Injuries To Blueline Providing Early Adversity For Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres are facing some early-season injury hurdles to jump over, as they did one year ago after losing center Josh Norris in the season opener against the New York Rangers. The Sabres 5-1 victory over Columbus on Tuesday, the club lost two of their projected top-four blueliners in Olen Zellweger and Mattias Samuelsson.    

On Wednesday, Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff indicated that Zellweger, who left the game in the second period after being checked by Columbus defenseman Carson Soucy, was in the league’s concussion protocol, but did not offer any further details on any timetable. Samuelsson left the game after blocking a shot midway through the second, and Ruff hinted that his situation could be more long-term.   

“(Samuelsson) will be out week-to-week with a lower-body (injury). “You’ve got to approach this as next man up, and I think we’ve got some depth on defense that in the short-term that can help us out.” Ruff said. “It’s an opportunity for somebody to step up and give us some good minutes and get a little bit of added time that maybe they wouldn’t get normally.”

At practice on Wednesday, veteran Dennis Gilbert, and former first rounders Ryan Johnson, and Radim Mrtka joined the NHL group that included Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, Zach Metsa, Conor Timmins and Louis Crevier. Gilbert, Johnson, Mrtka, and Metsa will be in the lineup against the Red Wings in Detroit on Thursday. 

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Ruff was non-committal in regards to how he would utilize his defense one week from today in the season opener against the Blue Jackets in Columbus, hinting of possibly putting together Dahlin and Power on a top pairing. 

 "We could  have  a  pair  of  Power  and  Dahlin  that  played  together  in  the  past  that  could  eat  up  a  lot  of  minutes  and  be  a  real  good  pair," Ruff said. “You  could  have  almost  anything. If  Owen  is  going  to  be  up,  you'd have  two  lefties in  Power  and  Dahlin,  you  could  have  those  guys  rotate  with  different  players. Right  now,  we  don't  have  an  answer  on  what  the  pairs  may  look  like.  I  know  that  there's  a  history  of  Power  and  Dahlin  that (have)  played  some  together,  but  that  means  two  lefties,  and  that's  going  to  put  two  righties  together."   

Last season, Power played a stretch with Timmins, but when Timmins broke his leg, the former #1 overall pick partnered with Bowen Byram. Dahlin and Samuelsson were together for most of the season. Either Crevier or Metsa could slot in with the Sabres team captain, but the former Blackhawk is just back from off-season shoulder surgery. It is unlikely that Johnson, Gilbert, or Mrtka would play anything more than a bottom-pairing role, and Ruff said that addressing the current situation with a move outside the organization has not been discussed. 

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