Already in the midst of a tough season, the news just got worse for Sabres winger Kyle Okposo. The team announced today that he has been diagnosed with a concussion following a collision with Ottawa winger Bobby Ryan on Thursday and will be out indefinitely.
Okposo is no stranger to concussion troubles recently as he sustained one late last season that resulted in him being in intensive care by the end of it. This one doesn’t seem to be as serious at least as head coach Phil Housley told reporters, including Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald, that the team hasn’t given any thought towards shutting him down for the season.
The 29-year-old is in his second season in Buffalo and the results haven’t been particularly strong. In 65 games, he has just 11 goals (his lowest total since the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign) which is hardly the production the Sabres were expecting when they committed $42MM over seven years to him back in the summer of 2016.
Okposo is far from the only forward on the shelf in Buffalo. The team is still without center Jack Eichel who has been missing for a month due to a high ankle sprain and has no timetable for his return while wingers Seth Griffith, Evan Rodrigues, and Kyle Criscuolo are all dealing with upper-body issues; Griffth and Rodrigues are day-to-day while Criscuolo is likely out for the rest of the season.