Gaustad, Gerbe back; Kaleta in neck brace
Paul Gaustad and Nathan Gerbe are ready to return to the Buffalo Sabres. Patrick Kaleta isn't even close.
Gaustad and Gerbe will be in the lineup tonight when the Sabres host Washington in HSBC Arena. Both were nursing upper-body injuries, which cost Gaustad five games and Gerbe six.
Andrew Peters and Maxim Afinogenov are expected to be scratched to make room.
Kaleta, meanwhile, will be spending the next three weeks with a hard brace on his neck. He was injured Dec. 19 when unexpectedly punched by Los Angeles defenseman Denis Gauthier. (The isolation of the incident on the video below starts at about the 57-second mark.)
"It's a neck injury that needs to be stabilized, and he'll be in that hard collar," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said today. "He can still work out and probably skate, but his neck has to be immobilized."
As the coach walked away he added: "From a sucker punch."
---John Vogl
If your critism of the Sabres is to harsh Mr.Vogl will not allow it to be posted.
Posted by: Rick | December 31, 2008 at 11:35 AM
Tom - You may have a point about Kaleta......maybe Chris O'Neill is his hero. They say emulation is the largest form of flattery.
Posted by: Vince | December 31, 2008 at 12:38 AM
How did Max Afinongenov find himself so deep in Lindy's doghouse? Who in their right mind would place Matt Ellis above Max on the depth chart? Max brings excitement to the game, and he's having a decent year in terms of assists. He also draws alot of penalties with his quickness. He needs to be in the lineup, no worse than the 3rd line.
Posted by: Kevin C | December 30, 2008 at 08:10 PM
Why wasn't Gauthier suspended? I guess the NHL doesn't consider throwing a bare knuckle punch to the head of an unsuspecting player as intent to injure.
Posted by: Don H | December 30, 2008 at 04:06 PM
Well.....what did I tell you about Kaleta?
Ruff is as much to blame for his injury as anyone. He encourages Kaleta to run around like a coward to try to draw teams into penalties. I said multiple times the kid would end up in the hospital from his antics. It's unfortunate it wasn't by the book, but you really are "asking for it" when you behave like he does on the ice. Anyone that says otherwise is either in Sabre Denial, or just has no concept of doing the right thing.
Remember, this is the same guy (Ruff), that had the city believing his team was tough and stuck up for each other after he had Peters/Mair/Kaleta go after Emery/Spezza/Heatly.
Hey Pat....do yourself a favor and stop the BS when...I mean, if you come back. The city has a bad enough reputation. At least in the past nobody could call us cowards.
Posted by: Tom | December 30, 2008 at 03:57 PM