ottawa Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson is set to return to action Wednesday against the Florida Panthers after missing the past eight games.
Sanderson suffered a lower-body injury after playing just 4:29 in the opening game of the season against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Wednesday's game marks the return to Ottawa for former Senators captain Brady Tkachuk, who now plays for the Panthers.
While Senators fans might be heated for Tkachuk's return to Ottawa, Sanderson is not fanning the flames. Ottawa's standout defenseman said, "I think we're just really excited to play a hockey game tonight against a really good team."
Certainly, if Sanderson and Tkachuk went to dinner Tuesday night, there are not really hard feelings between them. Tkachuk even paid the bill, according to Sanderson.
Wednesday's matchup is a critical early season Atlantic Division contest. Both the Senators and Panthers have recorded 12 points in nine games. The Senators (6-3-0) hold a slight edge over the Panthers (5-2-2) in the standings due to more wins. This is still a strong test for the Sens against a team with recent Stanley Cup pedigree.
Although Tkachuk started slowly with his new team, failing to record a point in his first five games with the Panthers, he has erupted since, tallying six goals and four assists in his past four games.
The power forward is skating on Florida's top line, with Sam Bennett at centre, and Brady's brother Matthew Tkachuk on right wing. That trio has been dominant when playing together, earning 75.2 percent of the goal share during 5-on-5 play.
The Senators' No. 1 defenseman, Sanderson has finished 10th in voting for the Norris Trophy as the league's top defenseman in each of the past two seasons.
Sanderson scored 25 goals and 111 points combined in the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 seasons, tying for 11th in both categories. He averaged more than 24 minutes of ice time per game in those two seasons. Sanderson is effective at driving play, finishing with a Corsi For Percentage of 55.6 percent last season.
The promising young blueliner returns to action just in time for the Senators. Captain Thomas Chabot has an upper-body injury that could keep him out of the lineup for a week or two.
Sanderson will pair with Artem Zub on the Senators' top defensive pairing while also quarterbacking Ottawa's top power play unit. With the Senators getting last change on home ice, Sanderson will probably see some matchups against the Tkachuk brothers.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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