The Buffalo Sabres will be without the services of forward Evander Kane for the next four to six weeks as Kane injured his MCL during Buffalo's Saturday game against the New Jersey Devils, Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma told reports on Monday, according to John Vogl of The Buffalo News.
The great Stephanie Vail, profiled here by TSN's Frank Seravalli, cut together a GIF of the play on which Kane was injured.
Evander Kane appears to have seriously injured his leg. Stayed down for a while. https://t.co/H4PTczG3dD
— Stephanie (@myregularface) October 25, 2015
"I thought I just rubbed him out," Devils defenseman David Schlemko said after the game, per Joe Yerdon of NHL.com. "I talked to the ref after and he said it looked like our legs just kind of locked. Looked like he grabbed his knee. Hopefully he's all right."
Turns out Kane isn't alright and the Sabres will be missing a key offensive piece for the foreseeable future. Kane, Buffalo's No. 1 winger, had one goals and two assists through the first eight games of the 2015-16 NHL season. As Vogl notes though, those totals don't do the impact that Kane has had on the ice for the team to this point, justice. He's been strong on the puck and is currently second on the Sabres with 28 shots, averaging over 20:00 minutes of ice time a night.
There is a silver lining here for Sabres fans and Kane though, as Bylsma indicated that the former first-round pick won't need surgery.
"When you see on the replay and you see how it unfolded and what happened, it could have been a lot worse," Bylsma said Monday, via Vogl. "It's not as bad as it could've been."
Nicolas Deslauriers filled in for Kane on the top unit on Saturday and may very well remain alongside Ryan O'Reilly and Tyler Ennis for Buffalo's game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, though Bylsma did not commit to that.
