Chabot's pending return, Batherson's scoring and evaluating trade options: Sens notebook

OTTAWA -- The Ottawa Senators and the injury bug have been familiar with each other this season. At some point, a major player has been sidelined, meaning the Senators have seldom iced a full, healthy roster this year. But a reprieve may be coming.

Senators defenceman Thomas Chabot skated at an optional practice Friday morning and participated in a full skate Thursday morning ahead of Ottawa's game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He's been skating for over a week now, and the Sens didn't want to rush him back against Pittsburgh. If all goes well, Chabot could return as early as Saturday afternoon against the Chicago Blackhawks.

If he's somehow not ready Saturday, all eyes will turn towards a return Sunday against the Boston Bruins on the road.

Coach Travis Green will confirm Chabot's status before puck drop Saturday. The Senators also sent down Dennis Gilbert to the AHL on Thursday, which is a good sign that the Sens will reinsert Chabot back in the lineup sooner rather than later.

Chabot reaggravated an upper-body injury against the San Jose Sharks on Nov.22, suffered earlier that month in a game at home against Dallas. He finished the game against San Jose, but he's missed the last 12 games since. That came after Chabot missed 11 days and three games following the initial injury.

"There's no moment you ever want to miss games," Chabot said. "There's nothing worse than that. Especially the way it happened, where you return for a game and the same injury happens. That's what made it even more difficult."

If he returns this weekend, Chabot will give his defence a much-needed boost and a break at the same time, specifically Jake Sanderson and Tyler Kleven.

Sanderson has impressed so far this season as he continues his ascension among the rankings of the league's best defenders. It almost doesn't matter which stick he uses, as evidenced Thursday night when he used Michael Amadio's right-shot stick after his own broke.

When Chabot was hurt, Green had no problem giving his defenceman more minutes. Until Chabot's initial injury, Sanderson averaged 24:11 of ice time per game. Since then, that number has risen to 26:30. The Montana native has had eight games where he's played 27 minutes or more over his last 17 games. That includes a six-game stretch between Dec. 4 and Dec. 15, where his average time went up to 29:38.

"Yes, we miss him a lot," Sanderson said of Chabot. "He's a guy that plays a lot of minutes for us. Plays in every situation. So, whenever he's back, we're going to be fired up to have him."

The 23-year-old Sanderson said he didn't prepare any differently during these last few weeks without Chabot. But there is one thing that might have helped. Sanderson drank coffee for the first time during the Senators' lengthy West Coast trip last month, trying an iced brown sugar, oat shaken espresso from Starbucks. A few players order the drink before games, and Sanderson was hooked after trying Michael Amadio's.

First, it was reading books like Andre Agassi's memoir. Now, it's drinking coffee. It's easy to forget we're still seeing some of these Senators grow up in real time.

"I just wanted to wait as long as I could to not drink it," Sanderson said. "I felt like I was a morning person. But in the season, it can be a grind sometimes, and especially in the winter, too. So, I think it's helpful."

Meanwhile, Kleven's ice time and placement will be affected with Chabot's return. Ottawa primarily slotted Kleven with Jordan Spence in a top-four role with mixed results, averaging 18:23 of ice-time (he averaged 17:52 before Chabot's injury). Kleven drew some criticism for a failed clearance against Minnesota last weekend that led to an eventual game-winning goal. However, his pairing with Spence remains serviceable throughout their time together.

Consequently, Spence's role will also be affected as he received opportunities as the team's quarterback on their second power-play unit.

"I'm not going to sit here and say we don't miss (Chabot)," Green said earlier this week. "We're not asking (Kleven) to be (Chabot) either. We're asking (Kleven) to be the best version of himself. He's still a young defenceman, relatively young in the league, and trying not to put pressure on him to be anything more than his best version of himself. I think his game has been very solid.

"There's going to be ups and downs with a young defenceman's game. There's certain moments in a game where (he) is playing, probably, spots that he hasn't had to before. And he'll learn from that as well."

Once Chabot returns, Kleven can return to playing fewer minutes on a third pairing and could even be reunited with Nikolas Matinpalo if Green so chooses. More importantly for the Senators, they're a healthier group with Chabot back in the fold.

There's something about December for Senators winger Drake Batherson, who's projected to have the best numbers of his career by season's end. Batherson has five goals and 11 points in eight games this month, adding to what's already been a successful month throughout his career.

