Zub and Foegele Out, Hutton In: Ottawa's Camp Opens With the Wrong Kind of News

The ink on Drake Batherson's eight-year extension is barely dry and Ottawa is already managing a depth chart with holes in it. Artem Zub and Warren Foegele are both sidelined to start training camp, the Senators confirmed Wednesday. A day later, the team brought in defenseman Ben Hutton on a professional tryout — which tells you most of what you need to know about where the defensive depth stands right now.

Jake Sanderson was already listed day-to-day heading into camp, and Ridly Greig remains suspended. So the team is opening its first real look at the post-Tkachuk roster without its top defenseman available, two more regulars on the mend, and a center group that is already thin. That is a lot of absences before a single whistle has blown.

None of this necessarily breaks the season. Training camp injuries happen, and Hutton-on-a-PTO is a standard depth move, not a distress signal on its own. But Ottawa's margin for error this year is not wide. Stutzle and Batherson are the offensive spine, and the supporting cast — Cozens, Pinto, Greig when he returns — needs to be healthy and functional for the structure to hold. Last season the Senators won just 16 of 37 one-goal games. That kind of record does not survive another winter of thin depth.

The next week of injury updates matters more than usual. If Sanderson and Zub are back on the ice quickly, this is a footnote. If either drags into October, the questions about roster construction get louder in a hurry.