Nick Cousins is out seven to 10 days, and the Ottawa Senators are now fighting a different battle over how they answered Jakob Chychrun's hit.
Travis Green confirmed the timeline Wednesday and said Cousins was briefly unconscious after the third-period collision in Tuesday's 3-2 overtime loss to the Washington Capitals. The 33-year-old is doing "as well as can be expected," Green said.
The scoreboard barely matters anymore. The conversation around Ottawa tonight, as the Ottawa Senators play Colorado, is about what the team did not do.
We reported Wednesday that Green was surprised no penalty was called on the hit. No call, no response on the ice, and a veteran forward carried off. That combination is what lit this up.
Brent Wallace made his feelings plain: "There's NEVER a response on this team!" he said, clearly fired up. Former NHL defenseman Jason York pushed back, arguing it was the wrong moment to drop the gloves with the game that close and time left on the clock.
Captain Thomas Chabot took a different tone. "I think everybody hates these scenes in hockey and any sport," he said. "Obviously, you're aware it's part of the game, but it's a lot more than the game of hockey, and it sucks seeing him like that."
Was staying composed the right call for Ottawa?
York's argument holds up in the moment. Chasing a point in a tied game is a real priority, and a fighting major or a bad penalty can cost you the game you're trying to save.
But the game ended in an overtime loss, and nothing was said or done afterward either. Cousins has 44 penalty minutes this season, so he's hardly a player who avoids the rough stuff. Teammates will notice that nobody picked up the slack for him.
There's also a small footnote that fans are chewing on. Cousins reportedly unfollowed Chychrun on Instagram, and we covered that Instagram move on Wednesday. The two were teammates in Arizona from 2017 to 2019.
Ottawa sits at 11-6-2 and has a quick turnaround, with a trip to Pittsburgh on Saturday. How the Ottawa Senators play that night will say a lot about how much this one stayed in the room.
This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence, based on public reports and official sources.
Should the Senators have answered Chychrun's hit physically on Tuesday?
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