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Sabres Loan Josh Dunne and Isak Rosen To The AHL

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The Buffalo Sabres have announced that they are loaning forwards Josh Dunne and Isak Rosen to the Rochester Americans of the AHL. The Sabres called up both players just last weekend and both players dressed on Saturday against the Florida Panthers but have not played since, serving as a healthy scratch.

Dunne’s appearance on March 8th was his first in the NHL since he dressed for eight games with the Columbus Blue Jackets during the 2022-23 season. The 26-year-old spent four seasons in the Blue Jackets organization, playing 134 games for the Cleveland Monsters. He signed a two-year, two-way contract with the Sabres last July and has dressed in 54 games this season for the Americans, tallying eight goals and 16 assists. In 15 career NHL games, the O’Fallon, Missouri native has yet to record a point and is -9 plus/minus with 35 hits and 12 blocked shots.

Rosen was the Sabres’ first round pick (14th overall) back in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. The 21-year-old winger has played ten NHL games over two seasons and is also scoreless, with a -5 plus/minus, two hits and two blocked shots. In the AHL, the Stockholm, Sweden native has been nearly a point a game player this season, posting 26 goals and 24 assists in 51 games. Over his three-year AHL career, Rosen has registered 60 goals and 77 assists in 184 career games.

The Sabres don’t play again until Saturday afternoon against the Vegas Golden Knights and could recall both players before then. However, given that the Americans are in a battle to win the North Division, the Sabres may opt to keep both players in the AHL.

Snapshots: Peterka, Kulich, Hintz, Werenski

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The Buffalo Sabres will exchange young forwards in Wednesday night’s lineup. Centerman Jiri Kulich is expected to return to the ice after missing Buffalo’s last game with an illness, while top-line winger JJ Peterka is out day-to-day with a lower-body injury, per Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News.

Adding Kulich back to the fold is a positive step for the Sabres. The 20-year-old centerman has recorded two points and eight shots on net in his last four games, bringing his year-long totals up to 12 goals and 19 points in 48 games. Kulich has taken on more-and-more role in the second half of the season, and appeared in a season-high 19 minutes of ice time in his most recent appearance. Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff made no indication of what line Kulich would play on in his return, but he could be set to head back to the top-six with Buffalo down one of their top players.

To that end, losing Peterka for even a short time is a hard blow for the Sabres. He’s confidently led the team over their latest stretch, with 10 points in nine games since returning from the 4-Nations Face-Off break. Peterka is quickly evolving into a star – with 19 goals and 51 points in 61 games this season putting him on a year-long pace of 26 goals and 69 points in 82 games. He’s already lapped his career-high of 50 points scored last season, with no signs of slowing down. Peterka’s absence should lead to increased minutes for wingers like Jason Zucker and Zach Benson – though Buffalo could also opt to move Ryan McLeod or Peyton Krebs to the wing with Kulich back in the fold.

Other quick notes from around the league:

  • Top Dallas Stars centerman Roope Hintz is progressing well after taking an Adam Henrique shot to the face on Saturday. Hintz sat out of Dallas’ Sunday win over the Vancouver Canucks and is set to miss Friday’s game against Winnipeg – but head coach Pete DeBoer shared that Hintz could return as soon as Sunday, per NHL.com’s Mike Heika. Hintz has been red-hot since the end of the 4-Nations break, with 16 points in his last eight games. That includes back-to-back four-point games on February 28th and March 2nd. Dallas managed a confident win over Vancouver in his absence, but will undoubtedly be eager to bring their second-line centerman back before his scoring touch cools off. With Hintz out, Dallas has awarded more minutes to Jamie Benn, Wyatt Johnston, and Matt Duchene.
  • Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski has become the Norris Trophy favorite in NHL.com’s recent poll of their staff writers. Werenski has been lights out this season after being held to just 83 games combined over the last two years. Now back to full health, he has a team-leading 69 points in 63 games on the year. That includes 20 goals, making Werenski the first 20-goal-scoring defenseman in Blue Jackets history. His 2024-25 campaign marked the most goals from a Blue Jackets defenseman in February, when he passed Seth Jones’ previous record of 16 goals set int he 2017-18 season. Werenski’s 69 points are also a club record. He has shown everything Columbus could ask for and then some. His performances are a key reason why Columbus is one of five teams in the race for the Eastern Conference Wild Cards, and could soon earn Werenski the first Norris Trophy of his nine-year NHL career. He previously received Norris votes in 2019-20 (eighth-place finish) and in his rookie season of 2016-17 (18th-place finish).

