Buffalo Sabres Evander Kane Injury Update
The Buffalo Sabres have struggled early on in this young season, and now, they’ll have to continue moving forward without the help of forward Evander Kane.
Kane, who was injured in Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils, suffered an MCL injury and will miss four to six weeks of action. That would put him back on the ice as early as November 23 and as late as December 7th, provided no setbacks occur between now and then.
The injury update came from Buffalo Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma after Monday’s morning skate, just two days after the injury.
While the good news is that Kane won’t require surgery, which could’ve made this a longer-term injury or potentially a season-ending one, that’s still a solid month to month-and-a-half that the Sabres will be without Kane’s services.
Kane was injured in Saturday’s game when Devils defenseman David Schlemko rode him into the boards.
Kane’s leg moved into an awkward position, appearing to get crunched and bent back awkwardly.
Though the incident didn’t initially look that bad, Kane left the ice, limping to the locker room, and did not return to the game. Coach Bylsma didn’t immediately have any updates on Kane’s condition after Saturday’s game.
Here’s video of the incident:
While the initial hope was, of course, that Kane’s injury would be a short-term deal, it’s now going to be another long-term injury that the Sabres will have to contend with.
After the injury, Kane Tweeted that he would be back ‘as soon as possible.’
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The Buffalo Sabres are already dealing with a high-ankle sprain suffered by Robin Lehner in the season-opener. Zach Bogosian also has yet to play this season, a key component of the defense corps that could certainly use his help.
Now that we know Kane’s injury is longer-term rather than shorter, this puts the Sabres in a position to make some moves. They have to fill his spot, have to try to make up his offense, and it won’t be easy. They already recalled forward Tim Schaller from the Rochester Americans, an understandable move considering the Sabres have two games in three days this week, but that’s not likely to be a long-term solution.
Players like Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart and Ryan O’Reilly – the team’s leading scorer to date – will have to step up in Kane’s absence.
No doubt that this is a disappointing occurrence for Kane, who missed most of last season after having season-ending shoulder surgery that required four to six months recovery time. He was likely looking forward to a fresh start this season and could potentially easily put up 20+ goals, maybe even as high as 40. but this injury will certainly be a setback to that end.
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