Casey Mittelstadt can’t seem to catch a break this season.
The Buffalo Sabres forward will miss Tuesday night’s game in Vegas and reportedly has an appointment to speak to the surgeon who performed his recent procedure, according to Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News.
Mittelstadt suffered what the team called an “upper-body injury” in Sunday’s game in Colorado. He played 4:49 in the first period and then did not return.
It’s just the latest in a string of setbacks for the 23-year-old. Here’s the timeline of his season so far:
October 14, 2021: Plays 9:07 in the season opener before suffering an upper-body injury.
November 24, 2021: Returns to practice in a non-contact role.
December 2, 2021: Returns to the lineup.
December 7, 2021: Playing in his third game back, he skates 14:24 and then suffers a re-aggrevation of his previous injury.
December 10, 2021: Undergoes surgery, placed on injured reserve.
January 20, 2022: Returns to practice.
January 25, 2022: Returns to the lineup.
January 30, 2022: Plays 4:49 before suffering an upper-body injury.
Although the Sabres have now played 44 games, Mittelstadt has played in just seven, with no real consistency or momentum. After playing in part of the home opener, he was out for almost two months. Then he played in three games before missing another month and a half. Three more games, and now he’s out again. It’s rough for his development on a number of levels.
What’s next?
We don’t know at this point, only that Mittelstadt will miss Tuesday’s game. Thankfully, the Sabres (and NHL at large) are about to kick off their All-Star break, which will give Mittelstadt & his medical team a little extra breathing room and time to work on the issue(s) at hand. Buffalo is next scheduled to play on February 10.