The Sabres were not given an early Christmas present today as they found out, Derek Roy who left last night’s game in the first period and never returned, apparently won’t be returning anytime soon. Roy will be out the next 4-6 months with a torn quad tendon.
This is a huge blow to the Sabres organization as they are struggling already to get into the playoffs and now will be missing their leading scorer. Roy leads the Sabres with 35 points, 10 goals and 25 assists. Roy emerged as the Sabres best player early on in the season as he set up many of the goals.
The Sabres offense has been struggling to find goals and have not been successful of late. The Sabres next closest scorer on the team is Thomas Vanek with 25 points. Vanek clearly must emerge as a bigger presence and he must put the puck in the net more.
The Sabres already were dealt with an injury to another center on their team with Tim Connolly. Connolly who was hurt in the last game with Florida on last Friday is undergoing reconstruction surgery to his broken nose and is out indefinitely.
The Sabres will most likely be without Derek Roy until the very end of the season or possibly in a playoff run if the Sabres can get there. The Sabres are chasing the Boston Bruins for the final 8th spot in the playoffs. The Bruins hold an 8 point lead with the Sabres having played 2 more games.
The Sabres need to step up their already slumping play or need to make a move to improve the roster. The Sabres are a much weaker team without their leading scorer in Roy. Tyler Ennis has a chance to really step up and emerge as a top player on the Sabres with the absence of Roy. Ennis has shown flashes of greatness but has had the inability to finish. Ennis has 9 goals and 9 assists in 35 games this year.