A National hockey League team has just made a stunning announcement.
According to a breaking news report from the Buffalo Sabres organization, the team has suspended veteran forward Patrik Berglund "indefinitely." The announcement is stunning to say the least but it sounds like this may be one that was forced on the Buffalo Sabres by the veteran center himself given the nature of the announcement from the Sabres. The official report suggests that Berglund is currently refusing to report to the team and one has to wonder what could possibly be the motivation behind such a move for such a well established player in the National Hockey League.
Berglund was sent to the Buffalo Sabres over the summer as part of a trade for former Sabres center Ryan O'Reilly but it seems that the relationship between Berglund and his new team simply has not worked out. Berglund had previously spent his entire career playing as a member of the St. Louis Blues organization and one has to wonder if the change of scenery did not shake things up too much for the long time member of the Blues.
What we do know is that Berglund appeared in only 23 games for the Sabres thus far this season, sitting out some games in the press box as a healthy scratch, and for a guy in just the 2nd year of a recently signed 5 year deal that may have been a difficult pill to swallow. Berglund has also been out for the past few games due to being sick but one now has to wonder if there may not have been an entirely different motivation for his current absence from the team.
It's too hard to speculate on what might be really going on behind the scenes as there could honestly be any number of scenarios at play here, but things simply have not started off very well for the relationship between Berglund and the Sabres. Failing to report to the team with whom you are under contract is a big deal and it is now unclear what the next step for the Buffalo Sabres will be here. What the Sabres do next will likely depend a great deal on what the motivation for Berglund's failure to report to the team really is.
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