Senators' Phillips admits he contemplated retirement following back surgery

The Ottawa Senators record for most games played isn't going to stop growing quite yet.

Defenseman Chris Phillips, who broke Daniel Alfredsson's record this past season when he suited up for his 1,179th game with the club, admitted he thought about hanging up his skates following offseason back surgery. But he's now hoping to be a full participant in training camp, and to be skating regular minutes come the regular season.

"It goes through your head," Phillips, who wasn't able to play after the record-setting game on Feb. 5 due to the back injury, told Don Brennan of the Ottawa Sun on Thursday. "Especially with some of the setbacks I've had this year, that made it pretty uncomfortable, to say the least, at times during the summer.

"It got to the point where it goes beyond hockey and whether you can play again. It's whether you can walk upright, or have a game of catch with your kids and stuff like that. That was hard on me. They're setbacks and bumps in the road and fortunately that's all they were. Things have improved a lot since that. And now I'm looking ahead, and want to continue playing, and get healthy enough to do so."

Selected first overall by the Senators back in 1996, Phillips still averaged over 20 minutes of ice time in the 36 games he was able to play last season, contributing three assists.

The 37-year-old is entering the final year of his contract with the club, and will be one of seven defensemen battling for playing time - as long as his back holds up.