Senators' MacArthur not ready to retire: 'I feel as though I could play'

Clarke MacArthur doesn't want to believe his playing days are done.

The Ottawa Senators winger, who's been ruled out of the remainder of the season with a concussion suffered in training camp, wants to return to NHL action next season, provided he passes the baseline test and receives full medical clearance to do so.

"I feel as though I could play," he told Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia. "I felt how I did two years ago before this (happened). Everything keeps coming back around, and I just feel like I want to try to continue to do it. I’m going to work out the rest of the year and see how things are the rest of the season."

MacArthur added he still has a passion for the game and isn't experiencing symptoms that would cause him to worry about his long-term future. The more immediate concern would be whether he could keep up after appearing in only four games over the past two years

"I feel I can get back to the level I was at, and I have to believe that if I want to have a chance at it," he said. "Who knows? Those questions were looming over me all summer. I did all the work I could do and I felt really good at camp, and I was only there for a short while, but, during the drills I felt, 'I’ve still got it.'"

MacArthur suffered a pair of concussions during the 2015-16 season, and another during a training camp scrimmage. He remains under contract with the Senators through to the end of 2019-20.