Zellweger Is Back for the Home Opener, and the Blue Line Can Finally Exhale

Olen Zellweger cleared concussion protocol and practiced Thursday, and he'll be in the lineup for Buffalo's home opener. That's the news. After a preseason hit from Columbus defenseman Carson Soucy put him out, and after a month of watching the Sabres patch a depleted blue line with whatever was available, he's back.

The timing matters. I wrote in September about how Samuelsson's lower-body injury and Zellweger's concussion landed simultaneously on a blue line that was already operating without much margin. Buffalo responded by signing Matt Grzelcyk as veteran insurance, and Crevier got locked in on a four-year, $16 million extension just this week — the organization doing what it could to stabilize things structurally. But none of that replaced Zellweger himself, who was acquired specifically to fill the hole left by Bowen Byram's departure to Chicago.

Rathbone and Leinonen are still on injured reserve, so this isn't a clean bill of health. The blue line remains thin behind Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power. But Zellweger returning means Buffalo heads into the home opener with at least one fewer problem than it's been carrying since the preseason ended.

Small relief, but real relief. The Sabres will take it.