BREAKING: Erik Karlsson returning to action tonight for Ottawa

Erik Karlsson will likely qualify as the comeback story of the 2013 season. (Jeanine Leech/Icon SMI) ByAllan Muir In what has to be the unlikeliest comeback

Erik Karlsson will likely qualify as the comeback story of the 2013 season. (Jeanine Leech/Icon SMI)

ByAllan Muir

In what has to be the unlikeliest comeback since Arrested Development, the Ottawa Senators announced this morning that Erik Karlsson will return to the lineup tonight as they visit Washington to play the Capitals.

This is the same guy who was supposed to be out for the season after being criminally assaulted by Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke (well, at least according to Senators owner and CSI fan Eugene Melnyk).

Unbelievable.

Karlsson was expected to miss 4-6 months after having surgery on Feb. 14 to repair a 70-percent laceration to the Achilles' tendon in his left leg. By skating tonight, he'll have made it back in 10 weeks.

He might be great at hockey and all, but we better make sure that Karlsson's prime directive isn't to kill Linda Hamilton. The only thing I've seen heal that quickly was a T-1000.

No doubt it's a coincidence that he returns to a team that's fighting to maintain its hold on a playoff spot after losing six of 10 and seeing their lead on ninth-place Winnipeg whittled to a single point.