First it was Mattias Samuelsson done for the season, then it was Jack Quinn going down a second time. Now it’s Owen Power out week-to-week.
Something Don Granato said recently when talking about various misfortunes that befell the Buffalo Sabres this season was about how he dislikes talking about injuries because it comes off as making an excuse for losses and general inconsistency.
Granato doesn’t want to make excuses and he hates to do things like that because no one wants to hear it. The fans, us in the media, hell, even he hates to hear it.
But it’s hard to ignore the reality of it all. And, unfortunately, the reality is they’ve lost various important players for swaths of games this season. From Jack Quinn and his offseason Achilles injury and his in-season lower-body malady to Mattias Samuelsson getting beaten up blocking shots and ultimately going out for the season with an upper-body issue and now Owen Power who’s out week-to-week with an injury sustained during practice on Monday.
Those are the big injuries and there have been various other short-term injuries that interrupted the lineup and made life difficult to get chemistry going on the ice or finding a proper workflow for the lineup.
It’s a lot and no one wants to hear any of it. Even writing about it is tiresome to a degree and it stems from having high expectations for the season getting waylaid daily by, yes, injuries but also from inconsistent performance that occasionally is caused by said injuries.
With Power out for the next little while (ideally, at least) trying to maintain cool and perspective on what this means for him is necessary.
“Injuries are very unfortunate,” Granato said. “This happened when competing hard enough in a practice—which is even more unfortunate—but you have to do that, you have to compete hard when you put the skates on and now that it’s happened, he is going to, unfortunately, sit back and you hope that that’s an opportunity to absorb different things.”
On injuries, learning, and the frustration within…
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The hardest part about injuries occurring is that they set everything back. Granato is always going to look to the bright side in these situations because what else are you going to do? Shake your fist at the sky and yell, “WHY US?!” No, of course not.
Granato cited what Jack Quinn did when he returned from the Achilles injury and how he looked just as good as he did before the injury. That has the unfortunate sour taste to it because of the injury he suffered against San Jose, but the lesson of that comes from showing that getting hurt doesn’t have to be a fully destructive situation that slows a player’s progress.
Although Power’s injury is not as serious as either Quinn’s or Samuelsson’s, it’s almost the straw that breaks the back of any idea the Sabres would be able to pull off a miracle run to the playoffs. Yes, snark cannon enthusiasts, I hear you, that ship likely sailed weeks ago but the mindset of the players is different than us in the media or the fans. They’re not going to mail it in even though for many people around the fan base have cashed in on this season. And that’s well beyond fair.
What’s frustrating for Power is his recent play showed he was finding confidence in his game and he settled down from the somewhat uneasy start to the season. The assuredness with the puck was clear and his decision-making was much better. No longer was he seemingly indecisive or getting ahead of himself in puck handling and passing. Power at full confidence is a dynamic defenseman and among the best young puck movers and playmakers, but we’ve seen that in spurts and starts for most of the season.
Looking at Power’s advanced stats show he’s performing at about the same rate he was last season which, isn’t bad but you’d ideally like to see progress. Mixing in how inconsistent the Sabres have been this season likely didn’t help Power advance his skills, but he’s also got to do his own progressing apart from team success and failure. It’s all the more reason why losing him for even a few games is a tough blow. You want guys his age to continue to build on a solid run of play.
It’s just unfortunate. Just like Quinn’s injury. Just like Samuelsson being done for the year. It’s all lamentable. Getting to see how Jacob Bryson can take advantage of the moment is nice for sickos and when Kale Clague or Jeremy Davies is recalled to be the seventh defenseman that’ll be something else, but the truth is the pressure falls even more on Rasmus Dahlin’s shoulders to carry the load. It’ll be more of an opportunity for Connor Clifton to turn things around and for Ryan Johnson to continue to grow. It’ll also be the time for Erik Johnson to market himself for a future inevitable trade, too.
It’s glum. It’s disappointing. It’s all very unfortunately on the nose for how the season has gone. Here’s to hoping Power’s absence won’t be for too long and that he can pick up where he left off and continue to improve his play.