bench and was taken to the locker room soon after.

Senators head coach Travis Green didn’t give a clear update on the Russian defenseman’s condition after the game, and there haven’t been any updates released yet. This leaves another hole on Ottawa’s blue line. They already lost Nick Jensen after he underwent season-ending surgery on a torn meniscus last month. Tyler Kleven, another reliable player in the backfield, suffered a broken jaw earlier in the month, and his status is up in the air. Thomas Chabot has already made a miraculous comeback after breaking his right arm on March 23, but there is no guarantee that he is 100 percent.

Now, this injury takes Zub out of Ottawa’s tight end with Jake Sanderson, who also missed 13 games late in the season with a shoulder injury and may also have been concussed. Sanderson and Zub played more than 900 minutes together in the regular season — the most of any Senators defense or forward line, and 14.^th the most time among all defensive pairings in the league. The pair averaged 2.59 expected goals per 60 minutes (xGF/60) and 1.87 expected goals per 60 minutes (xGA/60), which were the highest among all defensive pairings in the league averaging over 700 minutes.

With Zub now out of the bullpen for the foreseeable future, many have one question in mind: who will roll with Sanderson on the Senators’ first defensive pairing? While several blueliners are out or still tied, there are still a few options for Green to consider.

Jordan Spence

The low-cost acquisition of the Los Angeles Kings last season, Jordan Spence scored 31 points in 73 games in his first season with the Sens – all on the low cost of last year’s 67.^th overall pick, which ended up being moved to Carolina, and this year’s sixth round pick to the Colorado Avalanche. The 25-year-old native of Australia finished with 62 percent of his shot attempts, second only to Carolina’s Shayne Gostisbehere, and was third among defensemen who played 500 minutes or more at 61.4 percent of expected goals on the ice.

TRADE: Acquired defenseman Jordan Spence from the LA Kings in exchange for the 67th overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft and a 2026 6th round pick (obtained from Colorado).

Les #Senses The font of the acquisition of defender Jordan Spence, Los Angeles, and changed… pic.twitter.com/de5jxKJNAG

— x – Ottawa Senators (@Senators) June 28, 2025

As if his offensive stats weren’t enough, Spence has already played Sanderson over 140 minutes this season. That’s not 900 minutes, but the duo recorded a team-leading expected goals percentage (xG%) of 67.7% among all pairings within 50 minutes. This includes an xGF/60 of 3.84 and an xGA/60 of 1.83 – and first among all team pairings in 50 minutes or more.

So, you have a young, developing defenseman who creates offense by shooting and moving the puck while being disciplined for just 22 penalty minutes on the season. As compelling as it sounds, Sanderson plays the same way, except he also eats up more minutes on defense. Spence makes a lot of sense to pair with Sanderson based on their experience, but does coach Green want to pair up two similar defensemen? It might work, but Spence has also earned the following blueliner more minutes this season.

Thomas Chabot

In his ninth full season with the Senators, Thomas Chabot has put up the same amount of points and penalty minutes as Spence, but in 16 fewer games. Statistically, he was in the top 50 among all full-time defensemen in the league in almost every stat during the regular season, including top-30 in shot blocks per game with 1.9 – just like Sanderson.

It would be a pure power move to put the Sens’ top two men together, but if he continues to struggle offensively, Green may have to force himself into that decision to make more shots. A similar case can be made for the Sanderson-Spence pairing in the sense that Chabot is a solid two-way defender on his right side, but has played left sided for most of his career.

Nick Jensen was Chabot’s regular season partner as the two played over 575 minutes together and recorded equal xGF and xGA, each over 2.2/60. However, Spence and Chabot were paired for 46 games and most of the back half of the season. They averaged 3.46 xGF/60 and 1.91 xGA/60 – similar to Sanderson-Zub. Remember, Spence also put up the same expected goals against Sanderson.

Defeating one unit or spreading the love? That’s what it comes down to pairing up Ottawa’s top two blueliners. Based on statistics, keeping the most recent pair of Chabot-Spence would help – at least – to maintain the two stability provided by Sanderson-Zub. Besides, if we get a Sanderson-Chabot pairing, how would that help the depth between the aforementioned Spence, Nikolas Matinpalo, Dennis Gilbert and Lassi Thomson? Speaking of which, another solution to maintaining stability on the Senators’ blue line comes from someone unlikely.

Lassi Thomson

Thomson is seen as the obvious seventh defenseman to come in, especially with Carter Yakemchuk still recovering from a concussion in Florida at the end of March, but is there a real chance he gets a shot with Sanderson up top? With eight points in 29 NHL games dating back to the 2021-22 season, the 25-year-old Finnish defenseman may not have fully developed into the offensive dynamo the Sens hoped for when they picked him at No. 19.^th overall in the 2019 Draft, but he may be getting his biggest chance yet.

Despite getting 11 starts in the regular season, Thomson played in Ottawa’s final 10 to finish with injuries to Chabot, Jensen, Kleven and company. Each time he’s been out, though, he’s been solid, averaging more than 13 minutes in eight of those games while finishing with only one shutout in the stretch — minus-2 in New Jersey in the second-to-last game of the regular season. His on-ice field goal percentage was nearly 58%, fourth highest on the team. If Thomson has averaged 15 or more times in nine of his 11 games – seven of which have come on special teams – then why not give him a shot to see how he handles the big minutes to avoid any turnovers?

When Thomson is paired with Sanderson, it allows Chabot-Spence to maintain the strong two-way play they provide as a unit. Gilbert and Matinpalo will be left as the Sens’ third pair, a role they have held for eight games this season. However, if Kleven – who has returned to practice – returns, he could undoubtedly reunite with Matinpalo as the two averaged an xGA/60 of 2.16 in the regular season.

All in all, if the Senators want to replace Zub while keeping what has worked for them, moving one guy up the backfield would be much better than shuffling the entire pairing around — especially against a Carolina team that can easily match them up front on defense. Then again, we won’t fully know Green’s intentions until tonight’s pregame warmups at the latest. Game 2 starts at 7:30 pm from Raleigh as Ottawa looks to avoid falling behind 2-0 in the first round for the second year in a row.

All advanced statistics were provided by MoneyPuck.