The 34-year-old winger had 24 goals in 62 games last season
The Buffalo Sabres opened training camp on Thursday morning at LECOM Harborcenter. The first group, consisting mostly of players expected to make the club’s 23-man regular season roster, did not include veteran winger Jason Zucker.
The 34-year-old forward was a significant offensive contributor for the Sabres in their Atlantic Division-winning campaign, finishing fourth on the club with 24 goals. GM Jarmo Kekalainen revealed in his opening media availability that Zucker is recovering from a sports hernia.
"Zucker's hurt, and he won't be ready for the start of the regular season. If he was healthy, we'd have some really tough decisions to make," Kekalainen said. "You can never say exactly. He's very close to the start of the year, but he could miss maybe a couple of weeks of the regular season."
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The absence of Zucker puts even more pressure on the Sabres younger players to produce, as the club is already down 44 goals from last season with the trades of Alex Tuch and Bowen Byram. Kekalainen also indicated that defenseman Louis Crevier, who was on the ice on Thursday, had a surgery in the offseason, and has not received the final go-ahead from the doctor.
Kekalainen indicated that Crevier should be ready for the start of the regular season, which begins on October 1 in Columbus. The Sabres play a home-heavy first two weeks of the schedule, with the home opener against Chicago on October 3 starting a five-game homestand.
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