How does he explain the success? "Hard to say," he says.

"It's my favorite holiday, I guess," Batherson said Friday. "I don't know. The weather. There's no explanation to it. Fun time to play. World Juniors, stuff like that coming up."

Whatever the reason, it has benefitted the 27-year-old through his first 30 games of the season. Batherson is projected to flirt with the 90-point plateau, which is above and beyond his career best. He set a career-high with 68 points last season.

While Batherson's playmaking and goalscoring have been on display, the forward said he's also worked at being harder on pucks. It's something Green tried to instill from him during the coach's first offseason with the group.

"That's something he briefed me a lot at the start," Batherson said to The Athletic earlier this week. "Just trying to get myself into scoring areas, dangerous areas by using my body to protect the puck. Or beating a guy to an area to get a shot off. I would say that's been the biggest thing."

And with his performances, it's natural to wonder how he stacks up against his fellow countrymen ahead of Hockey Canada's roster reveal on Dec. 31, ahead of the Winter Olympics in February.

Considering the quality of players battling for spots, players like Tom Wilson, Macklin Celebrini, the injured Connor Bedard and Nick Suzuki, Batherson is in a tough spot to make his case. Batherson also told The Athletic that Hockey Canada hasn't called him for any shortlist or consideration ahead of its roster reveal. Unless something drastic happens before then, he's likely to be on the outside looking in for a roster spot.

But it's not for lack of trying. Through 30 games played this season, Batherson is 11th-ranked among Canadian-born players in points per game and tied for 11th in power-play points. Even if he doesn't make the team, Batherson is still in good company among Canada's best players this season.

Earlier this week, my colleague Chris Johnston dropped version 2.0 of his trade board.

By Friday at 11:59 p.m. ET, the deadline before the NHL's roster freeze kicked in for the holidays, the ninth and tenth players from his big board -- Phillip Danault and Mason Marchment -- were traded.

The Sens didn't complete a trade by the deadline. If Ottawa wants to pursue anyone else, it will have to wait until Dec. 28.

What's been fascinating about the Senators is how expectations have been measured when it comes to a trade. Reports surfaced at the season's start that the Senators might swing for the fences on a trade. But that has cooled in recent weeks. Johnston even suggested that on a recent episode of "The Chris Johnston Show."

Does that mean Sens fans shouldn't expect anything from general manager Steve Staios? Not so fast. If last year's trade deadline was any indication, the organization could always surprise people. Last year, more than half the league expressed interest in Dylan Cozens, and it was unclear at the time whether the Senators were interested. We all know how that ended. You can never be too sure with this regime, which operates in silence as much as possible.

But if the Senators aren't taking a big swing as anticipated, it could still mean seeking depth pieces if needed. While I would rather see Ottawa aim for the stars and shoot for the moon on a high-quality, bona fide top-six forward, those pieces don't grow on trees. If the Sens address a need for scoring in any way offensively, there could be some players available who'd fill that need.

I can understand links to players like Blake Coleman or Brayden Schenn, veterans with playoff experience who can play middle-of-the-lineup minutes. Coleman, particularly, would be bolstered playing with a forechecking or defensive centre as he does in Calgary with Mikael Backlund. Kiefer Sherwood is a sexier pick for teams this year, thanks to his 16 goals on 21.1 percent shooting.

I'm curious if the Sens want to meet Vancouver's asking price, which, according to my colleague Pierre LeBrun, could be a young player, a high pick or a top prospect. I'm leaning towards no, but things can change.

I'm hazarding a guess here. I imagine someone like Marchment might have been a player the Sens would've liked adding to their forward group. A big body who can play physically and has reached the 20-goal plateau before, and has played in the postseason. He checks off a lot of boxes for what they're looking for and who they're trying to be, except Columbus beat them to the punch.

One piece that the Senators haven't expressed interest in is German-born forward Lukas Reichel, who's seeking a change of scenery after 14 games with the Vancouver Canucks.

Earlier this week, Reichel's agent, Allain Roy, told The Athletic that he had "not yet" heard anything about the Senators being interested in his client. In 188 career games, Reichel has 22 goals and 59 points. Chicago drafted him 17th in 2020 -- 14 places below fellow countryman Tim Stützle.

Again, things can change. The Senators' lack of interest in Reichel indicates that they want someone more proven or established at forward if that's where they'd like to add. And I expect the Senators to add ahead of the March deadline.