The injury news continues to get worse for the Ottawa Senators, as the club announced that forward Milan Michalek had surgery Tuesday morning on his right knee.
The arthroscopic procedure was done in New York to clean out bone chips in his knee that have been bothering the winger for the past month.
At this point, the club does not have a timetable for his return — although they are hopeful he can be back in the lineup before the playoffs.
“We felt if we did this now, it would give him a chance to be back,” Sens head coach Paul MacLean said. “There was some internal discussions for sure. And the best case was this.”
Michalek has missed 14 of the club’s past 16 games, since being pulled out of the lineup after the pre-game skate in Pittsburgh on Feb. 13 with a sore right knee.
Surgery was a possibility for Michalek last month, but the team decided to try the method of rest and rehabiliation first. The winger missed 10 consecutive games before returning to the lineup on March 6 at Toronto.
He posted assists in two consecutive games — but has not played since March 8 at Madison Square Garden.
The news of Michalek’s extended absence is the latest blow to a Senators team that has been decimated by injuries during this shortened season. They are already without Erik Karlsson (Achilles tendon), Jason Spezza (back surgery), Craig Anderson (sprained right ankle) and Jared Cowen (hip surgery).
Last season, Michalek led all Senators players with 35 goals and was named to the starting lineup at the NHL All-Star Game in Ottawa.