The Sabres began the season with more defenseman than they knew what to do with. Now, there’s one fewer body to consider along the blue line.
Alexander Sulzer had successful ACL surgery this week and will miss the remainder of the season. He injured the knee on February 23rd against the Isles, but according to Sabres.com, had to wait until the swelling around his knee went down before the surgery could take place.
Here’s what Ron Rolston had to say about the injury:
“What happens in those injuries – and I’m not really a doctor, but I play one on TV – there’s so much swelling early on, that it’s hard to diagnose early how damaged it is until that goes away, until they can actually go in there after that,” Rolston explained. “So it takes a while for that swelling to go down, and when they go in to determine how bad it is in terms of the repair. That’s why it took a little longer. But it was successful and he’s on the recovery path now.”
Sulzer ends the season with just four points, though he was one of the Sabres rare defensemen who also scored goals this year. His contract runs out at the end of the season, so the Sabres will have to decide whether the recovering defenseman is worth bringing back or whether to give Sulzer’s minutes to one of the young guys on the way up.
Regardless, Buffalo will be without the services of Sulzer for the remainder of the season, and this will likely mean more immediate playing time for Mike Weber or TJ Brennan.