BUFFALO – In his second appearance Thursday, winger Chris Stewart wowed interim coach Ted Nolan, adding some much-needed size and grit to the Sabres.
But Stewart collided with Tampa Bay goalie Anders Lindback late in the Sabres’ 3-1 win, injuring his right ankle.
The 26-year-old’s season is likely over, Nolan said.
“Stewart doesn’t look good right now,” he said this morning inside the First Niagara Center. “There’s only five weeks left in the year. I think his injury is four or five weeks. I’m quite sure we probably won’t see him the rest of the year.”
Stewart’s style wore off on teammates.
“You like big, aggressive guys,” Nolan said. “You’d even see Marcus Foligno’s game lifting up that game playing with him. Sometimes you learn through coaching. But sometimes you learn through peers. What he brought to our team was everything we were looking for.”
The Sabres acquired Stewart from St. Louis in the Ryan Miller-Steve Ott trade Feb. 28.
In other news, Nolan said his new contract could be done before the end of the season.
“Hopefully, it’ll be ironed out real soon,” he said.
Goalie Jhonas Enroth will start tonight against the Nashville Predators, Nolan said. Defenseman Tyler Myers, who left Sunday’s 2-1 loss to Chicago briefly after getting his leg tangled, will play.
In injury news, Nolan said defenseman Alexander Sulzer (lower body) skated this morning and could play later this week.
“It’s not as long as we expected,” Nolan said.