J.J. Peterka Could Miss Time With Lower-Body Injury

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Sabres’ Rasmus Dahlin Refutes Trade Request Rumors

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While the public and rival teams may start speculating about the future of star defenseman Rasmus Dahlin in Buffalo, he has no desire to leave the Sabres.

Dahlin made himself available to reporters this morning to respond to a statement from TNT analyst Paul Bissonnette on today’s Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, who said he’d heard Dahlin informed Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams he’d submit a trade request if the team doesn’t get closer to competing for a playoff spot. The team posted the crux of what he had to say:

I don’t know what [Bissonnette]’s talking about. I have never said I want out of here. I’m not happy with where we’re at, I don’t want to lose. I’ve never said I want out of here, I thought that was pretty clear… That bugs me, actually. I get pissed off by that. I haven’t even mentioned the word ’leave.’ That’s just how it is.

Dahlin, of course, will miss the postseason for the seventh straight time to begin his career with Buffalo as part of a more extensive postseason drought for the Sabres that dates back to the 2011. The 2018 No. 1 overall pick, who turns 25 next month, is in the first year of an eight-year, $88MM mega-extension that affords him complete no-move protection beginning July 1.

After rebooting their core in the post-Jack Eichel era following another failure in a series of attempted rebuilds, the Sabres have again begun to retool their core. They swapped 24-year-old center Dylan Cozens, whom they selected No. 7 overall in the 2019 draft, for oft-injured but high-ceiling pivot Joshua Norris in a deal with the Senators on deadline day last week. Multiple reports suggested they were also listening to offers on under-25 defenders Bowen Byram and Owen Power, although neither came close to getting dealt. Adams also recently refuted pre-deadline rumors he was engaged in trade talks regarding 23-year-old winger JJ Peterka, who scored 28 goals last season and has a career-high 51 points in 61 games in 2024-25.

Buffalo’s 25-32-6 record places them last in the Eastern Conference, and their .444 points percentage is tracking to be their lowest since their disastrous 2020-21 campaign that saw them post an 18-game winless streak. Their continued porous team defense has rarely reared its head with Dahlin on the ice, though. He’s having another standout season that should get him a fair amount of Norris Trophy voting at season’s end, ranking second on the team in scoring with 11-40–51 in 55 games while controlling 55.5% of shot attempts at even strength.

Sabres Remain Intent On Extending JJ Peterka

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One of the more intriguing players to hit the rumor mill in the days leading up to Friday’s deadline was Sabres winger JJ Peterka. Amid yet another disappointing season in Buffalo, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff initially reported last week the pending RFA was drawing interest on the market and then seconded a report from Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News that the Rangers were interested in making a deal for the 23-year-old.

Of course, the 2020 second-round pick stayed put in Buffalo. It was still an eventful deadline for Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams, who extended wingers Jordan Greenway and Jason Zucker while swapping Dylan Cozens for Joshua Norris down the middle in a trade with the Sens. However, he reiterated Friday to Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald that he was never interested in nor close to moving Peterka.

“Zero, zero truth to that, anything around JJ in terms of looking to move him or any of that stuff,” Adams said. “I think JJ’s a guy that’s a young player still. We’re going to sit down after the season, we’ll get to his agent immediately, say, ‘OK, where do we go from here?’ I just think he’s one of our core young guys. We need him to continue to get better, and we need to make sure that we’re also explaining to him how we’re going to make the team better.”

That extension could be a rich one if Buffalo hammers down on a longer-term deal with Peterka, a prudent decision to ensure they avoid a contentious negotiation in a few years amid what’s hopefully a rise back to playoff relevance. AFP Analytics projects a six-year deal worth north of $6.5MM per season, but with Peterka now producing at a 26-goal, 70-point pace over 82 games this year, it’s easy to imagine him landing more.

The Munich native is arguably the only member of Buffalo’s young core forwards that have met or exceeded expectations this season. He’s already set a new career-high in points (51) in 60 games, eclipsing last year’s 50-point breakout. He’s done so while playing over 18 minutes per game, earning his way up to a consistent top-line role for much of the campaign. A good chunk of his production has come at even strength, and he’d likely be hovering around a point per game if the Sabres had a league-average power play instead of their 27th-ranked 16.8% success rate.

His 14.1 shooting rate this year is also a career-high but doesn’t jump out as being particularly unsustainable. He’s also been one of Buffalo’s best possession players, controlling 52.4% of shot attempts when on the ice at even strength. That’s fourth on the team behind Zach Benson (56.3%), Rasmus Dahlin (55.5%), and Tage Thompson (52.7%).

