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During the past two weeks, Karlsson and his wife, Melinda, have endured the tragedy of losing their unborn son, resulting in Karlsson having been in and out of the lineup.

But after topping the 30-minute mark in his past three games, including Saturday’s 2-0 loss in Detroit, Karlsson will be on the ice for the regular season finale at Canadian Tire Centre.

It certainly seems like the appropriate time to offer a reminder of the career which began when he was originally drafted as a Senator at Canadian Tire Centre (then known as Scotiabank Place) in June, 2008.

Since then, he has developed from a scrawny 150-pound something into the NHL’s most dynamic defenceman for the past seven seasons.

He has grown up and matured in many ways.

He has been the NHL’s top scoring defenceman four times. He has had five seasons with 50 plus assists, including the current campaign.

He won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best blueliner in 2012 and 2015. If the voting patterns had been slightly different, he might have a third or a fourth trophy. It says here that his 2016-17 season, when he fully embraced a dominating defensive game to go along with his offensive talent, was the best season of his career.

Then came the playoff run last spring, where Karlsson raised his game to yet another level, scoring two goals and 16 assists in 19 games. The Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP was within his grasp until that Chris Kunitz knuckleball floated past Craig Anderson in double overtime of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final.

All the while, Karlsson was playing with two hairline fractures in his foot.

As we’ve seen throughout the difficult 2017-18 season, he hasn’t been quite himself throughout, with some noticeable struggles in the defensive zone.

Sure, anything can happen in the summer. Maybe we will see a smiling Karlsson on the blue-line to open the 2018-19 season next October.

But just in case Monday is his Senators swan song on home ice, it seems like as good a time as any to recognize his career.

kwarren@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/Citizenkwarren