Despite battling injuries, Sabres’ Jordan Greenway made impact in limited work

BUFFALO – Jordan Greenway left the lineup for the first time in mid-October. Following a one-game absence, the Sabres winger played 10 consecutive contests.

That would be his longest stint all season.

Greenway, 28, endured a difficult campaign, playing a career-low 34 games while battling a mid-body injury that required surgery in December.

While he returned from a 23-game absence on Feb. 22, by March 23, having not fully recovered from the injury he had repaired, his season was finished.

“Injury correlated with my surgery … just took a little bit longer than we all wanted,” the Canton native said Friday as the Sabres held end-of-season meetings in KeyBank Center.

If the Sabres had made the playoffs, Greenway said he would likely be playing right now.

“There’s a lot of injuries guys can play through in the playoffs, right?” he said.

The 6-foot-6, 231-pound Greenway tried to gut it out early in the season. But the injury began impacting other parts of his body. He finally underwent surgery to stymie the domino effect.

Of course, all the stops and starts took a toll on him.

“Mentally, it can be tough,” he said. “But … I don’t know that there’s a lot I could have done to prevent the injury, right? So, honestly, my focus has just been to get healthy as quickly as possible and that’s all I could really control. That’s kind of my mentality.

“You got to expect maybe a setback here or there with the surgery.”

The Sabres sorely missed Greenway’s hard, heavy style. Despite his limited action, he registered 100 hits, the second-highest total among the team’s forwards this season, trailing only Beck Malenstyn’s 191. Greenway’s 2.9 hits per game led the team.

They value Greenway so much they signed him to a two-year, $8 million contract extension last month.

When he plays next season, expect him showcase his usual rugged style. When he returned from his surgery, he registered a season-high six hits in his first outing. He recorded six more in his next game.

“If I have a left shoulder injury and I’m back, I’m still going to go out and throw a hit with my left shoulder,” he said.