The Ottawa Senators have lost goaltender Marcus Hogberg to an injury that occurred in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Hogberg initially made a save against Pierre Engvall, but recoiled as though he pulled something. Head Coach D.J. Smith announced the update Saturday morning.
DJ Smith says Marcus Hogberg will be out for 1-2 weeks. I would imagine we’ll see Joey Daccord at some point here this week.
Thomas Chabot is day-to-day and could play vs MTL on Sunday.
— Ian Mendes (@ian_mendes) February 20, 2021
Senators Lose Marcus Hogberg to Injury
Hogberg has not been performing well in 2020-21. The 26-year-old has a save percentage of .860 with a 4.32 goals-against-average while splitting time with Matt Murray. It’s hard to draw serious conclusions from nine games, but Hogberg is one of the worst goalies in the entire league right now.
The Senators originally drafted the 6’5″ Swede in the third round of the 2013 Draft. He has played in 37 NHL games with a .893 save percentage and 3.48 goals-against. Hogberg has only one season with significant action and it happens to be his best one. He posted a .904 save percentage and 3.12 goals-against in 24 games. It certainly doesn’t help that Hogberg has played behind one of the worst bluelines in all of hockey. The good thing is that he has good size and is still in his prime age-wise.
How Ottawa Replaces Hogberg
Murray will handle the bulk of goaltending duties while Hogberg is healing. The former Pittsburgh Penguins goalie is also having a bad year with a .886 save percentage with a 3.55 goals-against. Murray’s backup is like Joey Daccord, a seventh-round selection from the 2015 Draft. The 6’2″ Daccord has one game at the AHL level in 2020-21 with a .861 save percentage and 5.01 goals-against. He doesn’t offer much at this stage with so little NHL experience.
Ottawa is one of the thinnest teams at goalie this year after trading Anders Nilsson to the Tampa Bay Lightning and letting Craig Anderson walk away via free agency. However, they are still rebuilding and do have some young goalies in their pipeline. They just need to avoid further injuries so they aren’t forced to deploy someone who is less experienced than their current options.
They have also lost defender Thomas Chabot for the moment, who is also out with an injury. Chabot was having a good year with three goals and nine points through Thursday evening’s game as the team’s anchor on defence. Erik Brannstrom is the most likely replacement, but it will depend on the extent of what is ailing the talented Chabot.
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