“Jason Zucker’s health battle takes a serious turn, with Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff revealing the veteran winger’s viral illness is more severe than initially thought.”
The Buffalo Sabres are set to begin their Western road trip with a roster significantly impacted by injuries and illness. The team will face the Salt Lake City-bound portion of their four-game swing depleted, especially with key players like Jason Zucker sidelined longer than anticipated. Head coach Lindy Ruff provided updates on Zucker’s condition, revealing the veteran winger’s health issue is more concerning than initially thought.
After Zucker’s illness was first reported, it was expected that he would recover quickly and return to the lineup soon. However, Ruff clarified in a recent interview on WGR 550 that Zucker is dealing with a “crazy viral sickness,” a condition that has kept him from eating solid food for nearly 10 days. The winger has undergone several tests, and the team has learned that Zucker’s condition is more severe than a typical illness. As a result, Zucker has lost a considerable amount of weight, and it will take longer than expected for him to recover and rejoin the Sabres.
Zucker’s Long Recovery Expected
“It’s one of those crazy viral sicknesses,” Ruff said during the interview. “He hasn’t had solid food for nine days and has gone through every type of test. He’s down a considerable amount of weight, and when he starts feeling better, it’s going to take a real good period of time to get him back up and running.”
The Sabres’ depth continues to be tested as they push forward on their road trip. Zucker’s extended absence is a blow for Buffalo, and the team will need to find ways to fill the gap left by the winger’s absence. With their next matchups against the Colorado Avalanche in Denver and the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday, the Sabres are hoping to maintain momentum despite the challenges they’re facing.
Other Injury Updates
In addition to Zucker, center Jiri Kulich is out with a blood clot issue, which will keep him sidelined for an extended period. The Sabres are facing a difficult road trip, but with several key players absent, the team will need to lean on the remaining healthy players to step up.
Winger Zach Benson skated before the team’s practices as the Sabres made their way west, though it remains uncertain whether he will join the road trip or stay in Buffalo to continue treatments.
The Sabres will look to bounce back as they face tough competition on the road, with games against the Avalanche, Red Wings, and Edmonton Oilers on the horizon.
The New York Rangers finally got the monkey off their back when they won their first game at Madison Square Garden Monday night against the Nashville Predators. After going 0-6-1 in their first seven home games and only scoring six total goals in those games, they scored six against the Predators to help secure the win. A big reason for this win was that, for the first time this season, the Rangers had a completely balanced lineup. This is going to be a key factor to their drive to make it back to the playoffs.
Vincent Trocheck played only one and a half games before going down with an upper-body injury. He missed the next 14 games, and his absence was felt in a big way during that stretch. Instead of playing Mika Zibanejad on the wing as was the plan to start the season, head coach Mike Sullivan had to move him back to center to help balance out the lineup. This also meant other players, such as Connor Sheary and Taylor Raddysh, had to play higher in the lineup than they are used to playing. This is not a recipe for success and a major reason why the Rangers have struggled to score goals this season, as they rank 28th in the NHL with 41.
With Trocheck’s return, Sullivan was able to place him back at center on his familiar line with Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere. This line combined for eight points in the win over Nashville, with Trocheck notching two assists. He is also a key player on both the power play and penalty kill, so getting him back should only help improve both of those areas. Sometimes, you don’t realize how important a player is to a team until he’s not playing every game, and this stretch of games proved how important Trocheck is to the Rangers’ success.
In addition to getting Trocheck back into the lineup, the Rangers made another move to help balance out their lineup and correct the scoring problem the team is facing. They called up Gabe Perreault from the American Hockey League (AHL). He was playing extremely well for the Hartford Wolf Pack, with five goals and 10 points in nine games. Perreault earned this call-up and was immediately placed on the top line with Zibanejad and J.T. Miller.
He was one of the more noticeable players in the game, hitting a post in the first period that robbed him of getting his first NHL goal. He followed it up in the second period with a beautiful pass to Lafreniere, who scored on the power play to give Perreault his first NHL point. The Rangers have high hopes for Perreault, and if he can use this opportunity to help show why he should stick in the NHL for the rest of the season, that will only help him and the Rangers — his success means team success.
With Trocheck and Perreault filling out the rest of the top-six forward group, the players on the bottom six are playing exactly where they should be. Having to rely on players like Sheary and Raddysh to play top-six roles is not going to help the Rangers get to where they want to be. They are best suited to play on the bottom six, and with the team now having a more balanced roster, that is exactly where they are playing. Even a player like Will Cuylle, who can play top-six minutes, is now on the third line and will get better matchups going forward.
Even with Matt Rempe out for the long term, the Rangers have other players who can step into the bottom six if needed to, such as current healthy scratches Juuso Parssinen and Johnny Brodzinski. The Rangers have the depth a team needs to be a Stanley Cup contender; it all depends on whether the team can find out how to score more goals and if the players on the top six can remain healthy.
The Rangers, despite having a terrible home record, are still in a decent spot thanks to their 7-1-1 road record. They are tied in points with both teams in the wild-card spots at 18, and they are only five points back of being first in the Metropolitan. Now that they have a more balanced roster, it’s time to see if this was the spark they needed to get back on track and make it back to the playoffs.