The Buffalo Sabres will be without power forward Evander Kane and netminder Robin Lehner as they play out the string of the 2015-16 NHL season. With the Sabres (31-35-11) well out of playoff contention, it was like an easy decision for GM Tim Murray and head coach Dan Bylsma to shut down two of the team's most important players.
Lehner, who suffered a high ankle sprain early in the season, re-aggravated the injury after appearing in just 21 games for the Sabres this season.
Lehner underwent surgery on Wednesday.
"I think the word with the injury and the nature of the injury is 'instability,'" Bylsma said. "It's not a break. The nature of the injury as we've said all along is you deal with a high ankle sprain months after you come back.
"You tweak it, you go through those and the last two weeks for Robin probably had a tweak in a game that was a little bit more significant than the ones he'd been feeling and then came back and kind of had the same feeling about seven days later in a game."
Lehner missed 42 games after sustaining the injury on opening night. He returned for 21 games, posting a .924 save percentage and a 2.47 goals against average in that time. Lehner's injury issues are troubling, but his numbers on a mediocre Buffalo team are promising for the future of hockey in upstate New York.
Bylsma also did his best to downplay the injury and subsequent procedure, telling reporters that the team may have been willing to keep Lehner on the ice were the team still in playoff contention.
As for Kane, he looked to be finding a comfort level playing on the Sabres' top unit alongside Ryan O'Reilly and Jack Eichel, but suffered an upper-body injury during a game against the Detroit Red Wings on Monday and will now have his season come to a close early after 35 points and 65 games.
Per the Sabres, the injury will take at least two weeks to heal and possibly longer. With the Sabres' season set to end April 9 against the New York Islanders, that means Kane won't be able to return in time to suit up again.
