Sabres may be without half of their regular defensemen for their season opener

The Buffalo Sabres may have to start the season with half of their regular defensemen missing.

Recently acquired Marco Scandella is recovering from off-season hip surgery, and should hopefully be back soon. He was expected to join this team this week, but the doctors decided he needed some more maintenance.

He’s getting some practice time, lined up on the third pairing for now with Matt Tennyson and Josh Gorges rotating in.

In interview with John Vogl of The Buffalo News, coach Phil Housley stated that “he’s in a great place right now. I thought he was going to be out today, but he wasn’t. He’ll probably be out tomorrow, but it’s just a day-to-day maintenance thing for him. We want him to feel comfortable when we start getting up for regular season.”

Scandella doesn’t know when he’ll get game action, but he’s hoping to be ready for the team’s home opener against the Montreal Canadiens.

The other defensemen out of action are Zach Bogosian and Jake McCabe. Bogosian’s status is unknown – he left Friday night’s game against the New York Islanders with an undisclosed injury. McCabe is dealing with shoulder soreness and is considered week-to-week.

To make matters worse, defenseman Justin Falk took a hard hit in practice this morning and looks to have not taken it too well.