When the Buffalo Sabres have been at their best this season, stay-at-home blueliner Mattias Samuelsson has been in the lineup. As The Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington notes, the Sabres are 22-9-3 with Samuelsson in the lineup, but just 3-10-0 without him. Tonight’s news doesn’t bode well for the team, then, as the Sabres have announced that Samuelsson is out for their game against the Winnipeg Jets due to a lower-body injury.
Samuelsson has already missed some time this year due to injury, although it’s unclear if the injury keeping him out of the lineup tonight is in any way related to the one that caused his previous absence. While he’s not an offensive force, Samuelsson’s defensive play has received high praise. He was rewarded by the Sabres with a long-term extension that will take him until the 2030 offseason, and figures to, if all breaks right, be a long-term number-three blueliner for the Sabres behind the Sabres’ two top draft picks in Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power.
Some other injury notes:
- While Montreal Canadiens veteran defenseman Joel Edmundson could be a name to watch heading into trade deadline season, any conversations might need to be put on hold. The Canadiens announced that Edmundson would not return to the team’s contest against the Detroit Red Wings tonight. The blueliner, who has another year left on his deal at $3.5MM, has suffered a lower-body injury that knocked him out of the game. We’ll have more information on Edmundson’s status as it becomes available.
- Carolina Hurricanes forward Max Pacioretty received a major health setback when he tore his Achilles tendon for the second time in this league year. Per TSN’s Chris Johnston on the network’s Insider Trading program, Pacioretty travelled to Turku, Finland for the operation to have his Achilles repaired. Johnston reports that the timeline for his recovery is expected to be around eight-to-nine months, although there is always the lingering possibility that these injuries have a more permanent impact on Pacioretty’s playing future than Pacioretty and every NHL fan would hope for.
Carolina shouldn’t be surprised by the Pacioretty injury, He was injured when he was acquired by the Canes and in fact has a lengthy injury history and let’s not forget that Pacioretty was a salary dump by Vegas so this is an indictment on Don Waddell.
Which barely affects the team if he is on LTIR and cost them literally nothing. It was a great gamble that didnt work out.