Sabres’ Danforth to miss ‘significant’ time, Samuelsson to return

There’s good news and bad news, Buffalo Sabres fans.

The bad news is forward Justin Danforth will “miss a significant amount of time” with a lower-body injury, as head coach Lindy Ruff told the media Friday.

The good news, though, is that defenseman Mattias Samuelsson is expected to draw back into the lineup for Saturday’s game against the Florida Panthers. Samuelsson missed the last two games with an upper-body injury, but participated in Friday’s practice

Samuelsson was selected by Buffalo with the first pick of the second round in the 2018 Entry Draft, and has played a large role for the club since reaching the NHL. In now his sixth season with the Sabres, the Philadelphia native has averaged more than 20 minutes of ice time per game. While he isn’t a major offensive contributor, Samuelsson’s size and physicality should be a welcome addition back to Buffalo’s blueline.

On the Danforth front, there is no clear timetable for his return, but Ruff indicated his absence will be “more than a month.” The former Columbus Blue Jacket suffered an injury in Wednesday’s 8-4 victory over the Ottawa Senators, which was Buffalo’s first win of the season.

Danforth is in the first season of a two-year, $3.6 million deal with Buffalo after spending four seasons with the Blue Jackets. The Oshawa, Ont., native brings a gritty, tenacious presence to the Sabres’ forward group when healthy.

The Sabres have had a difficult start to the season, winning just one of their first four games. They’re hoping to put an end to their NHL-record 14-year streak of missing the Stanley Cup playoffs, and they’ll need to stay as healthy as possible to accomplish this. Buffalo is in the midst of an important early-season stretch, as Saturday’s game against the Panthers will be the second of six games in a row against Atlantic Division rivals.