BUFFALO, NY – The Buffalo Sabers will be without captain Jack Eichel for what coach Ralph Krueger called “the foreseeable future” to give a team another run amid nine games.
The injury does not end as a season, but Krueger could not give a fixed timetable on Saturday about how much time Eichel will miss.
“An injury of this nature needs more judgment and more time to understand it,” he said. ‘We only know that it will take some time from shorter to what you have already mentioned [season-ending], but it’s somewhere in between. ‘
The update comes after Eichel traveled to a specialist over the past two days to further determine the severity of the injury. Under the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol rules, Eichel must spend seven days in quarantine due to the trip, meaning he will miss at least the next four games of Buffalo.
He has already missed two games since being selected in the final minutes by Casey Cizikas in the final minutes on Sunday by the 5-2 defeat to the islanders of New York. Eichel goes to the bench, where he is seen in pain as he bends his neck.
The Sabers, who host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night, are in free fall. Buffalo (6-15-4) are last in the league in wins and on a 0-7-2 slide, already putting the team in danger of extending its playoff drought to an NHL record-matching 10th season.
Eichel’s latest injury is apart from the previous two that have severely hampered his production this season.
He missed the first week of training camp after suffering a torso injury during a training session in the Sabers’ training facility. A person with immediate knowledge of what happened told The Associated Press on Saturday that Eichel suffered a rib injury during a training session with Matt Ellis, the director of the team’s player development.
Eichel also missed two games last month with a lower body injury.
A year after scoring a top-36 goal in 68 games, the five-time 20-goal scorer has been limited to two goals and 16 shots in 21 games this year. He has yet to score in 13 games before being injured.
Eichel’s points problems reflect those of the Sabers, who finished 30th in the league with 31 teams, averaging 2.24 goals per game, and last scored 34 times in five-on-five situations.
His prolonged absence is the latest setback for a team that struggled from one crisis to another during the first two months of the season, and two years after his job raised questions about Krueger’s job security.
Buffalo’s schedule was suspended for two weeks after a COVID-19 outbreak hit the team in early February, during which seven players and Krueger were affected. The interruption led to the Sabers facing a tight schedule in which they hampered their last 46 games over 83 days.
Injuries have become an issue.
Initial goalkeeper Linus Ullmark is still weeks away from recovering from a hamstring injury last month. And the Sabers are also missing two key defenders, including Jake McCabe, who suffered a season-ending knee injury last month.
Newcomer center Dylan Cozens is the last to be sidelined. Krueger said Cozens will not play on Saturday and is listed daily with a torso injury.
Cozens was injured when he crashed on the boards after a mediocre check by Pittsburgh’s Zach Anton-Reese early in the third period of a 5-2 defeat against the Penguins. Cozens has just released the shooter and it looks like he’s hitting his head while hitting the boards.
Cozens has three goals and two assists in 20 games and has been elevated to play on Buffalo’s top line in place of Eichel.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.