Two more critical members of the Sabres return to the ice

The Buffalo Sabres are finally ready to return to playing games on Monday after over two weeks of being on a COVID pause. The Sabres had their head coach and nine players on the NHL’s health and safety protocol list during their forced break. But the Sabres are gaining players back before they return to gameplay.

According to Mike Harrington, young defenseman Rasmus Dahlin returned to the ice today for the Sabres. Along with Dahlin, head coach Ralph Krueger also returned to Sabres practice today.

The team announced that coach Ralph Krueger had tested positive for COVID-19 while the team was on a pause. So it is fantastic to see coach Krueger healthy and back with the team.

Dahlin will be a massive addition for the team to have back as it was unclear if he would be ready to return to play when the team did. But he was on the ice today in practice, so that bodes well for him to play.

Buffalo is still without a few members of the team, so they had to make some interesting lines in practice today. According to John Vogl of The Athletic, the lines at practice today were as follows:

Skinner – Eichel – Olofsson

Hall – Staal – Reinhart

Smith – Eakin – Okposo

Thompson – Sheahan – Fogarty

Dahlin – Miller

Irwin – Jokiharju

Davidson – Borgen

Bryson

Even with gaining Dahlin and Taylor Hall back over the past couple of days for Buffalo, the Sabres will still be short-handed when they take on the Islanders tomorrow night. The Sabres still have seven players in the league’s health and safety protocol.

Rasmus Ristolainen, Tobias Rieder, Brandon Montour, Jake McCabe, Dylan Cozens, Curtis Lazar, and Casey Mittlestadt remain on the team’s COVID list. These players will not be able to practice with the team, travel with the team, or play in any games until they are cleared and ready to return.