All of that points to Peterka as an undeniable top-six piece long-term for the Sabres, one they’d struggle mightily to replace if they dealt him. While little has gone right for Buffalo in their continued attempts to exit rebuild mode over the last decade, he’s proven himself a must-have contributor as they look toward next season.

Evening Notes: Gavrikov, Marchand, Hedman, Jokiharju

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Los Angeles Kings general manager Rob Blake spoke in-depth about his efforts to extend defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov in a post-Trade Deadline media availability. Blake shared that keeping Gavrikov around is a top priority for the team, but finding a new deal could take some time after Gavrikov changed agents in February. But even with the flip, Blake reiterated that both the team and the player are confident a deal can get done.

Gavrikov has been a top defender for the Kings. He has averaged nearly 24 minutes of ice time on a nightly basis, good for second on the team behind Drew Doughty’s average of 25:32. Gavrikov has brought a shutdown presence to those premier moments. He leads the team with 117 blocked shots, to go with 21 points, 14 penalty minutes, a plus-eight, and 34 hits in 60 games. He’s averaged north of 20 minutes of ice time in every season since his 2021-22 campaign with the Columbus Blue Jackets. That season stands as Gavrikov’s career-year, headlined by a career-high 33 points and 68 penalty minutes in 80 games. The 29-year-old defenseman has slowed his scoring since those days, but looks capable of carrying his brick wall style well into his 30s. The Kings will look to bank on that growth on his next extension, which will likely carry Gavrikov to the sunset years of his career.

Other notes from around the league:

  • The Boston Bruins offered captain Brad Marchand a three-year extension before opting to trade him to the Florida Panthers, per ESPN’s Emily Kaplan. Kaplan goes on to add that Boston’s original extension offers to the 36-year-old Marchand were stuck at two years, but that the team expanded their offer in the waning minutes to try and secure a deal. Ultimately, the money wasn’t right for Marchand – and he opted to pursue a move to the Panthers instead. Marchand will have a chance to sign a more preferable deal when he enters unrestricted free agency this summer. The Bruins lost their second-highest scorer in dealing away Marchand, who has 21 goals and 47 points in 61 games on the year. He’ll be a major addition for the Florida Panthers, but will first need to overcome a shoulder injury that’s expected to hold him out for a few weeks.
  • Tampa Bay Lightning captain Victor Hedman missed the team’s Saturday night matchup against the Boston Bruins and has been listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Hedman has made a major impact on the Bolts lineup over his recent stretch, with five points in his last five games and seven points in his last 10 games. J.J. Moser elevates to the top line in Hedman’s absence, while Emil Martinsen Lilleberg draws back onto Tampa Bay’s third pair. Moser has 10 points and a plus-13 in 35 games this season, while Lilleberg has 14 points, 85 penalty minutes, and a minus-seven in 58 games.
  • The newest Boston Bruins defenseman Henri Jokiharju told reporters that he had requested a trade away from the Buffalo Sabres prior to his deadline-day move. He also clamored about his positive relationships with new Boston teammates Casey Mittelstadt and Joonas Korpisalo. Jokiharju joins the Bruins after six tough seasons with the Buffalo Sabres. He earned top-pair minutes at points during his Sabres tenure, as the team struggled to staff a hardy right-defense corp – but Jokiharju could never make much of his minutes. He set a career-high of 20 points in 74 games last season, but had just six points in 42 games with Buffalo this year. Jokiharju should fill a much more manageable bottom-four role in Boston, playing behind shutdown defender Andrew Peeke at least.

Buffalo Sabres Recall Josh Dunne, Isak Rosen

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According to a team announcement, the Buffalo Sabres have recalled forwards Joshua Dunne and Isak Rosen from their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans. Since there’s no longer a roster limit since the trade deadline has passed, the Sabres weren’t required to make a corresponding roster move.

Dunne is in his first season with the Sabres organization after spending the last four in the Columbus Blue Jackets’. The 26-year-old product of Clarkson University is a veteran of 14 games at the NHL level, all with the Blue Jackets, from 2021 to 2023.

In AHL Rochester and with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, Dunne has carved out a role as a solid middle-six forward with some physicality to his game. He won’t threaten to lead any team in scoring at the game’s highest minor league level, but he’s only two years removed from scoring 20 goals and 37 points in 65 games for the Monsters. He has eight goals and 16 assists in 54 contests for the Americans.

Meanwhile, Rosen is one of Buffalo’s top forward prospects, being four years removed from being the 14th overall pick of the 2021 NHL Draft. Unlike Dunne, Rosen has quickly become a capable top-six scorer at the AHL level since transitioning to North American professional hockey in 2022-23.

Since becoming a full-time player in Rochester three years ago, Rosen has scored 60 goals and 137 points in 184 games, with another six goals and four assists in 19 postseason contests. It wouldn’t be his first NHL game should he factor into the Sabres’ lineup tonight against the Florida Panthers, but a goal or assist would become his first NHL point.

Buffalo Sabres Reassign Jiří Kulich

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  • As expected, the Buffalo Sabres have papered down forward Jiří Kulich to their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans. Kulich has been an impressive player for AHL Rochester over the last few seasons and should continue to be in the postseason. He’s scored 53 goals and 94 points in 123 games on the Americans’ roster.  Later in the day, the Americans announced that forwards Isak Rosen and Joshua Dunne were recalled on an emergency basis so they won’t count toward the post-deadline limit.

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Bruins Acquire Henri Jokiharju From Sabres

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The Bruins have acquired defenseman Henri Jokiharju from the Sabres in exchange for the Oilers’ 2026 fourth-round pick, both teams announced. Darren Dreger of TSN was first to report the trade, which wasn’t certain to go through ahead of the deadline.

Boston’s buzzer-beater acquisition of Jokiharju will help fill in after they traded stout defensive defenseman Brandon Carlo to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Carlo’s absence leaves nearly 19 minutes of ice time every night up for grabs. The bulk of those minutes will likely go to Andrew Peeke, but it will be a battle between Ian Mitchell and Jokiharju for a role on the team’s second pair.

Jokiharju has filled a minimal role in Buffalo this season, with just six points, 12 penalty minutes, and a plus-six in 42 games. He has also scored three goals – exactly the same amount that he’s scored in each of the last five seasons. Jokiharju’s downward trend in scoring this year comes after a career performance last season, when he totaled a career-high 20 points and fought his way into a second-pair role through 74 games. He even rivaled top-pair utilization in 2021-22 and 2022-23, averaging over 21 minutes a night through 120 games between the pair of years.

Jokiharju, 25, is still finding his footing in the NHL after breaking into the league at age-19. He was a first-round selection by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2017 NHL Draft – and recorded 12 assists in 38 games with the team as a rookie in 2018-19. Chicago traded Jokiharju to the Sabres in exchange for Alex Nylander in the following summer, setting him up for an extended run as part of Buffalo’s desolate blue-line. Over six years in Buffalo, Jokiharju totaled 81 points in 351 games – just enough to earn a spot on Team Finland at 2025’s 4-Nations Face-Off, where he scored one goal in three games.

Jokiharju is signed at a $3.1MM cap hit through the end of the season. He will slot into Boston’s bottom-four and look to find a groove on the new-look Bruins, after six years with a struggling Sabres squad.

Rangers Trade Erik Brännström To Sabres

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The Sabres and Rangers have exchanged depth skaters with NHL experience. Defenseman Erik Brännström is headed to Buffalo, while winger Nicolas Aubé-Kubel goes to New York, per Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic.

Although it’s officially a swap of AHL talent, both players have considerable experience in the NHL. Neither player had a future with their respective clubs, and both teams needed depth at their respective positions.

Aubé-Kubel joins the sixth organization of his career after clearing waivers in late January. The bottom-six winger signed a one-year, $1.5MM contract in Buffalo last offseason– a deal that hasn’t worked out for either side. Aubé-Kubel will finish his Sabres’ tenure with one goal and one assist in 19 games, averaging 9:32 of ice time per game, the lowest of his career since the 2018-19 season.

Meanwhile, Brännström is moved for the third time this season. The former 15th overall pick of the 2017 NHL Draft and the headlining player for the Vegas Golden Knights’ acquisition of Mark Stone in 2019, signed a one-year, $900K contract with the Colorado Avalanche after being non-tendered by the Ottawa Senators.

Before ever suiting up with the Avalanche, he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks shortly before the start of the 2024-25 campaign. He was utilized in a flex role between the NHL and AHL for the first half of the season scoring three goals and five assists in 28 games for the Canucks, and two goals and 12 points in eight games for their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks.

Brännström was then included in the trade that sent J.T. Miller back to the New York Rangers in January. Without having ever suited up for the Rangers, he’ll finish his stay in the organization with one goal and four points in six games for their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack. Plenty of roster moves will happen over the next 24 hours, and these players could find themselves back in the NHL after it’s all said and done.

PHR’s Brennan McClain contributed to this article. 

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