Tyler Kleven injury another hit to Ottawa Senators blueline

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The Ottawa Senators’ depth continues to be put to the test as the club heads down the stretch.

As the Senators prepared to face the Washington Capitals on Monday night on the road, the club learned it will be without blueliner Tyler Kleven for the foreseeable future.

Coach Travis Green told TSN 1200’s Gord Wilson that Kleven is week-to-week after he suffered an undisclosed “mid-body” ailment in the club’s 4-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets last Wednesday.

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Fortunately, the Senators have eight defencemen in the organization, but this news comes as the clock ticks towards Friday’s National Hockey League trade deadline at 3 p.m. EST.

Kleven, 23, had been solid playing in the club’s third-pairing with either veteran Travis Hamonic or Nikolas Matinpalo, which means this is another blow as the Senators head down the stretch and try to make the playoffs for the first time in eight years.

Kleven also missed the Senators’ 5-2 win over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday. How long he is out is anybody’s guess, but he didn’t make the club’s two-game road trip, which also makes a stop in Chicago to face the Blackhawks on Wednesday night.

Green didn’t make any changes against the Capitals, but this comes just one game after captain Brady Tkachuk along with top forwards Josh Norris and Shane Pinto returned from injuries.

The Senators activated Jacob Bernard-Docker on Saturday because he’s fully recovered from a high-ankle sprain he suffered in early January. His name has suffered on the NHL’s marketplace but the club is an injury or bad loss away from needing him to play.

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Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, has been working the phones in advance of the deadline, but the organization only has about $850,000 in space so making a move is tricky if Kleven is out long-term.

The Senators have struggled to stay healthy on the blueline this season and have used nine defencemen in 59 games. That’s why you need to have depth in the organization.

League executives say that help for the blueline is hard to come by and the market this year is thin but talk amongst all 32 teams has heated up because we’re getting down to crunch time for the buyers and the sellers.

Montreal defenceman David Savard, Vancouver blueliner Carson Soucy and Chicago blueliner Connor Murphy are among those listed on TSN’s Trade Bait board, but the Senators have been genuinely pleased with the top six.

Not all the news was bad for the Senators on Monday.

Defenceman Jake Sanderson, who left the game against the Sharks after being cross-checked in the back of the net by winger Tyler Toffoli with 90 seconds left in the game, was on the ice for the club’s morning skate at the Capital One Arena.

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Sanderson has been the club’s best defenceman this season with six goals and 37 points heading the visit to Washington so if he had been lost that would have been a massive blow.

He wasn’t feeling any worse for wear but did tell Wilson that the cross-check from Toffoli provided a bit of a scare.

He wasn’t alone on that front because a lot of Ottawa fans shuddered to see it happen and even more surprising was the fact there was no call, plus no summons from the NHL’s department of player safety for Toffoli to get disciplined.

“I feel good,” Sanderson said. “I feel lucky. I’m not sure how that play got missed but our focus is tonight on the Capitals.”

That’s because the Senators know this next stretch of games is pivotal to making the playoffs. If they can get back to winning with some consistency the club will control its own destiny.

“It’s exciting. Twenty-three games left and it’s going to be tight,” Sanderson said. “You’re looking at the standings with who’s winning, losing and whatnot. We just try to keep it tight in the dressing room and focus on ourselves.”

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

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