Buffalo Sabres Defenseman Casey Nelson Deserves Another Chance

With the Injury to defenseman Jake McCabe, the Buffalo Sabres should take the opportunity to fill that defensive hole with Casey Nelson.

It’s never an easy time when a key defender goes down with an injury, but during the Buffalo Sabres game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Jake McCabe went down with an upper body injury and is projected to be out for 5-8 weeks. This would put him out for the remainder of the season, and possibly for a few playoff games if the Sabres manage to climb their way back into legitimate contention.

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With this injury, coach Phil Housley should strongly consider reinserting Casey Nelson into the defensive lineup. This would mean taking out either Marco Scandella or Matt Hunwick, placing Nelson on the top pair alongside Rasmus Ristolainen, or third pair with Brandon Montour. While I’m not usually a fan of placing two defenders of the same handiness on the same line, sometimes the benefits of a good defender outweigh the desire for three left and three right hand shot defenders to balance things out.

Casey Nelson’s last game played before yesterday was versus Toronto on December 4th where he was injured early into the first period. He came back from his injury a week ago and got a good shot due to Bogosian going down with a random issue before last night’s game. With Hunwick playing some decent hockey recently, I’m not sure taking him out would be the logical thing to do. Instead, taking out Scandella for a few games might do the Sabres some good.

Nelson is a smart two-way defender. He makes good breakout passes, knows when to step up in the offensive zone, and is good at working down low in his own end. Where he lacks some skill is his ability to clear the front of the net at times. While this isn’t a good trait to have usually, it’s his other skill that would have him pairing well with Ristolainen.

In 23 games this season he has 1 goal and 4 assists for a total of 5 points, but he is also leading Sabres defensemen in one category, and that’s Plus/Minus. Nelson is a +6 in his 23 games this year, and that kind of responsibility is desperately needed on the Buffalo Sabres blue line right now.

The choice is ultimately up to the coach who will man the d-pairs, but giving Nelson a good look in the near future should happen. He’s been out for a while and he has to be hungry to play again. That kind of drive and a desire to help turn his team around will make his a valuable asset on the back end.