According to John Vogl of the Buffalo's News, Buffalo Sabres forward won't play again this season.
“Unfortunately my season is over,” Larsson said in a text Monday to Gotland Newspapers in his homeland of Sweden.
Larsson dislocated his wrist and elbow in a violent collision with the end boards during Saturday’s loss to the Bruins.
Larsson had surgery in a Boston hospital over the weekend and returned to Buffalo on Monday.
Earlier Monday, Dan Bylsma ruled that Larsson would be out indefinitely.
In the first period on Saturday, Larsson didn't have the puck on his stick and was sent flying by McQuaid, who obviously was looking for revenge after getting his faced punched in by Sabres forward Will Carrier on Thursday night in Buffalo. Carrier injured his hand in the fight and did not play on Saturday in Boston. McQuaid clearly intended to dump Larsson. No supplemental discipline was given to McQuaid. Great job, NHL. Way to sleep at the switch. Player Safety does nothing when Larsson breaks his elbow and wrist on a garbage interference play.
Watch the Adam McQuaid interference on Larsson here.
Larsson, the gritty two-way center, scored six goals and 11 points in 36 games this season.
The Sabres are suddenly razo-thin on depth in the center ice ranks with Ryan O'Reilly recovering from an emergency appendectomy and Larsson recovering from his surgeries.
Jack Eichel, Samson Reinhart, Zemgus Girgensons and Derek Grant are the only centers on the Buffalo roster today.
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Sweden vs. Slovakia (QF) - 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship from IIHF on Vimeo.
Sweden busted out to a commanding 3-0 first-period lead and then smashed Slovakia 8-3 in the IIHF quarterfinals.
Sweden's captain Joel Eriksson Ek (Minnesota Wild) and Tim Soderlund (undrafted my NHL team 2016) each scored twice.
On Wednesday, the Swedes will battle the Canada-Czech Republic winner in the semi-finals.
Buffalo Sabres 2016 first round pick and Sweden's scoring leader Alex Nylander and Frederik Karlstrom chipped in a goal and an assist apiece.
Carl Grundstrom and Lias Andersson also scored for Sweden.
Buffalo Sabres prospect Rasmus Asplund had four assists and Oliver Kylington had two helpers. The Swedish power play clicked three times.
Team Sweden spanked Team Slovakia in the quarterfinals at the World Junior Hockey Championships in Montreal on Monday.
Nylander now has 12 points in five games at the WJCs.
Below, my appeal for Nylander to play for the Buffalo Sabres now.
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December 2015.
A skinny, slickly skilled 17 year old kid named Alexander Nylander was the the pleasant surprise for Team Sweden at the World Junior Championships in Helsinki. The youngest Nylander brother took center stage and dominated the puck for Sweden when his older brother William was knocked out of the tourney by a nasty head shot that resulted in a concussion.
A star was born in Helsinki.
"Snipeshow" is his name.
Alexander Nylander was Sweden's youngest player at the 2016 WJC's. Then head coach Richard Green took a gamble selecting Alex to Team Sweden's roster and it certainly paid off.
Nylander did not disappoint. He scored four goals and added five assists in seven games.
December 2016.
An 18 year old phenom arrived at Team Sweden's pre-WJC training camp bigger, stronger, more confident and more worldly. Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray loved what he saw of Nylander's high end skill and world-class measurables at the 2016 WJCs in Helsinki. So much so that Murray selected Nylander eighth overall in the first round of the NHL Draft, which was held in Buffalo.
Since being drafted by Buffalo in June, the past six month have seen Nylander take his game to the next level, according to his current Team Sweden head coach Tomas Montén
" I will not say that he (Nylander) was thin before, but when he came here now for the tournament, I noticed that he has grown and gotten bigger. And that helps him in his game", Montén told Hockeysverige.
Nylander is noticeably bigger and stronger to Team Sweden leadership. He has a physical element to his game now. It's no longer easy to one arm shove Nylander off pucks. Not that many defenders can do that to him anyway. Nylander seemingly has 360 vision that allows him to slip, slide and spin off checks before opponents make contact with him. It's a unique attribute of his game.
Credit to Nylander for investing the work in developing in body while sharpening his surgical skills while attending Buffalo Sabres rookie development camp in July. Nylander worked out with his brother and several friends at home in Sweden before attending his first NHL training camp in September. Nylander impressed the Buffalo management and coaching staffs at training camp. He showed flashes of greatness in training camp scrimmages and in skills drills. When training camp broke, Nylander was sent to AHL Rochester to continue the process of building his strength and physique while competing against grown men in the toughest hockey developmental league in the world.
Nylander had options of where he could play his hockey in 2016-17. He could have gone back for another year with the OHL Mississauga Steelheads. He could have gone home to Sweden. Nylander opted to stay and play in the American Hockey League. His decision to play for the Amerks is certainly paying dividends today.
"It's been getting better and better every game. I have learned a lot during the time I have been there, said Nylander, who has scored 17 points (5G, 12A) in his first 29 AHL games.
Not bad production at all for an 18 year old kid playing against late 20-somethings and salty 30-somethings who are still living the NHL dream. Admittedly, his start to the season was slow. Playing against grizzled 33 year old AHL lifers with three kids, a wife and a mortgage payment to pay took a bit of getting used to. It was an adjustment period for Nylander.
However, midway through November his point production increased.
"I've gotten better at everything, become bigger, stronger and faster on the ice. I've probably been a little more mature in my game", Nylander said.
Has it been a huge adjustment going from playing against boys in the OHL to play against men in the AHL?
