| | KANATA, Ontario -- Ottawa Senators star right wing Daniel Alfredsson, who missed the first 19 games last season, will be sidelined eight to 10 weeks with a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee.
| |  | | | Alfredsson |
Alfredsson, 26, suffered the injury in Thursday's 4-1 victory
over Colorado and was scratched from Saturday night's 4-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres.
Alfredsson went into the boards heavily in the first period while attempting to check Colorado's Alex Tanguay. He said he won't have to undergo surgery.
This is the latest setback for the Swedish star, who missed the
first 19 games last season after tearing the MCL in his right knee during training camp.
"It's frustrating to sit and watch and not be out there," he
said. "We've got a great training staff here. I've been through
it before and they know how to take care of it."
Alfredsson has eight points in eight games this season, one
behind Radek Bonk for the team lead.
"It's essentially the same injury as last year but it was the
other leg last year," Alfredsson said. "It could have been a
lot worse. I could have been out six months."
In his fifth year with the Senators, Alfredsson never got on track last season, registering a career-low 33 points in 58 games. He also missed 13 contests in 1997-98 with a broken right fibula.
The Senators, who are already without holdout Alexei Yashin, will be hard pressed to fill the offensive void caused by Alfredsson's injury. The team is expected to sign free agent forward Joe Juneau on Sunday or Monday.
"We'll miss Alfie, just like we miss Alexei Yashin. But you can't use these things as an excuse," Shawn McEachern said Saturday. | |
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