The Buffalo Sabres are facing a series of early-season injuries as they begin their campaign. Zach Benson missed the season opener after being struck in the face by a puck during practice. Owen Power, who was expected to play against the New York Rangers, was sidelined due to illness despite practicing without restrictions earlier in the week.
Josh Norris, who played only three games last year following his acquisition from the Ottawa Senators, left a recent game with an upper-body injury. Head coach Lindy Ruff clarified that this injury is unrelated to Norris’s previous oblique issue and confirmed that Norris will not play in Saturday’s matchup against the Boston Bruins.
Defenseman Bowen Byram commented on Norris’s situation: “It sucks; knock on wood, I’ve been there before,” Byram said. “Things are going to happen for whatever reason, but you feel awful for him. But I know he’s a mentally strong guy that’s unfortunately been through it before, so he knows what he needs to do to get back and playing.
“It’s pretty unfortunate when you see how good he looked in the preseason, and it’s frustrating. … I’m not worried about him. I know he works hard and he’ll be back soon.”
Coach Ruff provided updates on other injured players as well. He stated that Benson would be released from the hospital Friday but would not travel with the team to Boston. There is optimism that Benson could resume skating over the weekend and possibly return next week against Ottawa.
Power did not participate in Friday’s practice but is expected to travel with the team and could rejoin the lineup soon, which would strengthen a defensive group currently operating with limited healthy players.
Ruff addressed his team ahead of practice, emphasizing resilience amid adversity. Alternate captain Alex Tuch reinforced this message: “That ‘next man up’ mentality is huge,” Tuch said. “I think we’re all really confident in everybody that we have on our roster; anyone that we insert on the lineup I think we’re really confident in. I think we have a lot of depth guys that are able to play up and down the lineup, and I think that’ll be huge. I mean, that’s what the best teams do, is insert guys when their injury happens, when the best player goes down, and they’re still able to win games and impose their will on other teams. I don’t think it’s good that it happened to us in the beginning, but I think it’ll be a learning experience for us and make us better in the long run.”
Byram has taken on new responsibilities amid these changes by moving into an unfamiliar position on special teams: “Guys have to step up in different roles and play well,” Byram said. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t really affect the mindset of our team. I mean, obviously we’re missing important guys, but at the end of the day, we got to go out there and play hard and play to our identity.”
With ten games scheduled over twenty days, Ruff indicated ongoing adjustments will be necessary as players recover or remain unavailable. On Friday at practice Jiri Kulich moved up to center between Jason Zucker and Tage Thompson—a combination used frequently last season—with Thompson likely staying at wing for now.
“When you go back to last year, that line of Kulich and Benson and Thompson were a heck of a line for us,” Ruff said. “We’ll go back to that. We get Benny back, we get Kesselring and Power back, and that’ll help us. Greenway’s not that far away – another body to fill in. We’re dealing with a little bit of adversity right now. We’ve got to get through it, and we’ve got to win hockey games.”
In response to Norris’s absence from Saturday’s game against Boston due to injury recovery protocols within professional hockey organizations (see https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/buffalo-sabres-recall-josh-dunne-from-rochester-amerks/c-346105116), Buffalo recalled forward Josh Dunne from Rochester (AHL). Dunne had recently served as assistant captain for Rochester after being one of Buffalo’s final training camp cuts this fall.
Dunne contributed 29 points across 68 regular-season AHL games last year along with seven points during eight playoff contests; he also appeared physically engaged during his three preseason appearances with Buffalo this autumn.
“He had a good preseason,” Ruff said. “I thought from the top of the circles down, (he’s) a big body that got to the net and played well for us. Physical. We’ll make a decision where he’s in, but I think he’s being rewarded for having a good camp.”
