Phil Housley and his coaches are working towards trimming down the Buffalo Sabres roster ahead of Tuesday’s 5pm final roster deadline.
The Buffalo Sabres have assigned forward Justin Bailey to the Rochester Amerks.
The Sabres have also assigned forward Nic Deslauriers and defenseman Taylor Fedun to Rochester, pending waivers.
Jordan Nolan’s gain is Nic Deslauriers’ loss.
Seth Griffith’s gain is Justin Bailey’s Loss.
If you would have told me three weeks ago that Bailey would be sent back to the Amerks I would have called you crazy. Bailey had a strong Prospects Challenge tourney and has showed well in main camp. It appears that Griffith impressed Housley more than Bailey and Nick Baptiste did.
In my opinion, Bailey played well enough in exhibition games and practices to earn a spot in the 12-man forward Group. Bailey has skated fantastically and has defended extremely well. He has been a stout penalty killer during the penalty-filled exhibition games that he has participated in. Bailey has scored 43 goal in his first two seasons of pro hockey in Rochester. He has offensive skill of the NHL caliber with speed to burn. He’s been diligently working on the defensive side of the puck and has made great strides with improving his overall game this summer. This move confuses me. I feel sorry for AHL goalies because Bailey is going to take out his disappointment on tendies and D-men.
Housley and Botterill appear to have chosen free agent acquisitions instead of home grown talent. Winger Hudson Fasching was sent to the Amerks last week. Injuries to Sabres prospects Evan Rodrigues and Alex Nylander opened roster job opportunities for Justin Bailey and Nick Baptiste to audition for. However, newcomers Jacob Josefson, Benoit Pouliot and Seth Griffith are still in training camp while the kids are back in the minors.
Griffith, a prolific scoring AHL veteran, has impressed Housley and the Sabres coaches. He’s not the biggest dog in the fight but he battles and is always in motion. He knows where the net is and isn’t afraid to shoot. On Friday night, trailing 2-1 in the third period to the Isles, Housley rewarded Griffith with a promotion from the Sam Reinhart trio to the Eichel-Kane duo. Eichel and Griffith nearly connected on a couple of good scoring chances. Griffith finished the game with a team high three shots on goal. Griffith skated 14:02 TOI and caught Housley’s eye.
"I thought Seth Griffith was one of our best forwards tonight," Housley said. "He created a lot was in on the forecheck, had some opportunities still to shoot the puck in the second period, but I really liked his game. He brought his speed element, he complemented that line with Reino. That was very intriguing."
Jason Botterill wasted little time claiming Nolan off waivers from the LA Kings earlier this week.
Nolan and Deslauriers were once teammates with the Manchester Monarchs.
On Friday night, Nolan recorded an assist in his first game as a Sabres.
In 211 career games in Buffalo, Deslauriers accumulated 12 goals, 18 assists and 186 PIMs.
Deslauriers, 26, will earn $775,000 this season and will be UFA on July 1.
The Sabres have also announced defenseman Cody Goloubef has been released from his professional tryout.
The Sabres now have 27 players (16 forwards, nine defensemen and two goaltenders) on their training camp roster.