Leino Out With Lower-Body Injury

On Tuesday night, at home to the Senators, Sabres forward Ville Leino suffered a lower-body injury and the initial prognosis is not very good. The Sabres coaching staff have already announced that they expect to have Leino on the shelf for "weeks," which to me, would mean indefinitely.  Leino is somewhat of a regular season bust, through his days between Detroit and Philadelphia, but he has been able to showcase some real talent when the playoffs roll around, so as long as he is healthy for the Spring Dance, I would imagine he'll be okay.

In 29 games with the Sabres this season, Leino has 3 goals and 7 assists, which after Wednesday night's games, which has him ranked 312th in pool scoring.  Leino's offense has not been what he is getting paid for in the year, but with a completely new set of surroundings, there has to be an adjustment period and then you take into account all of the injuries that the Sabres have suffered, the rotation of players has been significant.  There has been lots of adjustments, which can be difficult for role players like Leino.

Leino is arguably the least-productive forward that Scott G. has in his line-up, now that the first waiver draft has come and gone, so this injury won't help the Finn's cause of getting back into the good graces of his pool team owner.  Through Wednesday night, Scott sits in 12th place, 12 points out of the top 10.