Buffalo Sabres forward Sam Carrick will miss several games after squaring off against the captain of the New York Islanders, Anders Lee, the other night. According to Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio, Carrick will miss the next few weeks due to the arm injury, but hasn’t been ruled out for the rest of the regular season.
Before exiting Tuesday’s contest against the Islanders, Carrick had an otherwise strong start to his tenure in Buffalo. The Sabres acquired the fourth-line forward at the trade deadline from the New York Rangers for a 2026 third-round pick and a 2026 sixth-round pick.
In his 13 games with the Sabres, Carrick had registered five goals. Playing with the Rangers, Carrick had scored only four goals in 60 games. Additionally, his 51.0% CorsiFor at even strength, albeit in a small handful of games, shows that he’s mixed in quite well with Buffalo’s offensive strategies.
Unfortunately, there’s a very real chance he won’t manage to expand on those totals. In two weeks, the Sabres’ regular season will be over, and the team will be preparing for its first playoff run since the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs. If he returns after next week, Buffalo will only have the Chicago Blackhawks and Dallas Stars left to play.
Still, with all respect to Carrick, it won’t be a difficult void for the Sabres to fill. Although they are dealing with a few additional injuries to their forward corps, the team has plenty of depth to fill out the fourth line. Tonight, Buffalo is using Joshua Dunne in Carrick’s place, who has scored one goal and four points in 31 contests this season.