Addressing the media on the team’s off-day, Dave Cameron dropped an interesting nugget of information pertaining to veteran defenceman Chris Phillips. Per the Senators’ head coach, Phillips will undergo a surgical procedure tomorrow to repair his back tomorrow and Cameron also added that he expects Phillips to be back for the start of training camp.
Phillips has not suited up for a game since Ottawa’s February 5th game versus the Washington Capitals in which he set a franchise record for career games played for the franchise (1,179).
As reassuring as it is to know that Phillips was not simply suffering from general body shittiness or the erosion of skills through the natural aging process, it’s hard to get excited about the prospective return of a 37-year old defenceman who is coming off back surgery, has middling puck possession metrics and only nine assists in his last 106 NHL games.