The Buffalo Sabres took a hit in the middle of a key early-season divisional matchup Monday, when captain Rasmus Dahlin left the game against the Florida Panthers with an upper-body injury.
The team announced the injury after Dahlin exited the Sabres’ matinee contest. The 26-year-old had opened his season on a productive note, coming into Monday with three points in four games.
Dahlin’s status arrives on the heels of another standout year for the Swedish defenseman. In the 2025-26 campaign, he helped guide Buffalo to its first Stanley Cup Playoff berth since 2012 and finished third in Norris Trophy voting, his highest career placement for the league’s top defenseman.
He backed up that recognition with a huge season at both ends of the rink, finishing with 74 points on 19 goals and 55 assists in 77 games. Dahlin added 14 more points in the playoffs, scoring four goals and setting up 10 others in 13 postseason appearances as Buffalo reached the second round.
He is in the third season of an eight-year contract that has already turned into one of the NHL’s better bargains. Dahlin’s cap hit is $11 million, a number that looks even friendlier as the league’s elite defensemen move toward deals north of $20 million.
Buffalo, meanwhile, has had a slow start as it tries to build on last season’s breakthrough. Entering Monday’s game, the Sabres were 2-3-0, and their four points had them seventh in the Atlantic Division, ahead of only the Detroit Red Wings.
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There have been brighter signs closer to home, where Vsevolod Komarov and Jake Richard have both shown progress in the AHL and other pro settings. Richard, in particular, has made a quick impression after recently signing his pro deal and working his way into a top-six role with the Rochester Americans. For a Sabres organization that has spent years waiting for its drafts to bear fruit, these are the kinds of developments that matter, even if the bigger question is which of these names will ultimately push all the way through. [Read more 🡒]