"A little, but I had my brother ( William) that played there (Toronto Marlies) for a year and he has given me a lot of tricks and tips. Then I think I got there very well prepared. I worked out very hard physically during the summer with my brother. And on the ice. I have come into the well.
The preliminary round of the World Juniors ended Saturday. Sweden finished with a 4-0 record atop Group A and will face Slovakia at 3:30 pm today. Once again, is playing at a dominant level having scored nine points (4G, 5A) in just four games.
"It is fun. We have had good chemistry on my line with ( Carl) Grundström and Joel (Eriksson Ek) . We had good chemistry from the start and I think we've played well as a team", says Nylander.
Team Sweden is the prohibitive favorite to beat Team Slovakia in today's quarter finals game.
Nylander and his line mates wil be ready to jump on Slovakia early and smother them with speed.
" We must focus, have the same attitude before every game, for one can not underestimate any team in this tournament. It will be a tough, tough game", Snipeshow said.
Nylander is seemingly telling Tim Murray: "Hey, look at me. I can help your Buffalo Sabres right now".
I don't disagree with Nylander. He has the speed, vision, creativity, passion and play making ability to kick start any offense at any level of hockey, pro, junior, or otherwise.
Meanwhile in Buffalo, the Sabres closed out the 2016 portion of their schedule by losing six of the past seven games. Dan Bylsma's line combinations lack speed and skill, and creativity.
Too many plow horses. Not enough thoroughbreds.
The Sabres are leaving hockey equipment bags full of points in the standings on the table.
The season and wild card playoff hopes seemingly are slipping away.
Last summer, Dan Bylsma boldly predicted that his team would be a 95-point team in the standings. Today, the Sabres sit at the bottom of the Eastern Conference with 34 points.
On Sunday, a pissed off and frustrated Jack Eichel stood in the pocket and delivered an passionate plea to his teammates, coaches and general manager to get up off their duffs and solve this systemic problem. Eichel knows that something has to give. The Sabres are getting beaten in all aspects of their game. They cannot score at even strength. Their penalty kill is a joke. Their once sizzling power play has gone cold for the time being. The Buffalo blue line, save young stars Rasmus Ristolainen and Jake McCabe, has been a huge source of frustration and concern all season long. Injuries to Zach Bogosian, Dmitry Kulikov, Cody Franson and Josh Gorges have really compromised the Buffalo break out. The forwards are not getting pucks as fast as they should be. The Bruins and other opposing forwards turn pucks over and get glorious scoring chances on the beat up Buffalo D and Robin Lehner. The forwards don't come back home and don't know their responsibilities or fail to execute them properly.
Eichel wants change. He wants it now. You want change. Demand it now.
“We’re just not executing well enough. I don’t think as a group that we should be blaming what’s going on on line changes and injuries because every team deals with it. Obviously with us we’ve had some key players injured at key times in the year and have not played 100% as a team in the two years that I’ve been here, which is frustrating.
“This is also hockey, and injuries are going to happen. We need to find a way to get over that. At the end of the day it’s about one thing and one thing only, and that’s winning hockey games. However that needs to happen, it needs to happen.”
Eichel is correct. The 20 year old precocious kid nailed it.
However, whoever, wherever, whatever. Fix it, Murray and Bylsma.
I've been waving my flag high and proudly for Alex Nylander to make a visit to the Buffalo lineup once the World Juniors tourney concludes. I'd play Nylander with Eichel and then sit back and watch the offensive freak show and fire works display.
Bylsma seemingly has tried to fix his 5v5 scoring woes by concocting new, short term line combo solutions. Frankly, it hasn't worked because he has a talent gap that exists between Eichel, Reinhart, O'Reilly, Okposo and other players on the roster. What the Sabres need now is a couple of high end, high tempo play makers and finishers. Justin Bailey represents all of the above nicely and will likely stay in Buffalo now that Johan Larsson is injured.
I say bring Nylander to Buffalo for an audition.
The kid certainly has earned a reward for his heard work in Rochester and leading Team Sweden at the WJC's. I can confirm that that the Sabres are planning on bringing Nylander up to Buffalo for a look see this season. While they are still within striking distance of a wild card berth, how soon is now? Why wait until late February or after the March 1 NHL trade deadline? Bylama and Murray have done everything in their power, except make trades, to light a dynamite stick under their team. Nothing is working with consistency. Why keep doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results? That is the definition of insanity.
Murray and Bylsma need to shift the paradigm. They need to make a bold trade now. Evander Kane has market value. Several Western Conference (Kings, Ducks, Sharks, Canucks) teams have been scouting #9 because of their need his combination of skill, speed and physicality.
Trade Kane for a top four D. Kane for Jake Muzzin or Alec Martinez works just fine for me.
Then, give Kane's left wing TOI to the kids: Bailey, Nylander, Baptiste.
What are your thoughts?
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In other injury news, Dan Bylsma said after Monday's skate that Dmitry Kulikov will NOT be traveling with the team to Manhattan and Chicago.
Kulikov injured his lower back in a collision with the bench door in September. The big Russian is still dealing with the issue today.
Bylsma said that Kulikov is seeing a doctor in Buffalo today.
Kulikov has missed 16 games this season. He has struggled to find his consistency in the 20 games he has played. He is tied with Evander Kane for a team-worst -10. Kulikov, an offensive defenseman, has only one assist.
Tim Murray's quest for another left shot, top four defenseman has been an urgent matter all season long. Murray is working his iPhone like a boss. He needs a trade partner. Now.
Trade Evander Kane for a top four defenseman.
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