Sabres’ Jacob Bryson leaves game against Panthers with upper-body injury

The Buffalo Sabres announced that defenseman Jacob Bryson suffered an upper-body injury during their Saturday afternoon matinee against the Florida Panthers and would not return.

Jacob Bryson

Bryson appeared to be injured after Panthers’ forward Jonah Gadjovich delivered a hit, with Bryson going awkwardly into the boards, getting up slowly and heading straight to the locker room.

It was Bryson’s only shift of the game, finishing with 1:16 of ice time.

Going into Saturday, the 27-year-old Bryson recorded one assist in four games, averaging 11:31 of ice time in that span. Through six NHL seasons, Bryson, a fourth-round pick for the Sabres in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, has four goals and four assists for 44 points, averaging 16:14 of ice time in 258 career regular-season games.

Bryson also spent parts of three seasons playing in the AHL with Buffalo’s minor-league affiliate, the Rochester Americans. He scored four goals and added 29 assists for 33 points in 76 career regular-season games.

A native of London, Ont., Bryson played three seasons with Providence College in the NCAA’s Hockey East conference. In 121 career games, he recorded 11 goals and 62 assists for 73 points.

The Sabres are 1-3-1 through their first four games of the season. In 2024-25, Buffalo went 36-39-7 with 79 points, seventh in the Atlantic Division and 14th in the Eastern Conference, falling 12 points shy of a playoff spot.

The Sabres, who have not qualified for the playoffs since the 2010-11 season, hold the NHL record for the longest playoff drought with 14 consecutive seasons, which is tied with the National Football League’s New York Jets among North America’s four major sports leagues.