Buffalo Sabres interim coach Don Granato announced that forward Kyle Okposo did not travel on the team’s four-game road trip. Okposo is unavailable due to an undisclosed injury, which the Sabres are awaiting further evaluation on. The news broke during Buffalo’s pre-game roster announcements for their Monday night showdown with the New York Rangers.
Sabres forward Kyle Okposo did not make the trip with the Sabres because of an injury. Interim coach Don Granato says they are awaiting evaluation.
Granato says the injury flared up after practice.
Rasmus Asplund will replace Okposo.
— John Vogl (@BuffaloVogl) March 22, 2021
Kyle Okposo Remains At Home With Injury
Okposo has scored just one goal and five points in 24 games this season. He has struggled mightily alongside his fourth-line mates to generate opportunities for a floundering Sabres side. According to moneypuck.com, his line has the worst expected goal share on the team this year with an abysmal 28.3 percent. Sure enough, Okposo’s Corsi For (44.4 percent) in 2020-21 is the worst of his nine-year NHL career.
Replacing him this week is Rasmus Asplund who will slot in on the left-wing alongside Cody Eakin and Riley Sheahan. A second-round pick in the 2016 draft, Asplund has played 34 games in total for Buffalo across two seasons. However, he has only played five games this season with the Sabres, scoring once.
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What This Means Moving Forward
The Kyle Okposo injury adds to the gloom around the franchise. Buffalo is currently on a 13-game winless streak. During that span, every single team in the division has beaten the Sabres at least once.
Interim coach Don Granato has been thrust into an impossible situation. The team is dead last in the standings and trails seventh place by 10 points. Needless to say, player motivation is at an all-time low and injuries continue to cause further disruption.
Okposo joins a burgeoning list in Buffalo’s hospital wing. Currently, there is no update on Jack Eichel who hasn’t played in two weeks with an upper-body injury. Meanwhile, Linus Ullmark has sat out the last month due to a lower-body injury and Will Borgen is likely out for another four weeks. Longer-term injuries include Zemgus Girgensons and Jake McCabe, who both will miss the remainder of the season.
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