BUFFALO, NY – The Buffalo Sabers will be without captain Jack Eichel for what Coach Ralph Krueger called “the foreseeable future” by striking another blow to a team amid a nine-game skid.
The injury is not considered to be end of the season, although Krueger was unable to give a fixed timetable on Saturday about how much time Eichel will miss.
“An injury of this nature needs more assessment and more time to understand it,” he said. We just know it’s going to take a while here, from shorter to what you’ve already mentioned [season-ending], but it is somewhere in between. “
The update came after Eichel traveled to a specialist for 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 as a result of the trip, meaning he will at least miss Buffalo’s next four games.
He has already missed two games since being checked into the final boards by Casey Cizikas in the closing minutes of a 5-2 defeat to the New York Islanders on Sunday. Eichel went to the sofa, where he was spotted in pain as he strained his neck.
The Sabers, which host the Pittsburgh Penguins Saturday night, are in free fall. Buffalo (6-15-4) is in last place in the league in wins and a 0-7-2 slip, already putting the team in danger of extending the playoff drought into an NHL record-matching 10th season.
Eichel’s latest injury is unrelated to the previous two that seriously hampered his production this season.
He missed the first week of training camp after sustaining an upper body injury during a pre-camp on the ice at the Sabers’ practice facility. One person with direct knowledge of what happened told The Associated Press on Saturday that Eichel sustained a rib injury while training with Matt Ellis, the team director of player development.
Eichel also missed two games with a lower body injury last month.
A year after scoring the 36 best goals in 68 games, the five-time goalscorer of more than 20 goals this year is limited to two goals and 16 assists in 21 games. He had not scored in 13 games before being injured.
Eichel’s scoring problems mirror those of the Sabers, who are in 30th place in the 31 team league with an average of 2.24 goals per game, and last scored 34 times in five-on-five situations.
His prolonged absence is the final setback for a team to swing from one crisis to another during the first two months of the season, raising questions about Krueger’s job security after two years in the job.
Buffalo’s schedule stalled for two weeks after a COVID-19 outbreak hit the team in early February, affecting seven players and Krueger. The hiatus left the Sabers on a limited schedule in which to pressurize their last 46 games for 83 days.
Injuries have become a problem.
Starting goalkeeper Linus Ullmark is still weeks from recovering from a lower body injury last month. And the Sabers are also missing two key defenders, including Jake McCabe, who suffered a knee injury that ended the season last month.
Rookie center Dylan Cozens is the last to be sidelined. Krueger said Cozens will not play on Saturday and is on the list with an upper body injury every day.
Cozens was injured when he crashed into the boards after a midice check from Pittsburgh’s Zach Anton-Reese early in the third period of a 5-2 defeat to the Penguins on Thursday. Cozens had just released the puck and seemed to hit his head when hitting the boards.
Cozens has scored three goals and two assists in 20 games, and was elevated to playing on the top line of Buffal instead of Eichel.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.