The Ottawa Senators and Anaheim Ducks released projected lineups for their game, and the list came with plenty of absences. Neither team held a morning skate, making the lineup sheet the clearest read on who was expected to play and who was not.
For Ottawa, Fabian Zetterlund, Tim Stutzle and Dylan Cozens were on the top line, with Philip Tomasino, Shane Pinto and Drake Batherson behind them on the second unit. Michael Amadio, Ridly Greig and Claude Giroux were listed on the third line, while Nick Cousins, Stephen Halliday and Xavier Bourgault filled out the fourth. The Senators also had Warren Foegele, Linus Ullmark, William Eklund, Kurtis MacDermid and Andre Burakovsky listed as injured, with Burakovsky and Foegele expected to be out 3-4 weeks.
That injury list matters because the game-day projections were not just about combinations. They were a snapshot of who was unavailable and how both teams were forced to reshape their forwards. Ottawa's lineup sheet also pointed to a short bench of regular options, which is why the projected pairs drew as much attention as the names missing from them.
On the Anaheim side, Alex Killorn, Leo Carlsson and Judd Caulfield were on the top line, followed by Cutter Gauthier, Mikael Granlund and Beckett Sennecke on the second. A.J. Greer, Tim Washe and Sam Colangelo were projected on the third, with Jeff Malott, Roger McQueen and Nikita Nesterenko on the fourth. Ville Husso, Frank Vatrano and Tyson Hinds were scratched, while Ian Moore, Troy Terry and Ryan Poehling were listed as injured.
The most watched name was Terry, because he returned to practice Saturday for the first time since undergoing surgery on June 9 for a hip impingement and labral tear. Joel Quenneville said Terry will be back “definitely in the next week or so,” which puts the winger on the move without putting him in the lineup yet. That same day, Moore practiced for the first time this season, and the Ducks also recalled Brossoit from San Diego of the American Hockey League and activated Mintyukov from injured reserve after he missed four games with a lower-body injury. Anaheim later sent Nick Jensen to San Diego on Sunday, while Hinds was a healthy scratch for the first time this season.
It is a game-day projection piece more than a recap, and that is why the unanswered part still matters: the lineup sheet points to who is dressed, but it does not settle who will start in goal. For now, the best read is that both teams are managing injuries, making adjustments and waiting for the game to answer what the morning skate did not.
