Norris Injury Deals Blow To Sabres

One of the most important factors in the Buffalo Sabres run to a postseason spot had been the return of top forward Josh Norris from injury. The career of Norris has been significantly impacted by time lost due to multiple injuries.

The 26-year-old center returned to the Sabres lineup in December and added key depth up the middle to the roster during the team’s push to a wildcard position.

In Buffalo’s win against Philadelphia on January 14th, Norris suffered a rib injury. Initially, the Oxford, Michigan, native was expected to be lost to the club on a day-to-day basis. However, as the grind of the compressed schedule wore on, it was clarified that he was not progressing as originally hoped.

Norris’ status has now been downgraded to week to week, and he has been placed on injured reserve. With Norris once again missing a substantial length of time, the impact on the Sabres’ forward ranks makes Buffalo’s continued playoff push extremely challenging. Losing Norris yet again forces the coaching staff to juggle line combinations and reconfigure power play personnel.

The players have done an admirable job of embracing head coach Lindy Ruff’s system, but losing a key piece, particularly up the middle, is a crushing blow.

The group has worked extremely hard to dig itself out of the basement of the Eastern Conference standings.

The Sabres did record regulation victories against Philadelphia and Montreal last week; however, the road to a postseason berth will only become more difficult as the second half of the season wears on. For the first time since the push to save the season began on December 9th, Buffalo has now lost consecutive games.

An overtime loss to Minnesota on Saturday and a tight 2-1 defeat at Carolina on Monday have the Sabres in need of a quick reset with four consecutive road contests ahead.

The Sabres need Josh Norris back to be the best team they can be. Much like earlier in the season, the return of a healthy Norris would go a long way toward stabilizing the lineup of a team fighting to end a 14-year postseason absence.