Senators’ Cousins out 7 to 10 days after Chychrun hit

Ottawa Senators forward Nick Cousins will miss seven to 10 days after a hit from Washington Capitals defenceman Jakob Chychrun briefly knocked him unconscious Tuesday, and the NHL’s Department of Player Safety has ruled the hit legal, according to Senators coach Travis Green and reports from TSN and ESPN.

Green said Wednesday that Cousins was doing “as well as can be expected,” TSN reported. After Tuesday’s game, Green said the 33-year-old from Belleville, Ont., was “not doing great” but had not been taken to hospital.

Cousins’ name drew more than 20,000 Google searches in Canada over the past day, making it one of the country’s top trending terms, according to Google Trends data checked by Canada News Media on Wednesday evening. Related searches included “nick cousins hit” and “jakob chychrun.”

The hit came with about three minutes left in regulation of Tuesday’s game in Ottawa, The Canadian Press reported. Cousins had just moved the puck along the boards in his own zone when Chychrun pinched down from the blue line and drove his left shoulder into Cousins’ chest. Cousins’ head struck the glass and then the ice. He was helped off and did not return, and Washington won 3-2 in overtime.

Referees Brandon Blandina and Beau Halkidis first called a five-minute major, which allowed them to review video of the play, The Canadian Press reported. Because the replay showed no head contact, the penalty was taken off the board entirely.

Green told reporters he was surprised by the call. “I thought it was a head shot to a player that wasn’t ready for it,” he said, adding that the officials “must have saw it differently.”

The Department of Player Safety will not impose supplementary discipline, ESPN reported. The league found that Chychrun had a good angle, stayed low and drove through Cousins’ body without reaching up toward his head, according to ESPN.

The injury comes four days after Cousins scored a late goal to lift the Senators past the Utah Mammoth 4-2 on Nov. 7. He has two goals and an assist in 19 games this season, TSN reported.

Chychrun is a former Senator who later moved to Washington. He and Cousins were also teammates with the Arizona Coyotes for two seasons, from 2017 to 2019. Shortly after the game, Cousins unfollowed Chychrun on Instagram, the NHL Follow Tracker account on X reported, according to TSN.

Senators captain Thomas Chabot said it was hard to see a teammate hurt that way and that nobody likes those moments in hockey, TSN reported.

Tuesday’s game had already drawn attention before the opening faceoff, when the Ukrainian Canadian Congress planned a rally outside Canadian Tire Centre over Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin.

The Senators, 11-6-2, play the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday without Cousins.

Via The Canadian Press, TSN and ESPN.

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