Michael Kesselring Nearing Return
- According to an article from Bill Hoppe of the Times Herald, defenseman Michael Kesselring should make a return to the Buffalo Sabres relatively soon. Regardless of his current health status, the 25-year-old blue liner can’t make his return to the Sabres lineup until next Wednesday against the Philadelphia Flyers due to the IR activation requirements. He went scoreless in 16 games before going down with a lower-body injury on January 6th.
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Buffalo Sabres Recall Zachary Jones
Saturday: It was a short-term demotion for Jones as WGR 550’s Paul Hamilton relays (Twitter link) that he is back up with Buffalo to once again serve as the reserve defender. The assignment was simply to get him into a game with AHL Rochester to keep him fresh.
Friday: The Buffalo Sabres announced that they’ve reassigned depth defenseman Zachary Jones to the AHL’s Rochester Americans. The Sabres are now down to six defensemen on the active roster.
Since the team has an upcoming five-game homestand beginning tomorrow night against the Anaheim Ducks, they may be able to wait a few days before recalling another defenseman if the rest of the core is fully healthy. Still, since Michael Kesselring won’t be eligible for activation until Buffalo’s January 14th contest against the Philadelphia Flyers, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them recall a different option, such as Ryan Johnson for a day or two.
Despite being the second recall of the year for Jones, he has yet to play a game for the Sabres. After being non-tendered by the New York Rangers last offseason, Jones quickly signed a one-year, $900K agreement with Buffalo on the opening day of free agency.
Although he may have liked to get into an NHL contest by now, it’s been all AHL for the former 68th overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft. Given his output with AHL Rochester this season, it’s somewhat surprising that the Sabres haven’t gotten him at least one look.
At the time of writing, Jones has scored three goals and 31 points in 28 games for the Americans, leading the team in scoring. He’s only two points back of Ryan Ufko for the highest-scoring defenseman in the AHL with four fewer games played. If he continues his current pace, it’ll be surprising if Jones doesn’t come home with the Eddie Shore Award, annually given to the league’s top defenseman.
Devon Levi Knocking On The Door
In Tuesday’s rendition of Oilers NOW with Bob Stauffer, his guest, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, spoke on the situation in the crease for the Buffalo Sabres. Friedman believes that the Sabres will need to recall Devon Levi sooner rather than later, which would confound an already complicated situation between the pipes.
Despite Kekäläinen’s desire to move a goalie off the roster, Levi remains blocked. Nonetheless, the 24-year-old has made a name for himself, compiling a record of 53-25-15 in 91 games with the AHL’s Rochester Americans, achieving a .917 SV% and a 2.45 GAA over the past three years. It’s hard to see how Levi could make the NHL roster this season, so the Sabres have more work ahead regarding their goaltending situation.
Sabres Pushing To Host 2026 NHL Draft
The NHL Draft could be returning to Buffalo, New York this year. The Buffalo Sabres have made an earnest push to host the First Round of the 2026 NHL Draft, sources told Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News. A potential return to draft day in Buffalo was first teased by broadcaster John Buccigross on Thursday.
Buffalo has hosted three other NHL Drafts. It became the third American city to serve as host in 1991, seven years after the NHL moved away from a yearly trip to Montreal. The Quebec Nordiques drafted centerman Eric Lindros first-overall in Buffalo, but the future Hall-of-Famer refused to sign with the club, prompting a trade to Philadelphia in 1992. Meanwhile, the NHL Draft didn’t return to Buffalo until 1998, when the Tampa Bay Lightning drafted Vincent Lecavalier with the top pick. By then, the league had begun traveling to a new city every year for the Draft, which kept the league from returning to Buffalo again until 2016, when Auston Matthews landed with the Toronto Maple Leafs at first-overall.
The 2026 Draft will be unlike any previously held in Buffalo, though. NHL general managers voted to decentralize the NHL Draft beginning last season. This format is more in-line with other professional sports leagues, like the NFL, and saw NHL management teams stay in their home city while draft prospects were greeted on stage by league personnel. The change in format was criticized by fans and media after the 2025 Draft wrapped up but NHL managers voted to uphold it headed into 2026.
That places a unique challenge on the next host to try and spark a format that landed flat last year. The heap of talent set for the first-round in 2026 could make that task a bit easier. The hockey world is in the midst of debating the first-overall chair after hopefuls Gavin McKenna, Ivar Stenberg, Keaton Verhoeff, and Chase Reid dueled out at the 2026 World Junior Championships. Stenberg – a standout in Sweden’s top pro league – earned the last laugh of the tournament with a Gold Medal win. Whether that trend will continue through June – and into host city Buffalo – is yet to be seen.
Buffalo Sabres Make Four Roster Moves
The Buffalo Sabres announced a series of roster moves today, as they activated veteran Jason Zucker off of injured reserve and recalled defenseman Zac Jones from their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans. In two corresponding moves, the Sabres placed defenseman Michael Kesselring and goaltender Alex Lyon on injured reserve.
Zucker, 33, has been out since the Sabres’ Dec. 8 contest against the Calgary Flames. Despite losing Zucker, a veteran of nearly 800 games who had 18 points in 21 games before his injury, the Sabres went on a 10-game win streak starting in their first game without Zucker, a streak that only came to an end Jan. 3 at the hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Per NHL.com’s Heather Engel, Zucker will return to the lineup as the Sabres’ second-line right winger. When he last played, Zucker was the team’s third-line left wing, skating on a line with Jack Quinn and Ryan McLeod. Zach Benson is now in that spot.
The return of Zucker should help the Sabres build more momentum in their push to end their playoff drought, which stands as the league’s longest. The 33-year-old is playing out the first year of a two-year contract extension he signed in March of last year, one that carries a $4.75MM cap hit.
Shifting focus to the Sabres’ defense, the team placed Kesselring on IR after he missed the team’s Saturday loss to the Blue Jackets. The 25-year-old missed nearly a month with a lower-body injury in November and December, and also began the season with a lower-body injury that cost him nine games. The 6’5″ blueliner was acquired by the Sabres over the summer as part of the JJ Peterka trade. The Sabres also received breakout winger Josh Doan from the Utah Mammoth in the deal.
His difficulty staying healthy has cost Kesselring the chance to play a significant role on head coach Lindy Ruff’s defense. Through 16 games played this season, Kesselring doesn’t have a point and is averaging just over 15 minutes of ice time per game, including just over a minute shorthanded.
Replacing Kesselring on the roster is Jones, a former minor league and NCAA standout. Once one of the better prospects in the New York Rangers’ system (he was ranked No. 2 in their pool by The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler in 2022), Jones failed to earn a regular role on the Rangers, serving mainly as a reserve defenseman under former head coach Peter Laviolette.
Jones was not extended a qualifying offer by the Rangers last summer, and the Sabres signed him to a one-year, $900K deal with a hefty $550K AHL salary. While he has yet to make his Sabres debut after failing to earn a spot on the team out of training camp, he has been brilliant at the AHL level. Jones has 30 points in 27 games for the Americans, leading the team in scoring.
If Jones gets the chance to play during this recall, it would be a significant opportunity for him as he is a pending restricted free agent. The Athletic’s Matthew Fairburn wrote on Jan. 3 that the Sabres “don’t have a lot of internal options Ruff trusts.” If Jones can find a way to earn the trust of Ruff to a greater extent than his rival Sabres depth blueliners have been able to (namely Zach Metsa, Jacob Bryson, and Ryan Johnson), he could secure an extended runway to show off his skills at the NHL level.
To clear sufficient room for Jones’ recall and Zucker’s activation on their regular roster, the Sabres placed Lyon, a goalie, on IR. Lyon has been dealing with a lower-body injury and will now miss at least a week due to this IR placement. The 33-year-old has a 10-6-3 record this season with a .904 save percentage, and is under contract at a $1.5MM AAV through next season. Since the Sabres have been carrying three goalies on their active roster, they are able to place Lyon on IR without recalling another netminder.
With Lyon injured, Ruff and the Sabres will turn to veteran Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and rookie waiver claim Colten Ellis in the crease to help sustain the momentum they built with their win streak.
Photos courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images
Buffalo Sabres To Activate Jason Zucker
After seeing their 10-game winning streak come to a close a few days ago, the Buffalo Sabres will get a boost to their forward core. In an injury update released by the team earlier this afternoon, the Sabres announced that Jason Zucker will return to the lineup tomorrow against the Vancouver Canucks.
The Sabres revealed that Zucker has been healthy for some time, but the coaching staff didn’t feel comfortable removing anyone from the lineup due to their current performance. In fact, head coach Lindy Ruff indicated that Zucker could have returned on December 31st against the Dallas Stars, and was frustrated he was unable to.
Ruff was quoted as saying, “I think (he’s) a little frustrated he wasn’t put back in earlier, but I think the little extra time will help him, too, and I think he can help us. I talked to him before that Dallas game, and he was anxious to get back in, which he should be. Any player that sits out shouldn’t be happy; if he’s happy, he’s in the wrong business.”
Zucker will return tomorrow after nearly a month away from the game due to lower- and upper-body injuries. Before being placed on the injured reserve on December 8th, Zucker had scored nine goals and 18 points in 21 games with a -10 rating, averaging 15:36 of ice time per game. Nine of those points came on Buffalo’s power play.
The Sabres’ power play is expected to benefit the most from Zucker’s return. Although Buffalo ended December with a 10-game winning streak, their power play struggled, achieving only a 15.2% success rate. They’ve scored 19.1% of the time with the man advantage when Zucker is in the lineup.
Before the Olympic break, outside of their recent hot streak, the Sabres have a massive opportunity in January to further entrench themselves in the playoff conversation in the Eastern Conference. They have a particularly difficult stretch in front of them, lining up nine times against teams currently positioned in a postseason spot in their remaining 14 games through the end of the month.
Could Sabres Look To Acquire Added Defensive Depth?
- The Buffalo Sabres’ win streak came to an end last night, and their difficult loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets raised questions about whether the team is in need of defensive reinforcements to help it survive injuries to key players on their back end. The Athletic’s Matthew Fairburn wrote yesterday that the Sabres “don’t have a lot of internal options [head coach Lindy Ruff] trusts.” Fairburn added that as a result, getting additional defensive depth “seems like a clear need that new general manager Jarmo Kekäläinen should be targeting on the trade market.” While it’s unlikely that means the Sabres will be shopping for high-end defensemen such as the Calgary Flames’ Rasmus Andersson, the injury situation in Buffalo does make the team a likelier candidate to pursue some additional defensive depth on the trade market.
Kesselring Day-To-Day With Lower-Body Injury
- Sabres defenseman Michael Kesselring missed today’s game against Columbus due to a lower-body injury and is listed as day-to-day, relays Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald (Twitter link). It has been a rough start to the year for the 25-year-old, who is in his first season with Buffalo after coming over from Utah in an offseason trade. Kesselring has missed more games than he has played due to injury and is still looking for his first point after being held off the scoresheet in his first 16 outings after putting up 29 points just last season.
Josh Doan Building Case For Significant Pay Raise
The Buffalo Sabres are the NHL’s hottest team, owners of a ten-game winning streak. While numerous contributors have helped drive the club’s reversal in fortunes, one name standing out is that of Sabres forward Josh Doan, in the midst of his first season in Western New York. The Athletic’s Matthew Fairburn wrote yesterday that Doan “might be an ideal match” to play with Sabres star Tage Thompson long-term, and called Doan “a building block” for the club moving forward.
While the Sabres are surely extremely pleased with Doan’s play so far this season, a complication of his strong form is his status as a pending restricted free agent. Set to turn 24 on Feb. 1, Doan will have arbitration rights if he hits restricted free agency this summer. He has 11 goals and 26 points in 39 games this season, good for a 55-point 82-game scoring pace.
While most arbitration-eligible players don’t end up going through the actual arbitration process, the looming presence of an arbitrator can most definitely change the dynamics of a negotiation. Having the arbitration process as a possibility gives greater leverage to the player and his representatives compared to RFAs without arbitration rights, a factor that further strengthens Doan’s likelihood of receiving a hefty pay raise this upcoming summer.
Fairburn pointed to the seven-year, $6.5MM AAV contract extension signed by Matthew Coronato of the Calgary Flames as a deal that “feels like the floor for Doan” if he can maintain his current scoring pace.
The son of Shane Doan, the longtime face of the Arizona Coyotes franchise during his time in the NHL, Josh Doan has massively enhanced his league wide-stock this season. The Sabres acquired Doan alongside defenseman Michael Kesselring from the Utah Mammoth over the summer in exchange for young winger JJ Peterka.
While Peterka was seen as the best player at the time of the deal, Doan’s emergence may begin to change how that trade is viewed. Peterka has 29 points in 41 games in Utah, just three more points than Doan with two additional games played.
Given how the salary cap is likely to escalate even further beyond the projections of the next two years, getting Doan signed to a long-term extension in the mold of Coronato could be in the Sabres’ best financial interests. One could also argue that the Sabres would be wise to avoid making expensive, long-term financial commitments while the team is on such a torrid stretch, given the risk of overpaying for a hot hand.
But in Doan’s case, the fundamentals of what make him such a valuable NHL player appear to be quite stable, and there’s no reason to doubt his ability to be at the very least a very good middle-six winger in the long term.
Photos courtesy of Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
Sabres’ Alex Lyon Out Indefinitely
Dec. 31: Lyon has left the Sabres’ road trip to continue his evaluation and is out indefinitely, the team announced today. Ellis will be activated from injured reserve and will back up Luukkonen tonight against the Stars.
Dec. 30: Sabres goaltender Alex Lyon is undergoing evaluation for a lower-body injury he sustained late in last night’s win over the Blues, head coach Lindy Ruff told reporters (including Rachel Lenzi of The Buffalo News). He didn’t leave the contest, and it’s unclear if he’s going to miss time, but if they don’t have an update by tomorrow morning, he won’t be going in the crease against the Stars on Wednesday.
If Lyon is to miss time, the Sabres won’t need to recall a body from AHL Rochester. Ruff said third-stringer Colten Ellis has cleared concussion protocol and will be available to come off injured reserve if needed in Dallas.
Lyon hasn’t been the sole architect of Buffalo’s nine-game win streak to get back into playoff contention, but he’s been in the crease for most of it. He’s started seven out of nine to boost his numbers on the year to a 10-6-3 record, .906 SV%, 2.82 GAA, and one shutout, recovering well after a strong start followed by a steep crash.
The 33-year-old was signed to be the backup to Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen over the offseason but has instead emerged as Buffalo’s leading option in a crowded crease, starting 19 of 38 games with the best numbers on the team. He’s stopped 6.5 goals above expected compared to 1.5 combined from Luukkonen and Ellis, per MoneyPuck.
It was clear after Jarmo Kekäläinen took over the GM’s chair several weeks ago that the Sabres would look to get down to two goalies once Ellis was cleared to return. With the Sabres signing Ellis’ praises after claiming him off waivers from the Blues and Luukkonen signed through the 2028-29 season, Lyon was the most logical trade candidate and has been a person of interest in the Oilers’ search for added depth.
However, his injury could allow Kekäläinen more time to determine Lyon’s future and reconsider his options. Trading away the team’s best overall netminder this season won’t go over well for a team that’s done some heavy lifting as of late to try to end their league-record playoff drought at 14 years. Flipping Ellis, who’s only churned out a .895 SV% through eight starts and has the worst advanced numbers of the three, would be the smarter win-now move, regardless of the 25-year-old’s ceiling.
Image courtesy of Jeff Curry-Imagn Images.