After last night’s win over the Philadelphia Flyers, the Buffalo Sabres announced that defenseman Conor Timmins would miss the next six to eight weeks with a broken leg.
Since Michael Kesselring returned to the lineup last night, the Sabres don’t necessarily need to place Timmins on the injured reserve since they have seven healthy defensemen on the roster. However, due to the severity of the injury and the length of the recovery timeline, they’ll likely place him on it to allow the recall of additional depth.
The injury happened fairly late in the game as Timmins exited the contest with 5:20 remaining in the final frame. Video replay suggests that Timmins’ skate caught a rough spot in the ice, causing his leg to bend awkwardly and fracture.
Timmins, 27, is in his first year with the Sabres after being traded from the Pittsburgh Penguins last offseason. He has skated in every game this season, leading up to the injury, tallying six assists with a -11 rating while averaging 19:14 of action. In fact, his 33 games played this year are the second-highest season total of his career.
Given that, he was well on his way to matching his career-high in points, though it’s unrealistic to think he wouldn’t have scored at least one goal over the course of the regular season. Unfortunately, since he won’t play again until late January or early February, Timmins may have to wait another season to set a new personal benchmark.
Regardless, Timmins’ injury will mean more ice time for at least one defenseman on Buffalo’s roster. The team will likely move Kesselring into a top-four role and rely on 27-year-old Zach Metsa or 28-year-old Jacob Bryson to fill in the void on the bottom pairing.