By IAN MENDES
Sportsnet.ca
The Ottawa Senators will take on the defending Stanley Cup champions without their best player in the lineup on Saturday night.
Daniel Alfredsson was scheduled to undergo arthoscopic surgery on his right knee on Friday in Ottawa. He will miss Saturday's home opener against the Detroit Red Wings, but the club is optimistic that he will return to the lineup soon.
"It's not a long-term thing. He'll miss the season opener here, but we're hoping it won't be much more than that," said GM Bryan Murray on Friday. "We're assured it's not more than a couple of weeks."
The surgery is designed to remove a bone chip in his right knee that was dislodged during the Senators second game of the season against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday. The club acknowledged that Alfredsson re-aggravated an old injury, but said this had no connection to the knee injury he suffered at the end of last season after a devestating hit from Mark Bell of the Maple Leafs.
There is potential for Alfredsson to miss only one game because the Senators upcoming schedule in fairly light. After Saturday's home opener, they have six days off before playing their next game - against Phoenix on October 17th. Murray said that the club and Alfredsson agreed this was the best time to undergo the procedure.
"We were told he could go forward with this for some time, but that at some point, it (bone chips) should be removed," said Murray. "We thought and he thought that this was the best time to do that."
"Certainly we're going to miss Alfie, because we're a better team when he's in our lineup," head coach Craig Hartsburg added on Friday. "But it's a great opportunity The player who will get the opportunity to step into Alfredsson's spot on top line is Jarkko Ruutu, who skated with Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley in practice on Friday.
"It's going to be fun. I'm just going to play my game and the other guys are going to have the puck more," Ruutu said. "It's a simple game and we know the team system."
"Ruutu is one of the best at playing down low and he's strong along the boards," said Dany Healtey, who will wear the captain's "C" in place of Alfredsson. "A lot of what our line wants to do with our without Alfie is create chances down low."
The Senators did have some encouraging news on the injury front on Friday, as Mike Fisher said he would be available to play on Saturday night. The centre has been nursing a groin injury and missed the first two regular season games in Sweden.
"I felt good today and it was the hardest I've gone. I feel like I'm ready to get going now," said Fisher, who stayed on the ice for an extra 20 minutes after most of his teammates left.
