Clarke MacArthur Has Failed His Medical
It’s not necessarily the end of the road for his career, but it is the end of the road for his training camp
When the season ended in May and the players cleaned out their lockers, Clarke MacArthur almost casually dropped a bomb shell - his future was in doubt. After coming back from post-concussion syndrome just before the start of the playoffs and putting up some big minutes in the post-season it was a bit of a surprise, but he had been playing with increasing discomfort in his neck since the first round.
Yesterday, Bob McKenzie poured some extra doubt on MacArthur’s status in reference to his interview with Pierre Dorion:
Sens GM Pierre Dorion was non-committal in our interview on the subject of MacArthur's future/status for this season.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) September 13, 2017
Today, the other shoe dropped with the Senators (and every single local media member that covers the team) announcing that MacArthur has failed his physical today and will not be cleared to participate in training camp.
#Sens GM Pierre Dorion tells the media this morning that Clarke MacArthur did not pass his team medical test during training camp.
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) September 14, 2017
There were no details available on what issues led to him failing the testing, but it presumably is connected to the neck issues mentioned in May.
Speaking to reporters, Pierre Dorion made it clear that no long term decisions have been made on MacArthur’s future but after missing most of the past two seasons to multiple concussions and now a maybe/maybe-not related neck injury it’s easy to think that this may be the end of the road for his NHL career.
Whatever the cause and whatever his future as an Ottawa Senator ends up being, we wish Clarke MacArthur a full and speedy recovery.
