The coach went on to say that he didn't feel any of the team's current, active defenceman deserved to come out of the line-up hence the return of the 11 forward, 7 defenceman rotation. Stay tuned until after warm-up for confirmation on which forward will be inactive but we can confirm that Mark Stone has been ruled out for tonight's game.
The Sens leading scorer has missed the Sens' last 11 games with a lower-body injury he suffered against the Calgary Flames back on March 9th but he has hinted at being close to a return lately.
"It's getting better but I'll take the night off tonight though," said Stone following the morning skate. "I'm going to skate again tomorrow, hopefully get a really good practice in again and we'll go from there."
Stone has joined the Sens for several skates and practices while wearing a regular contact jersey but his return will be delayed and with under a week left in the season, it may not come at all this year.
"I think there's a chance yeah," Stone said about the possibility of not playing again this season. "I don't think that they'll want me going out there if there are any risks. I've felt good for a couple of days in a row here but if there's even a minor setback then it'll probably become a case of them wanting me to shut it down."