The Buffalo Sabres, already without two of their top defensemen, will now also be without veteran blue liner Josh Gorges for what head coach Dan Bylsma says will be “weeks,” tweets Joe Yerdon of NHL.com. Gorges suffered a non-displaced fracture in his foot and according to Yerdon was seen in a walking boot yesterday.
The Sabres have been without the services of Zach Bogosian and Dmitry Kulikov since early November, weakening a blue line not considered to be particularly deep to begin with. Bogosian has missed a month with a sprained MCL while Kulikov has been out for three weeks due to an undisclosed injury. However, Yerdon reports that Kulikov is now considered day-to-day, suggesting he could return to the lineup relatively soon.
The Sabres are calling Taylor Fedun questionable for tomorrow’s game and if he can’t go, the team will have to call up a defender from Rochester of the AHL. Speculatively, Casey Nelson, who already has made eight appearances for Buffalo this season, could be the choice if a recall is necessarily.
(Buffalo Depth Cart – courtesy of Roster Resource)
- The Florida Panthers announced that they have recalled forward Paul Thompson from Springfield of the AHL. Thompson leads Springfield in several offensive categories including: goals (six); assists (nine); points (15); power play goals (three) and; shots on goal (64). He has appeared in 20 contests so far this season for the Thunderbirds. Thompson, 28, has just three NHL games of experience under his belt, all coming last season with New Jersey, and has yet to record a point. George Richards of the Miami Herald reports that Thompson’s recall was necessitated by an injury to Jonathan Marchessault last night in Ottawa.