Ottawa's Left Wing Problem Just Got Worse

Hayden Hodgson picked up a two-game suspension Friday from the NHL's Department of Player Safety for charging and boarding the Kings' Clarke. That's a nuisance. The bigger item is Warren Foegele, who was placed on injured reserve Thursday with a knee injury described as potentially extended. Two forwards gone from the left side in 48 hours, and neither was exactly plugging a hole — the position was already a problem before they went down.

Jaxon Cover is listed as the top left wing on Ottawa's depth chart and has produced nothing at the position this season. William Eklund is the one doing the actual work on that side. Below those two, Blake Montgomery is also at zero. The Foegele injury removes whatever forward depth Travis Green had to shuffle around, and Hodgson's absence for two games shrinks the options further.

Andre Burakovsky exited Thursday's game against Los Angeles with a lower-body injury, which I noted yesterday — that's a third forward now dealing with something in a short stretch. Green has been moving pieces around all month, between the Chabot situation on the back end and the goaltending carousel, and the left wing depth was quietly the thinnest part of the roster even before this week. It's thinner now.

My read: the next ten days are going to tell Green a lot about what this group actually has. The coaching staff can paper over one or two absences. Three forwards with question marks, at a position that was already not producing, is a different kind of test.