Senators’ Thomas Chabot expected to return this weekend

Ottawa Senators’ defenseman Thomas Chabot is expected to return to the lineup for their game on Saturday against the Chicago Blackhawks, according to Ottawa Citizen reporter Bruce Garrioch.

The 28-year-old Chabot hasn’t played since suffering an upper-body injury against the Dallas Stars on Nov. 11. Through 16 games this season, he’s scored two goals and recorded eight assists for 10 points, averaging 21:55 of ice time.

The most recent news involving Chabot came at the beginning of December after head coach Travis Green said the blueliner was expected to be out for another 10 days.

Now in his 10th NHL season, Chabot, a native of Sainte-Marie, Que., has 73 goals and 241 assists for 341 points in 530 regular-season games, averaging 23:46 of ice time during that span.

Chabot’s best offensive campaign was in 2018-19, just his second full season in the league, when he finished with 14 goals and 41 assists for 55 points in 70 games.

Taken No. 18 overall by the Senators in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, Chabot spent four seasons in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League with the Saint John Sea Dogs. In 202 career games in the QMJHL, Chabot scored 34 goals and 119 assists for 153 points.

In his final QMJHL season, Chabot helped lead the Sea Dogs to a President’s Cup, the third in the franchise’s history.

Chabot twice represented Canada at the World Junior Championship in 2016 and 2017, earning a silver medal in 2017. Through both tournaments, he scored four goals and recorded nine assists for 13 points in 12 games.

The Senators are 16-3-4 with 36 points, sixth in the Atlantic Division and 13th in the Eastern Conference.

After their game against the Blackhawks, the Senators head south of the border to take on the Boston Bruins on Sunday.