Casey Mittelstadt began the season as the Buffalo Sabres' No. 1 center but disappeared with an upper-body injury after playing just over nine minutes of the Oct. 14 season opener against Montreal. He finally returned on last week's road trip and has played in three more games, but now he's out again.
And the Sabres are bracing to hear more bad news about a player they had high hopes for this season.
Mittelstadt left the ice and limped down the tunnel during Tuesday's game with Anaheim and there is concern he has the same injury that knocked him out for seven weeks.
Coach Don Granato first broached that possibility Wednesday morning on his weekly appearance on WGR Radio and confirmed that during his media briefing later in the day after practice in KeyBank Center.
"We're still gathering information, having him see doctors, then going through their procedures to figure out where we're at," Granato said.
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Asked directly if the fear is this is another long-term injury, Granato simply said, "Could be."
Granato said the team is hoping it's perhaps a scar tissue tear, which is much less of an issue, but admitted Tuesday night's problem arose in the same area Mittelstadt was hurt against Montreal.
"It's tough when you see players that committed and then on the other side how important it is for our team to have three-line scoring depth," Granato said. "Then the power play, he's missing that time. We're missing him for that time. It's not fun. It's not fun for him.
"It's tough for me when I think of him because he is a committed, determined player and determined to make the Buffalo Sabres a competitive team. He was one of the guys I mentioned that didn't want to go home last summer after the season wanted to stay here and train, be in Buffalo."
The Sabres don't play again until hosting the New York Rangers on Friday and have time to make roster decisions. Zemgus Girgensons did not practice Wednesday due to a maintenance day while goaltender Malcolm Subban (lower body) skated on his own before practice. He is scheduled to do that again Thursday, which likely means he won't be joining the team for the weekend back-to-back against the Rangers and Washington.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Aaron Dell were the goalies at practice Wednesday and will likely man the nets this weekend.
