Injury Updates: Sheary, Steel, Sorensen, De Haan

The Sabres could be without winger Conor Sheary for their next game on Wednesday as the team announced (Twitter link) that he is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.  The 27-year-old is off to a strong start for Buffalo this season with three points in as many games despite averaging just over 11 minutes a night in playing time.  Center Evan Rodrigues, a healthy scratch for the first three games despite getting a $2MM award in arbitration, is pegged to take Sheary’s spot in the lineup.

Other injury notes from around the league:

• The Ducks have transferred center Sam Steel to injured reserve, reports Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register. The rookie was banged up near the end of the preseason with what is being called a mid-body injury and while he suited up in their opening game, he wasn’t able to make it all the way through it and has not played since.  The placement can be back-dated to October 4th meaning that he could be activated on Friday if he’s cleared to return.
• While the Sharks are getting Evander Kane back from suspension tonight, they’ll be without another winger as Marcus Sorensen is listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, notes Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. He suffered the injury partway through San Jose’s game on Saturday.  Pashelka also notes that defensemen Tim Heed (upper body) and Jacob Middleton (upper body), Dalton Prout (upper body), and Radim Simek (knee) all remain unavailable which is certainly testing their depth on the back end in the early going.
• Chicago defenseman Calvin de Haan appears to be getting closer to making his season debut. Head coach Jeremy Colliton told Chris Kuc of the Blackhawks’ team site (Twitter link) is now close to returning but they will give him a couple of days off to assess how his groin injury heals.  The veteran was acquired in the summer from Carolina but after recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, he sustained this groin issue shortly after returning to practice.