Buffalo Sabres’ Jordan Greenway leaves game early with upper-body injury

The Buffalo Sabres have announced that winger Jordan Greenway will not return to Saturday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes due to an upper-body injury.

It’s unclear was to what caused the injury for Greenway, 26, although Andrei Svechnikov hit him pretty hard around the halfway point of the first period. However, Greenway did play the remainder of the period, but did not return for the second period. He finished the game with a shot on net in 4:18 of ice-time with the Sabres down 2-0 after the first period before Greenway left.

Greenway has had a solid start to the season, with two goals and five assists for seven points in 20 games. That would have him on pace for 28 points in an 82-game season, his highest point total since 2021. He’s developed into a solid defensive forward in the past few seasons, with his 4.5 defensive goals above replacement ranking 82nd among forwards in the NHL.

Greenway was a second-round pick of the Minnesota Wild in the 2015 NHL Draft, and spent parts of six seasons in Minnesota before he was dealt to the Sabres at the 2023 trade deadline for a second and fifth-round pick. He’s in the second year of a three-year contract with a $3 million cap hit, one he signed as an extension midway through the 2021-22 season.

Right now, Isak Rosen is the only forward on the roster that wasn’t in Saturday’s lineup, so should Greenway’s injury cause him to miss any time, Rosen will likely be the replacement unless they resort to a lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen. Rosen has been held pointless in three games with the Sabres, and has eight goals and 11 assists for 19 points in 16 games in the AHL with the Rochester Americans.

The Sabres were looking to improve upon their 10-11-2 record heading into Saturday’s game against the Hurricanes, which had them in sixth place in the Atlantic Division and four points behind the New York Islanders for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.