BUFFALO – Right now, Sabres coach Don Granato acknowledged it’s difficult for him to think about injured center Casey Mittelstadt.
Mittelstadt, 23, just returned from a 21-game absence after suffering an upper-body injury opening night. Then in Tuesday’s 2-0 loss to the Anaheim Ducks, his third game back, he sustained another upper-body injury about six minutes into the third period.
Granato said this afternoon that Mittelstadt’s latest ailment could sideline him long-term, a tough blow for a reeling, injury-riddled team that has lost nine of its last 10 games.
“It’s tough for him, it’s tough for me when I think of him because he is committed, determined player and determined to make the Buffalo Sabres a competitive team,” Granato said following practice inside KeyBank Center. “He was one of the guys that I mentioned didn’t want to go home last summer after the season, wanted to stay here and train, be in Buffalo.”
Granato said the Sabres are gathering information on Mittelstadt’s injury and having him see doctors. The team doesn’t know if Tuesday’s injury is related to the one he suffered Oct. 14.
“It’s in the area of the (first) injury,” Granato said.
Stay tuned for more updates. In other news, Granato said goalie Malcolm Subban skated on his own this morning and will have another rehab skate Thursday.
Subban left Saturday’s 6-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, his Sabres debut, after jamming his right foot on the post.
“We’re not going to put him in practice yet, were going to push him in the rehab skate where we can monitor it better, then have him go full out,” Granato said. “So we’ll have him test it that way, push him a little harder tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, Granato said winger Zemgus Girgensons missed this morning’s session for maintenance.
“Been dealing with something nagging and it was a good day to rest it,” he said.
There isn’t a single player…not one…on that team that would be missed with any kind of long-term injury.
It’s like looking at a 1987 Dodge Colt lying in pieces in your garage and you think to yourself: even if all the pieces are there and I put it all together perfectly, at the end of the day it’s still a Dodge pos.