Karlsson won't join Senators on current road trip; eyeing return next week

It will be at least another week until Erik Karlsson makes his season debut.

General manager Pierre Dorion announced Wednesday that while Karlsson has not suffered a setback, he will not join the Ottawa Senators on their current Western Canada road trip, according to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun.

"No setback. It's all about when he'll be ready to play. It's all about conditioning and he's got to get used to a different sensation in his feet but there's no setback," Dorion said. "We're always hopeful he'd be ready (this week) but we felt the best thing for him would be to skate with Shean Donovan on a daily basis and we're very hopeful he'll play next week."

The Senators are coming off a 3-2 shootout win over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night and will now travel to play the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers on back-to-back nights starting Friday.

Karlsson - who is coming off surgery to repair tendons in his foot - stated last Saturday that he still hadn't taken contact in practice, but felt he wasn't too far away from returning to the lineup.

With Karlsson out for the remainder of the road trip, the earliest date for his potential return is Oct. 17 when the Senators host the Canucks.

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