Despite reports that his season was over, veteran forward Clarke MacArthur may in fact be on the verge of making his return.
MacArthur went out of his way to signal that he felt he was ready to make his return in recent comments to the media, and made it clear he was intent on returning this season as opposed to next season.
“I’m always holding out for this year. I could care less about next year,” MacArthur said as per TSN's Ian Mendes. “I’m only training like this and doing what I’m doing now for this year. Next year is next year. I’m going to do anything I can to get back in and if they clear me, I’ll be ready.”
While MacArthur himself is extremely optimistic about his recovery, the comments made by general manager Pierre Dorion seem to cast doubt on whether or not MacArthur's optimism is well-founded.
“There’s been some talk that we may have him do the baseline. As far as him playing again, it’s always on the doctors, it’s not up to us,” Dorion told reporters on Monday. “The doctors will decide if he can play or not. But to put him in a game situation or a playoff situation when you’ve played four games in two years might not be the smartest thing.”
Only time will tell which way the Senators go with this, but it MacArthur does return it would be his first game since being sidelined by the hit from "teammate" Patrick Sieloff during training camp.
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