Captain Karlsson confident as he makes his return

Erik Karlsson made his regular season debut Tuesday night at the Canadian Tire Centre.

Given the choice, the Ottawa Senators captain wouldn’t have waited this long.

The 27-year-old Karlsson, who is recovering from surgery he had in June to repair tendons in his left foot, was determined to play opening night against the Washington Capitals but didn’t have clearance from the doctors. He also needed more time to get in game shape.

The wait felt long and it was a little difficult for Karlsson, however, in the end he believes it was worth the wait and that’s why he was champing at the bit to pull on the No. 65 jersey in what was dubbed on Twitter as #HappyKarlssonDay in Ottawa.

“It’s going to be fun. It’s been a long time coming and the guys have been doing a great job for the first five games here and we’re excited to keep it going,” Karlsson said before facing the Canucks to start a five-game homestand.

Last week, while the Senators went on seven-day road swing with stops in Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, Karlsson stayed at home to work on his rehab with director of sports medicine Gerry Townend. He also spent hours in the gym making sure he was ready for his return.

The decision to keep Karlsson in Ottawa was made to ensure the pressure of returning to the lineup didn’t exist and so he could focus on making a full recovery.

“Staying back forced me not to play,” Karlsson said. “If I went, it would have been easier for me to make the decision to come earlier, even though, that was never intended.

“That’s why I made the judgment call to stay, just so I didn’t have that option.”

That’s because, if Karlsson had his way, he would have suited up against the Capitals on Oct. 5.

“Yeah, probably, I probably would have,” Karlsson said. “In hindsight, the team around me, our physical (therapists) and the surgeon, did a good job in keeping me back and letting me know an extra two weeks is not going to hurt you, it’s probably going to help you.

“Again, I’m thankful for that. The guys did a great job so it wasn’t too hard to sit.”

Let’s face it, Karlsson has played through a lot of pain before. He revealed after the knocking off the Boston Bruins in the first round of the playoffs this past spring that he’d been playing with two small fractures in his foot. The injury didn’t stop him from being the club’s best player in the post-season.

Doctors “took half my ankle bone out” and replaced the tendon, Karlsson told reporters last month. As a result of the surgery he had Charlotte, N.C., he had a “weird sensation” in his foot and that hasn’t gone away.

“It’s probably going to be the new normal at least for a long time,” Karlsson said. “I’m just going to have to get used to it. It still feels a lot different but, again, there’s nothing I can do about that. I just have to find a way to manage it.

“At the end of the day, there’s going to come a point here where I don’t even think about it anymore.”

Karlsson said it’s difficult to “describe exactly how it feels.”

“But I can feel something in my foot that’s not mine and I’m trying to work with it,” he added. “It’s a different feeling. Over a period of time, it’s something I’m going to get used to and, at the end of the day, you stop thinking about. Right now, when I start skating around not thinking too much, it’s definitely a weird feeling.”

In this case, Karlsson was trying to keep his expectations low.

“I’m going to go out, feel how it goes, and take it from there. I don’t really have any high expectations or low expectations of myself,” Karlsson said. “If we can have a good game as a team that’s going to help me individually.

“We’re just going to have to play it by ear and see how it goes.”

There was no sense in waiting any longer.

“I’m not really nervous, I don’t think I’ve ever really been nervous for anything, it’s exciting and it feels like it does at the start of every year even though this is the (sixth) game,” Karlsson said.