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Anton Wahlberg Joins Buffalo Sabres Organization

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Earlier this morning, the Buffalo Sabres officially brought over one of their top forward prospects to North America, announcing that Anton Wahlberg has been assigned to their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans. Wahlberg recently wrapped up his season with the Malmö Redhawks of the SHL after his team failed to qualify for the 2023-24 SHL playoffs.

Drafted 39th overall by the Sabres in the 2023 NHL Draft, Wahlberg has shown decent production for an 18-year-old at the SHL level, as well as in international events. Scoring five goals and 10 points for the Redhawks this season, Wahlberg also chipped in one goal and three points for Team Sweden in the most recent IIHF World Junior Championships, en route to a silver medal finish.

At still such a young age, it is tough to ascertain exactly where Wahlberg will end up in the Sabres lineup, but has shown the makings of an above-average third-line center. Having a key ability to hold on to the puck, Wahlberg has the capabilities to extend possession for his teams, as well as work the puck into the offensive zone.

Now moving to the AHL, Wahlberg will have the opportunity to help the Americans in their playoff hunt. Currently tied with the Toronto Marlies for third in the North Division, the Americans are right on the cusp of being a top-three team in their division, which would automatically bypass them into the Division Semifinals of the Calder Cup playoffs.

Wayne Simmonds Confirms Retirement

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March 18: Simmonds has officially announced his retirement and will sign a one-day contract with the Flyers, per a team release. He’ll sign the contract and be honored by the team on April 13, the second-to-last home game of Philadelphia’s season.

Jan. 26: Free agent winger Wayne Simmonds told Joshua Clipperton of The Canadian Press on Friday that he won’t continue his 15-season NHL career. The 35-year-old has yet to file retirement paperwork with the league but confirmed he will not attempt a comeback.

Simmonds last suited up in 2022-23, making 18 appearances with the Maple Leafs. The Scarborough, Ontario native reached UFA status after completing a two-year, $1.8MM extension signed with Toronto in June 2021.

He played for six NHL clubs during his career. The first of those was the Kings, who selected him with the final pick of the second round in the 2007 draft from the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack after racking up 49 points and 112 PIMs in 66 games.

Simmonds spent the following season back in junior hockey, breaking out for his first point-per-game campaign and winning gold with Canada at the 2008 World Junior Championship. That was enough of a development jump for the Kings, who named Simmonds to their opening-night roster in 2008-09.

The Kings struggled that season, finishing three games below .500 and scoring only 2.46 goals per game, but Simmonds’ rookie performance was promising. He didn’t earn Calder Trophy consideration, but he played in all 82 games while posting 23 points in a bottom-six role.

His sophomore season wasn’t his defining campaign, but it was a large step forward. The Kings offense went from 28th to seventh in 2009-10, and Simmonds’ 16 goals and 40 points (along with 116 PIMs) helped kickstart the jump. He finished with a team-high +22 rating, too, earning him a handful of Selke Trophy votes.

He took a small step back in the third and final season of his entry-level contract, though, seeing his goal and point output drop to 14 and 30, respectively. With the Kings exiting their late 2000s rebuild and looking to build a more veteran core around Anže Kopitar and Drew Doughty, they decided to cut bait with Simmonds and ship him, along with center prospect Brayden Schenn, to the Flyers in the 2011 offseason in exchange for established top-six threat Mike Richards.

The trade worked out well for the Kings, who won two Stanley Cups over the next three seasons with Richards anchoring their second line. It also worked out quite well for Simmonds, who scored 28 goals in his first season with Philadelphia and spent parts of eight years in the City of Brotherly Love.

With the Flyers, Simmonds became one of the most visible power forwards in the league, inking a six-year, $23.85MM extension within two years of the trade and eventually eclipsing the 30-goal mark twice. He racked up 203 goals, 175 assists and 378 points over his 584 games for the Flyers, consistently logging top-six minutes and serving an important leadership role, as evidenced by his Mark Messier Leadership Award win in his final season with the team.

As the extension wrapped up, though, it was clear Simmonds was in an early decline. His totals had steadily dropped since his 32-goal, 60-point season in 2015-16, and the Flyers decided to part ways with the fan-favorite near the 2019 trade deadline. They dealt him to the Predators, who were two years removed from a Stanley Cup Final appearance, but his play outside of Philadelphia stagnated further. He recorded one goal and three points in 17 games with Nashville after the trade and played in two of six games during their first-round loss to the Stars.

