The key for the Ottawa Senators will be for 18 other players to continue to play they way they did without their Captain, now that it is confirmed that Erik Karlsson will make his season debut tonight.

Coming home after a wildly successful road trip, Guy Boucher confirmed that Karlsson is fit and ready to go, as the team plays host to the Canucks, against who they opened that Western Canadian road trip one week ago.

Ottawa won that game thanks to Mark Stone's winner in the fifth round of the shootout, but the teams have gone in opposite directions in the ensuing week. While Ottawa went on to decisive wins in Calgary and Edmonton, the Canucks wrapped up their season opening four game homestand with back to back losses to the Jets and Flames.

Vancouver opens up the road portion of their schedule and will be looking to return the favor on the Senators, who will be looking to bring that road success to Canadian Tire Centre.

By all accounts, at practice yesterday Karlsson was skating on a pair with Dion Phaneuf, while Cody Ceci and Johnny Oduya were the second pair and Freddie Claesson and Chris Wideman the third duo and Mark Borowiecki the 7th. The question is whether it will be Borowiekci or Logan Brown sitting out, as the Senators had success going with 7D and 11 forwards, and even with Karlsson back you can't be 100% sure how he will react and you might not want him playing his ususal 27+ minutes in his first outing.

And, like it or not, Borowiecki brings an element that no other Senators player on the roster possesses. It can get him in trouble, but it is a part of the game that is necessary at certain times.

After being a a bit of a head-scratching healthy scratch for the first two games of the season, rookie Brock Boeser played the last two games, scoring a goal and an assist for the only player to have multiple points in the two outings. Maybe Travis Green knew something we didn't, because they got three out of four points without Boeser, but have no points with him in the lineup, despite him leading the team offensively.

Alex Edler was injured on Thursday and will miss 4-6 weeks, thinning an already questionable blue line. Derek Pouliot took his place in the lineup on Saturday.

Maybe it is opportunity or maybe it is philosophy, but last season Cody Ceci and Chris Wideman combined for 7 goals in 145 combined games. So far, through 10 combined games they have 5 goals between them.

All eyes will be on Karlsson, who sits behind 142 defensemen in scoring, and is only 9 points off the league leader, Mike Green. He should have that gap made up by what, the end of the month?

Join the Discussion: » 21 Comments » Post New Comment

» Goodbye, and good luck!

» Can Colin White fill the #2C role as early as next year?

» Boucher staying put, at least for now

» Boucher Day

» Sens fall to #4 in draft lottery