Artem Zub

And I feel like we've taken a big step forward With our medical and strength and conditioning and that coordination with Matt Nickel, being able to not only provide the best care available for our players, but to get them back as quickly as possible.

So it certainly sounds like Sanderson's closer than Zub.

Is there any update on timeline ballpark for Zub and how he's feeling? Because I know Travis acknowledged there was a setback, unfortunately.

There was.

I think initially we thought that he'd be ready for the start of the season.

Did not practice again yesterday.

We'll see if he's on the ice today.

And on Zub, not far behind.

No, I don't think he does either.

If you missed Steve Stahels' conversation with us, the update, I think, you know, the newsy stuff that we were looking for, he used the word confident to describe where he feels Jake Sanderson is at, confident that he'll be able to play on Saturday in the season opener, and said that Artem Zub won't be far behind.

I'm using his words on that, so won't be ready for Saturday, but shouldn't be too far into the season before Zub is back, so...

There you go.

The injury crisis exposed a lack of depth.

Artem Zub is steady.

Jordan Spence is fast.

But you need more bodies who can play tough minutes.

Yep.

Um, the biggest being Artem Zub.

Now, he had surgery, did he not?

No.

Not encouraging is the status of Andrei Burakovsky, who was not at practice, and there was no update from the coach on a timeline for his return, nor of what he's dealing with.

And as we know, Artem Zub has now, as we've come to learn, suffered a setback in his recovery from his knee injury, so he will not be in the lineup on Saturday.

Saturday versus the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Here's Travis Green when asked if he's happy with where his team is right now as we're four days out from opening night.

Um, it's, it's tough news and Jake Sanderson, such an important player.

Artem Zub is an important player because they don't have other guys who can really do what Zub does at the level of, at which he does it.

Um, so yeah, it's, The Senators being healthy and together and assembled makes them a difficult team.

When you start taking players away from that, it takes away from how strong they can be as a team.

Um, it's, it's tough news and Jake Sanderson, such an important player.

Artem Zub is an important player because they don't have other guys who can really do what Zub does at the level of, at which he does it.

Um, so yeah, it's, The Senators being healthy and together and assembled makes them a difficult team.

When you start taking players away from that, it takes away from how strong they can be as a team.

And the likes of Nicholas Matimpalo, Tyler Clevin, and Carter Yakumchuk are going to be – tasked with helping out on the defensive side of the puck.

Ditto for Artem Zub, though the latter is dealing with a knee injury, and he'll be back possibly in the middle of October.

This is a guy who plays it tough and also produced 30 points, so a good combination of physicality and offense from Zub if he's healthy, but right now he's a bit of a question mark there.

In the Nets, AJ, how does it look? Well, I think, you know, we're going to see more of the same sort of deployment.