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Thursday, November 4, 1999
Sens' defence torn apart
Kravchuk has partial tear in knee; out a month or more
WASHINGTON -- The Senators' worst fears were realized yesterday when it was learned the injury to defenceman Igor Kravchuk's knee is a partial ligament tear.
While the Senators are seeking a second opinion before deciding just how long Kravchuk is going to be out of the lineup, experienced observers say he'll miss at least a month and possibly longer.
"One thing is for sure: He's not going to be playing next week," said coach Jacques Martin before last night's game against the Capitals at the MCI Center.
The loss of Kravchuk, who injured the knee in last Saturday's 5-0 win over Florida, for an extended period adds insult to injury on the banged-up Ottawa blue line.
Already without defenceman Sami Salo, who broke his wrist on a slash by Bret Hedican in the same game, for 8-10 weeks, the Senators realize they're going to have to pick up the slack without the two veterans.
"When you lose two guys like that, you have to expect other people to play bigger roles," said Martin. "The fortunate thing here is that most of the guys play the same amount of ice time and nobody really took it all.
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"Other guys are going to have to step up, there's no question about it, but we feel good about the people we've got here. They've done the job before when we've had injuries on defence."
The Senators inserted extra blueliner Patrick Traverse and callup Karel Rachunek into the lineup Sunday in Atlanta, but the pressure is on holdovers Wade Redden, Janne Laukkanen, Chris Phillips and Jason York.
Suddenly, they're thrust into the roles as the anchors of the defence and Martin wasn't happy with the way the club played in its own zone in a 6-4 win over the Thrashers.
"Not having those two guys is definitely a big loss," said Redden, who normally plays 20 minutes a game. "That's two guys who play on the power play, kill penalties and have a big role with our team.
"I think everybody is going to have to pick up their game without those two guys. They took some pretty important ice time and that means different players are going to have to fill the roles they played."
The Senators have made no secret of the fact they're trying to make a deal for defenceman. GM Marshall Johnston has spent the last three days working the phones and scouted the Los Angeles-Pittsburgh game Tuesday night.
"That's definitely something that we've got to look at, but we've got some depth. If we have to, we can call up (Erich) Goldmann from Grand Rapids," said Martin.
Still, making a deal for a defenceman won't be easy.
"If teams have a defenceman who is in their top six, then they're not going to give them up for a Bruce Gardiner or a Vaclav Prospal," said an NHL executive.
"Those two guys are third- and fourth-line players at best. Ottawa needs a top-six defenceman and the teams that have them are going to hold onto them. They always say you can never have enough defencemen."
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