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Boucher, who has been justly criticized for leaning too much on veterans such as Johnny Oduya at the expense of prospects, went on and on about the 20-year-old who was drafted 18th overall by the Senators in the 2015 entry draft and was MVP of the 2017 world junior tournament.

“You can see a kid that’s growing and taking leaps as big as you can take them right now,” said the coach. “Erik (Karlsson) is playing with him, too. I like to see that combination. They seem to react well to each other and Erik is taking a liking to having him around and teaching him and helping him.

“And when you see Erik playing that well and taking care of the kid and the kid responding that well, you know the future looks bright for that kid.”

Karlsson, incidentally, had three assists in the win over the Lightning and tied a career high with a plus/minus rating of plus five.

All of that creates plenty of speculation about what could be an intriguing week in how the Senators choose to handle Chabot.

With Mark Borowiecki (concussion) unlikely to return for games against the Chicago Blackhawks Tuesday and the Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday, and Oduya questionable with a middle body injury, Chabot most certainly will play in both games.

The Senators, do, however, have a decision to make on what to do with the rookie defenceman during the bye week that comes following the Maple Leafs game.

They could reward Chabot by telling him to join his big-league teammates with some time off.

Alternatively, they could ship him back to Belleville, asking him to further fine-tune his game at the AHL level.

At this point, anyway, the team isn’t ready to tell him to get his own place in Ottawa, that he’s staying here for the remainder of the season.