A report out of Ottawa is saying that the Senators are expecting to be without Alexei Kovalev for the next week with a knee injury, but the nature of the injury isn't quite known yet. It sounds like Kovalev has been dealing with knee problems for the better part of the season, which would explain why we haven't heard when the injury actually occurred and might explain why he hasn't played so well this season.
In 42 games with the Senators, Kovalev has 8 goals and 10 assists this season, ranking him 241st in pool scoring this season, which is almost twice as far down the list from where he was at the end of the 2010 season. With a real lack of scoring pace through the first half of the season, the Senators might do a bit better with Kovalev on the shelf getting healthy, while one of their young prospects take his place. If the Senators are going to make a run this year, they will need a healthy Kovalev to do so.
Kovalev was a 9th round pick (174th overall) of Dale C. in the draft this season, as he was hoping for just a repeat performance of Kovalev's 49-point season in 2010, but that seems to be a bit of a pipe dream now. Kovalev doesn't have too far to go to even reach his pick number (23 points), in terms of his pool scoring ranking to be considered a decent pick, but with this injury, the gap will only get wider.Link to the Injury/News Page
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