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For most of the summer, the big question surrounding the Ottawa Senators centred around who would play with Erik Karlsson on defence.

At this point, though, the more pressing question is how the Senators would play without Karlsson.

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At the risk of trying to play doctor in the newspaper or online, there must be more than just a little concern about the health of the Senators captain only a few days before training camp officially opens next Thursday.

Just in case you missed Karlsson’s comments during his New York media tour Wednesday, he revealed he had yet to skate since foot surgery in June; an operation, he revealed to Postmedia’s Mike Zeisberger, that resulted in an artificial tendon being inserted deep inside his rebuilt left ankle.

We’ve been down this surgical road before with Karlsson, watching him recover from his Achilles’ tendon injury in 2013 at a lightning pace.

Still, an artificial tendon? No idea, four weeks from opening night Oct. 5 against the Washington Capitals, about how his foot will react to skating for the first time post-surgery?