Buffalo Sabres defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin is out on a day-to-day basis after sustaining a foot injury in yesterday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers, the team announced Wednesday.
Lyubushkin has impressed early on after signing a two-year, $2.75MM AAV contract with the Sabres in free agency last offseason. He’s notched one assist and has a +1 rating through three games, but he was perhaps most notable against Edmonton in his performance that was cut short due to injury. The 6′ 2″, 208-pound defenseman played an imposing and intimidating game that highlights his strengths, limiting chances against and laying big hits. A massive open-ice hit he laid on Oilers forward Dylan Holloway was his highlight of the night, and he only received a two-minute minor for roughing after the play.
His defensive performance has stood out in a good way, and his plays are a significant reason why the Sabres are off to a strong 2-1-0 start to the 2022-23 season. Hopefully, he won’t miss more than a handful of games and can continue building on his strong start sooner rather than later.
In the meantime for Buffalo, Casey Fitzgerald will likely step into a bottom-pairing role alongside Jacob Bryson. The team also has Lawrence Pilut stashed in the minors who does not require waivers, and he could be a call-up option if the team desires a more offensively-inclined replacement on the backend. It’s not a likely scenario, however, as Fitzgerald remains a slightly better stylistic fit for Lyubushkin’s game.
Any Sabres fans?
What happened to Jack Quinn? He went from ROY candidate to healthy scratch really quickly.
Personally, feel like any ROY discussion for him was wayyyy overhyped. Good prospect, but not quite in that echelon in terms of his development. Have to be aware that the jump from the AHL to NHL can be gigantic for a kid that age.
It’s only been 3 games & as the season goes along Quinn will be alright. They decided to waive & send down Bjork instead of Quinn (Quinn offers more offensive upside).
That guy who gave Holloway the suicide pass should be healthy scratched for a few games for attempted murder.
It was Foegle who sent that pass, who was also the one to answer the bell and went after Lybo after the clean hit so he gets a little leway for that. And the fact the Oilers are already playing short a FW makes it impossible for them to healthy scratch him.