The Sabres are waiting on a better answer from Matt Grzelcyk, and right now they don’t have one.
Buffalo brought in the veteran defenseman on a one-year deal to help patch things up on the back end after injuries hit early in the season. But Grzelcyk has barely been available. He played once, then landed on the shelf with a lower-body injury nearly five weeks ago, and the recovery has stalled.
Head coach Lindy Ruff told reporters including Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald that the Sabres are “in a bit of a holding pattern” with Grzelcyk. The injury has not really improved, and the club is now hoping the current treatment plan works.
If it doesn’t, Buffalo may need to take another route. That could include surgery, which would keep Grzelcyk out even longer after all the time he has already missed.
Around the Atlantic Division, the Panthers had their own injury issues on Tuesday. Center Anton Lundell sat out against Washington with an undisclosed injury, though the absence does not sound like a long-term one. Team broadcaster Doug Plagens said Lundell is day-to-day.
Lundell has had a quieter start offensively this season than he did a year ago, when he posted 44 points in 64 games. Through 16 games this season, he has four goals and two assists. Even so, he remains an important part of Florida’s penalty kill, which entered the day performing well above the league average.
Florida also lost winger Sandis Vilmanis during the game and announced he would not return after taking a boarding hit from Washington’s Tom Wilson. Wilson was assessed a major and a game misconduct on the play.
Vilmanis had been rolling before the injury, piling up five points over his previous two games. He now has seven points in 16 games this season.
Montreal, meanwhile, will be without Josh Anderson tonight against Toronto for personal reasons. The 32-year-old winger is second on the Canadiens with seven goals, and he has done real damage against the Leafs over the years, scoring 17 times in 41 career games against them. Owen Beck is set to slide into Anderson’s spot in the lineup.
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Canadiens Face One Big Kucherov Question Fans Wont Ignore
Nikita Kucherovs trade request out of Tampa Bay has already become one of the summers most intriguing leaguewide storylines, and Montreal has naturally found its way into the conversation. With the winger entering the final year of his contract, the Lightning are in control of the process for now, which means any serious pursuit would have to navigate both Tampa Bays asking price and a market that figures to heat up quickly.
The Canadiens have been mentioned as a possible suitor, which alone is enough to get attention in Montreal given the kind of impact a player like Kucherov would have. But this is still very much a speculative situation, and the reality is that several teams are expected to be in the mix while the Lightning decide how to handle the trade process. For Canadiens fans, it is the kind of name worth watching closely, even if the road to a deal remains anything but simple. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Suddenly Have Fans Watching Detroit For One Big Reason
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The names floating around are Dylan Larkin and Simon Edvinsson, but the rest is still very much in the rumor stage. Edvinsson is reportedly seeking a trade, while Larkin may be open to broadening his options, yet there has been no confirmation of talks or even a meeting between Gorton and Detroit officials, which leaves the whole situation hanging in the kind of uncertainty that usually keeps fans refreshing their feeds. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Finally Have Hope On Key Injuries Including Demidov
The Canadiens got a small but meaningful sign of progress on the injury front this week, with Ivan Demidov, Samuel Montembeault and Mike Matheson all taking part in on-ice recovery sessions as they work their way back. For a team that has been waiting on key pieces to get healthy, seeing that trio back on skates at least nudges the picture in a better direction and gives Montreal a little more reason to believe help is coming.
Demidovs return had already been pushed beyond the original target date, and the earliest realistic window now points to mid-November. The bigger takeaway for the Canadiens is that all three players appear to be moving toward a return before the end of the month, which would give Martin St. Louis more flexibility in a stretch where every lineup decision has mattered. [Read more 🡒]