Buffalo Sabres captain Jack Eichel is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, Sabres head coach Phil Housley announced Thursday morning.
Housley said that the Sabres will re-evaluate Eichel early next week, so he’ll miss at least the next two games. Eichel will not play Thursday night as the Sabres host the Florida Panthers and is also expected to miss Saturday’s game in Boston against the Bruins.
Coach Housley: “Jack Eichel is day-to-day. He will not play tonight. We’ll re-evaluate early next week.”
“We want to be cautious. There’s a lot of hockey to be played.” pic.twitter.com/lYixHd5FVY
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) January 3, 2019
The Sabres’ first game next week is Tuesday against the New Jersey Devils, so it’s possible that Eichel could return for that game, depending on how the evaluation goes. After that, the Sabres visit the Hurricanes on January 11.
Tonight’s game marks the halfway point of the season for the Sabres. With “a lot of hockey to be played,” as Housley said, it makes sense for the Sabres to be cautious about Eichel and not rush him back too early. The “day-to-day” prognosis should be good news, as he’s not being considered out “indefinitely” or even “week-to-week.”
Eichel missed practice the last few days. He skated briefly in the Sabres’ last game but ended up sitting most of the game out. In his absence, Evan Rodrigues has been skating in practice on the top line.
Eichel, 22, has 49 points (15-34) in 40 games this season.