Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – Buffalo Sabres defenseman Colin Miller was back at practice on Thursday in a yellow non-contact sweater. Miller has missed 18 games with an upper-body injury that required surgery.
Head coach Don Granato says his defenseman is looking strong as he inches closer to a return to game action.
“From what I see, he looks great," Granato said following Thursday's practice. "His mobility, his strength, but I’ll have to find out more medically. But it’s a pleasant surprise to see him move the way he’s moving, and even battle the way he’s battling.”
Miller doesn’t know how long he’ll need to get ramped up for a return.
“It wasn’t bad," he said on Thursday. "I’m still getting up to speed, so definitely still some progress to be made. But positive that things are going in the right direction.”
We always talk about the non-contact yellow sweater the players wear when returning from injury, but Granato says there’s still some contact during practice.
“Even when guys bumped into him, it was a little misleading," he said. "There was contact, but nobody followed through.”
After sustaining his injury earlier this year, Miller tried to play through it, but eventually opted to go under the knife.
“It was bothering me for a month-and-a-half, and then it wasn’t getting better, and I wasn’t really able to move how I wanted to,” Miller said.
When it comes to the NHL Trade Deadline on March 21, Miller is probably the most mentioned Sabres players as likely to be moved. He says it’s not anything he can control.
"It's so up in the air, you never know what's going to happen," Miller said. "You just take it day-to-day and see where the cards fall."
Granato said that forward Vinnie Hinostroza will be ready to play this weekend.
Zemgus Girgensons has missed 18 of the last 19 games with an undisclosed injury. Granato says his return to practice could be near.
“He’s not in the range of the next few days of practice, but I suspect not long after that he’ll re-integrate in practice,” he said.
One of the reasons the Sabres beat the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday was their attention to detail. That game was the best the team had been all season, and Jeff Skinner knows that’s the recipe for being more consistent as a team and winning.
“The other team is trying to do the same thing that we’re doing," Skinner said after Thursday's practice. "A lot of those 50-50 battles along the wall trying to get pucks out, you have to try to find a way to win those battles. I thought we did a good job of blocking shots.”
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Maybe the biggest play of the Leafs game was right after Victor Olofsson scored to give the Sabres the 2-1 lead, Craig Anderson stopped a breakaway and the following rebound chance. Skinner says those are the instances that help lead to more wins.
“Making big plays at big moments," he said. "There’s times in games where you need a big penalty kill or you need a big save from your goalie. 'Andy' did a great job of that, because those are the times when momentum can change in a game, and then you have to try to feed off it and build off of it.”
There were no changes in the Sabres' lines with Miller, Hinostroza, Will Butcher and Mark Jankowski working in.
