Roster Decisions Near as Sabres Get Healthy

It appears the Sabres are finally getting some good news on the forward injury front as Zach Benson (lower body) and Jason Zucker (illness) are nearing a return. Zucker is expected to play as soon as Friday, and Benson will be back in “a short period of time,” according to Lindy Ruff. Josh Norris, who has been out with an upper body ailment, has also begun skating with the team, and while there is no firm time table for his return, it appears he’s perhaps only a week away from game action.

The Sabres, who have the third-highest Cap Hit of Injured Players so far on the season, according to Injuryviz, will welcome all three back as the team is currently ranked 23rd in goals for so far this season. Of course, the return of those three players will necessitate roster changes elsewhere to remain compliant with the 23-man roster limit.

The first move will almost certainly be to waive Mason Geertsen – who hasn’t even played since November 4th – to the Rochester Americans. That one is pretty much a no-brainer

The decisions would get much harder from there.

They could opt to send Amerks Captain Zach Metsa back to Rochester, but that would leave the Sabres with only six rostered defenseman which is an almost unheard-of situation for an NHL team, and it doesn’t seem likely Kevyn Adams would opt for this approach when there are easier options available.

Generally speaking, NHL franchises will take the path of least resistance when it comes to roster management, meaning if a player is waivers-exempt, then the team will often choose to demote that young player in order to avoid losing someone else on waivers. Isak Rosen and Noah Ostlund are two such players that fit that bill, but both players have four points in their last five games on a team that desperately needs the offense.

Adams could instead opt to waive forward Josh Dunne who has averaged only 9:33 of ice time per game while adding only two points through 13 games. Even without Dunne, the Sabres would still have a couple capable “heavies” in the lineup in the form of Jordan Greenway and Beck Malenstyn to check the truculence box.

So, for the purposes of discussion, let’s assume the Sabres do opt to waive Geertsen and Dunne and they still need to make one more decision. It feels like the Sabres have a couple choices here: firstly, they could finally make a decision on their goaltending situation.

Colten Ellis is in line to play his second game in a row tonight when the Sabres host the Calgary Flames at 7:30 in downtown Buffalo. Since being claimed off waivers from the St. Louis Blues earlier this year, the Whycocomagh, Nova Scotia native has a 3-1-0 record with a 2.76 GAA and a .914 save percentage. The latter two stats lead the team. If you prefer your stats to be of the fancy variety: Ellis has a goals saved above expected of +1.87, according to evolving hockey, while Alex Lyon sits at +7.09 and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is a -1.47.

That would leave either Alex Lyon or Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen as the trade or waiver bait. This decision appears to be one the Sabres are simply unwilling to make. Lyon has played better than Luukkonen this season but the organizational investment in terms of both draft and contract status into Luukkonen has seemingly made management unwilling to cut bait with their home-grown netminder. It’s not even a given that the Sabres could find a willing trade partner for UPL if they wanted to move him.

The boring answer here is probably that the Sabres would send Tyson Kozak down via waivers or demote Ostlund. Here’s what your lineup could look like if/when Benson, Norris and Zucker are back:

Benson-Thompson-Tuch

Doan-Norris-Quinn

Rosen-McLeod-Zucker

Greenway-Ostlund/Kozak-Malenstyn

Krebs

Samuelsson-Dahlin

Power-Bryson

Byram-Timmins

Metsa

Ellis

Lyon

UPL