Sabres Dahlin Gets Early Scare In Scrimmage

The Buffalo Sabres Blue vs. Gold Scrimmage at the Key Bank Center on Saturday was a fairly uneventful 2-0 victory for the Blue squad, with Tage Thompson and rookie Jiri Kulich scoring for the winning side, but a rather mundane affair nearly resulted in disaster late in the contest, as defenseman Rasmus Dahlin left the ice after blocking a shot. The Sabres blueliner, who had a career-high 73 points last season, dropped his glove, grabbed his hand in pain, left the ice, and went immediately to the locker room.

After the contest, Dahlin indicated that he was unhurt.

“(It was) my stupid choice to block that shot, but it’s all good,” Dahlin said after the game.

A #sickmitts Tage Thompson penalty shot goal Vs. Dustin Tokarski at 5:36 of the second half opens scoring. #Sabres pic.twitter.com/E3J0YWKL9F

— Mike Harrington (@ByMHarrington) September 23, 2023

The 23-year-old’s representatives are currently in talks for a contract extension with the Sabres, with the hope of getting it done before the start of the regular season on October 12. An injury may not have affected those talks, but certainly would have been an early blow to Buffalo’s playoff aspirations.

“There’s 20 or 30 some other guys that I’m watching too, so I missed (Rasmus) going off right then. I was watching something else.” Sabres head coach Don Granato said after the game. “You want to get through. preseason. The meaning of preseason is to get ready for the season. So you certainly don’t want to lose a guy getting ready for when it really matters.”

The Sabres open their seven-game preseason schedule on Sunday afternoon in Washington against the Capitals.

The club announced after the scrimmage that they were sending goalie Scott Ratzlaff back to the Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL and winger Ethan Miedema to the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs.