Sabres Hopeful Ostlund Will Be Ready For Playoffs
- The Sabres are hopeful that center Noah Ostlund will be ready to return for the playoffs, notes Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News (Twitter link). He has missed the last two weeks with an upper-body injury; head coach Lindy Ruff indicated that the 22-year-old is skating daily and that it’s a pain management issue at this point. Ostlund has 11 goals and 16 assists in 60 games for Buffalo this season and should slot back into a bottom-six spot once he’s cleared to return to the lineup.
Sabres’ Alex Lyon Suffers Lower-Body Injury
Buffalo Sabres goaltender Alex Lyon strained a lower-body muscle during yesterday’s morning skate and will be re-evaluated in a week, head coach Lindy Ruff announced today. According to Ruff, there is a chance Lyon, who leads Sabres goaltenders in games played this season, will not be fit to return in time for the start of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Lyon’s injury throws into question who will start in net for the first game of the Sabres’ long-awaited return to the playoffs. As previously mentioned, Lyon has played the most for the team among its goalies this season, with 36 games compared to Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen‘s 34.
Luukkonen has outperformed Lyon by a slim margin in terms of the box score statistics this season, posting a .909 save percentage and 2.53 goals-against average. Lyon has a .907 save percentage and 2.74 goals against average this season, slightly lower than Luukkonen on both counts. But Lyon has the advantage in terms of goals saved above expected, as tracked by Natural Stat Trick.
Since the calendar flipped to 2026, things have been headed more in the direction of Luukkonen. He’s played in 21 games compared to Lyon’s 15 in the new year, and has a .910 save percentage compared to Lyon’s .906 in that span. It could be that, even not factoring in Lyon’s injury, Ruff was already more likely to begin the team’s playoff run with Luukkonen in the crease, rather than Lyon. Today’s injury news has only furthered that likelihood.
It is worth mentioning, though, that the one area where Lyon has a clear advantage over Luukkonen is an important one: playoff experience. Luukkonen hasn’t backstopped a team on a playoff run since his days in the OHL with the Sudbury Wolves, which was back in the 2018-19 season. Lyon, on the other hand, has a more extensive, and more recent, track record in the postseason. He put up a .944 save percentage in 11 playoff games in 2017-18 with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, and backstopped the Chicago Wolves to a Calder Cup championship in 2021-22, posting a .923 save percentage on their run.
Lyon has even won a playoff game in the NHL. He was the starter for the Panthers in the first three games of their run in the 2023 playoffs, winning the second game of the series in Boston. While he eventually lost the starting role to star Sergei Bobrovsky, he nonetheless got valuable playoff experience, something Luukkonen doesn’t yet have. Whether that will factor into Ruff’s decision-making later this month remains to be seen, but what is clear is that Lyon’s injury means Luukkonen is overwhelmingly likely to be the one in the crease when the Sabres begin their first playoff trip in over a decade.
Sabres Reassign Radim Mrtka To AHL
The Sabres have reassigned top defense prospect Radim Mrtka to AHL Rochester to finish the season, per a team announcement. He had been on loan to his junior team, the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League.
Unlike most players making the jump from juniors to the AHL this time of year, Mrtka won’t be making his pro debut, or even his season debut for Rochester when he inevitably suits up. Last year’s ninth overall pick only spent a portion of the season with Seattle, playing the other half with HC Ocelari Trinec in his native Czechia, meaning he isn’t subject to the NHL’s transfer agreement with the Canadian Hockey League. As such, the Sabres had a choice during training camp whether to cut him to Rochester or Seattle.
They initially chose the former. The two-way Mrtka, who checks in at 6’6″ and 218 lbs, ended up with one assist and an even rating through only four games before Buffalo decided a full year of WHL top-pairing deployment and domination would be the better path for his development.
Mrtka’s physical dominance was on full display. Buffalo was likely hoping for more of a production jump out of him, however. After posting a 3-32–35 scoring line in 43 games for the Thunderbirds last season, he had a strikingly similar output of 1-33–34 in 43 outings this time around. He also went without a point in five games for the Czechs at the World Juniors.
Mrtka was still far and away the best defender on a Seattle blue line that didn’t have much else to offer. They’re hoping his relative lack of point production was a result of the Thunderbirds “only” scoring 3.28 goals per game, a pedestrian figure by WHL standards.
He’ll now return to Rochester as they look to wrap up a likely berth in the Calder Cup Playoffs in the coming days. An especially strong training camp could vault him into the conversation for a roster spot in the fall, but it’s more likely he’ll be heading back to Rochester before being a more serious competitor for an NHL job in 2027-28.
Sabres’ Sam Carrick Out Week-To-Week
Buffalo Sabres forward Sam Carrick will miss several games after squaring off against the captain of the New York Islanders, Anders Lee, the other night. According to Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio, Carrick will miss the next few weeks due to the arm injury, but hasn’t been ruled out for the rest of the regular season.
Before exiting Tuesday’s contest against the Islanders, Carrick had an otherwise strong start to his tenure in Buffalo. The Sabres acquired the fourth-line forward at the trade deadline from the New York Rangers for a 2026 third-round pick and a 2026 sixth-round pick.
In his 13 games with the Sabres, Carrick had registered five goals. Playing with the Rangers, Carrick had scored only four goals in 60 games. Additionally, his 51.0% CorsiFor at even strength, albeit in a small handful of games, shows that he’s mixed in quite well with Buffalo’s offensive strategies.
Unfortunately, there’s a very real chance he won’t manage to expand on those totals. In two weeks, the Sabres’ regular season will be over, and the team will be preparing for its first playoff run since the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs. If he returns after next week, Buffalo will only have the Chicago Blackhawks and Dallas Stars left to play.
Still, with all respect to Carrick, it won’t be a difficult void for the Sabres to fill. Although they are dealing with a few additional injuries to their forward corps, the team has plenty of depth to fill out the fourth line. Tonight, Buffalo is using Joshua Dunne in Carrick’s place, who has scored one goal and four points in 31 contests this season.
Sabres Sign Maxim Strbak To Entry-Level Deal
The Buffalo Sabres have moved forward with one of their top prospects. Defenseman Maxim Strbak has signed a three-year, entry-level contract following the end of his junior year at Michigan State University. The new deal will begin in the 2026-27 season, while Strbak will close out this season on an amateur try-out with the AHL’s Rochester Americans.
Strbak was an energy defender during his time with the Spartans. He contributed on both sides of the puck, passing 15 assists in each of the last two seasons and posting a postive plus-minus in all three years. That includes a plus-20 in 37 games this season, which co-led the Spartans’ blue-line alongside defense partner and St. Louis Blues prospect Colin Ralph. Strbak added 18 points and 10 penalty minutes to that stat-line. Despite a tendency for hard-hitting defense, Strbak only racked up 43 penalty minutes across 102 games at Michigan State. His knack for level-headed hockey made him a reliable piece of the Spartans’ penalty-kill, a role that helped him average just shy of 20 minutes a night this season.
Strbak has also been a major presence for Slovakia’s U20 international roster. He participated in the World Junior Championship in every season between 2021 and 2025. His initial appearances on the international stage were relatively quiet – marked by three points in nine games through his first two World Junior tournaments. He kicked that quiet scoring over his last two appearances, netting a combined 13 points in 10 games. Those performances helped Strbak plant his feet as a two-way impact, a style that carried into his final year with the Spartans.
Now Strbak will face the test of translating that impact to the pro level. The Americans have 10 games remaining on the schedule and sit just within playoff contention. That could extend Strbak’s runway for his first pro reps, before he prepares to try and push into the Sabres lineup next season. Buffalo has seen a rotation at the right-defense position in the face of injuries, ultimately icing 10 defensemen on their blue-line through points this season.
Sam Carrick Suffers Arm Injury
Buffalo Sabres spring acquisition Sam Carrick appeared to suffer a serious arm injury after fighting Anders Lee of the Islanders tonight, seen in a clip shared by Bleacher Report Open Ice.
Acquired on March 6 from the Rangers in exchange for a third and sixth rounder, Carrick has been a great fit with the Sabres. He has five goals in 12 games, of course not sustainable with a shooting percentage just under 28%. Even when that inevitably cools off, he’s winning 58.2% of his face-offs and killing penalties as a solid fourth line center right as advertised.
Buffalo Sabres Recall Zach Metsa
As expected, the Buffalo Sabres have recalled defenseman Zach Metsa from the AHL’s Rochester Americans, according to a team announcement. Metsa was reassigned just a few days ago due to the activation of fellow defenseman Conor Timmins.
Simply put, the Sabres have just been better this season when Metsa is in the lineup. Throughout the year, Buffalo has a 29-5-4 record when Metsa is playing, and a 16-16-4 record when he isn’t. He’s not necessarily a game-changing defenseman like Rasmus Dahlin, but the team is clearly comfortable when Metsa is earning minutes.
Despite how Timmins has played since returning, he’ll likely be the odd man out when the Sabres get Metsa back into the lineup. Metsa isn’t relied upon to kill penalties like Timmins, but the two have held a similar role this season on the right side of the bottom pairing.
Throughout his rookie season, Metsa has put up solid production given his ice time, scoring two goals and six points in 38 games with a +20 rating, averaging 10:19 of action per game. Still, his 45.6% CorsiFor at even strength and 1.9 E+/- indicates that he’s gotten a bit of puck luck. However, that’s been true of the entire Sabres team throughout their historic run this season.
The team has hovered around a 103.0 PDO (shooting percentage + save percentage at even strength), which indicates that they are due for regression at some point. Teams will typically average a flat 100.0 throughout the season, with teams on either side of that trending toward it.
Sabres Expected To Activate Jordan Greenway
Sabres winger Jordan Greenway was a full participant in Monday’s practice and is a candidate to come off injured reserve before Tuesday’s game against the Islanders, per Heather Engel of NHL.com.
Greenway, 29, hasn’t played since Jan. 22 due to the effects of a lingering abdominal/mid-body injury. He has been dealing with recurring pain after undergoing two sports hernia surgeries in the last few years, but he told Bill Hoppe of Buffalo Hockey Beat last weekend that a new rehab regimen has left him with “zero pain” and that he’s resumed skating with no complications.
It’s evident that he’s been playing less than 100% for a good while now. He’s managed only 67 appearances since the beginning of 2024-25 and has a 4-9–13 scoring line and a -13 rating in that time.
Once a highly-regarded defensive winger in the Wild’s top nine, he’s never really had the impact the Sabres were hoping for when they traded a pair of draft picks to acquire him from Minnesota at the 2023 trade deadline. He did have a decent showing in his one full, relatively healthy season in Buffalo in 2023-24, notching 10 goals and 28 points in 67 games while averaging a career-high 17:15 per game, but the Sabres were likely still hoping for a bit more production given how much they were playing him.
Greenway is wrapping up the first year of a two-year, $8MM extension he signed just over a year ago – a puzzling decision from now-former GM Kevyn Adams in hindsight, considering the team was well-aware he was playing through a significant amount of pain. He’s expected to return to the lineup in a fourth-line role alongside Beck Malenstyn and trade-deadline pickup Sam Carrick, the most natural fit for him at this stage of his career and one he’s held almost exclusively when he has been in the lineup this season.
The 6’6″, 231-lb lefty’s return comes as they’re still projected to be without rookie Noah Ostlund, who’s missed the last two games with an upper-body issue and remains day-to-day. Zach Benson, who’d gotten some reps as 4LW with Carrick as of late, will continue to flex up into Ostlund’s third-line spot with Joshua Norris while Greenway gives Buffalo a far more physically imposing and defensive-minded archetype to slot into a checking role than Tanner Pearson and Tyson Kozak, who have slotted in the lineup with Ostlund out.
Noah Ostlund Expected To Miss Time With Upper-Body Injury
The Buffalo Sabres may be without one of their up-and-coming players for some time. According to Bill Hoppe of the Times Herald, Noah Ostlund‘s upper-body injury is expected to take some time to recover from.
Fortunately, the Sabres can afford to give Ostlund all the time he needs. Although the team hasn’t technically qualified for the postseason yet, MoneyPuck gives Buffalo a 99.94% chance of making the postseason, which is essentially a lock. All that matters now is where they’ll finish.
Greenway Resumes Skating, Nearing Return
Sabres winger Jordan Greenway has resumed skating as he works his way back from an abdominal injury that has kept him out for the last 23 games, notes Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald. His latest rehab has been much more successful than previous ones over the past couple of seasons which has him optimistic that he can be much more of a contributor heading into the playoffs. When healthy this season, Greenway has been limited to just one goal and four assists in 33 games but when he’s at full strength, his track record demonstrates that he can be more of a two-way threat than just a penalty killer. It stands to reason that Buffalo will still be careful with him when he gets the green light from team doctors but Greenway could be a useful addition for the Sabres down the stretch.