Simmonds spent the following four seasons playing for the Devils, Sabres and Maple Leafs in a reduced role, seeing his ice time dip below 10 minutes per game by the 2021-22 season. He was waived twice over the course of the 2022-23 campaign, recording two assists in 18 games to close out his career.

He ends his time in the NHL with 263 goals, 263 assists and 526 points, along with 1,313 PIMs, over the course of 1,037 games. He also added 22 points in 53 career playoff games.

PHR extends its best wishes to Simmonds in his post-hockey career and congratulations him on a lengthy and impactful NHL stint.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Sabres Recall Devon Levi

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5:02 p.m.: Buffalo has officially announced Levi’s recall after losing to the Red Wings 4-1 earlier today.

9:56 a.m.: The Sabres are bringing up some goaltending insurance for their five-game road trip as Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News reports (Twitter links) that they will be recalling goaltender Devon Levi from AHL Rochester.  The move isn’t expected to be registered until after their game this afternoon against Detroit is finished.

The 22-year-old is in his first professional season and had high expectations coming in after taking over the starting job down the stretch last year when his college campaign came to an end.  However, Levi struggled with consistency with Buffalo, playing to a 3.30 GAA and a .891 SV%.  That resulted in the Sabres deciding to send Levi down in late January, allowing him to get a steady workload outside the NHL spotlight.

That decision was a wise one as Levi thrived with the Amerks, posting a 2.52 GAA and a .919 SV% in 19 games while helping Rochester move up to third in the North Division.  Now, with Eric Comrie continuing to struggle in the backup role, Levi will likely serve as the second-string option for the stretch run as Buffalo looks to continue to gain ground in their late playoff push; they enter play today just three points out of a tie for the last Wild Card position.

With Comrie (who also saw AHL action this season) now ineligible to play for Rochester for the rest of the year, Buffalo will instead carry three netminders at least for the short-term future.  Accordingly, Levi’s pending promotion will count against Buffalo’s four post-deadline recall limit once it’s registered later today.

Quinn Skates But Won't Play On Current Road Trip

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  • Sabres winger Jack Quinn skated Friday for the first time as he works his way back from a lower-body injury, relays WGR 550’s Paul Hamilton (Twitter link). The 22-year-old has been limited to just 17 games so far this season due to injuries but has been productive in those, notching five goals and seven assists.  There is still no timetable for when he might return but has been ruled out for their five-game road trip that began today.

Afternoon Notes: Global Series, Athanasiou, Foote

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The NHL has announced their Global Series matchups for the 2024-25 season, with the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils slated to face off in Prague, Czechia on October 4th and 5th, and the Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars set to play in Tampere, Finland on November 1st and 2nd.

The games will mark homecomings for players on all sides, headlined by Florida star Aleksander Barkov’s return to his hometown of Tampere. He grew up through Tampere’s youth hockey program, playing for the Tappara Tampere (often shortened to just ’Tappara’) at every level from U16 in to his professional debut in the Liiga. Barkov’s father, who shares the same name, ranks fifth in Tappara’s all-time scoring, with 416 points in 517 Liiga games. He also coached for the program, though he never oversaw his son. Top Stars scorer Roope Hintz was born in Nokia, Finland – just outside of Tampere. He and Barkov are two of the eight Finns between the Florida and Dallas lineups. When asked about visiting home, Barkov said, “It’s more than a dream come true because you don’t even dream about this… This will probably be one of the best days in my life.”

Meanwhile, New Jersey Devils winger Ondrej Palat will be able to stay at his house in Prague while the team visits. Palat grew up playing in Vitkovice, just a few hours outside of Prague, and told NHL.com that he’s excited to play in front of friends and family. Fellow Devil Tomas Nosek grew up much closer to Prague, in Pardubice. The pair are the only two Czechs on New Jersey’s roster, with recent recall Lukas Rousek being the only one on Buffalo’s roster. However, the two teams do have plenty of other talents from Central Europe – including Germans Nico Daws (NJD) and John-Jason Peterka (BUF), Swiss skaters Nico Hischier, Jonas Siegenthaler, and Timo Meier (NJD), and Slovakia’s Simon Nemec.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Andreas Athanasiou is expected to make his return from injury on Tuesday night, when the Chicago Blackhawks take on the Anaheim Ducks. Athanasiou has been out for the last four months with a groin injury, playing just 11 games this season. He’ll re-enter the lineup still searching for his first goal on the year, recording just four assists prior to his injury. Athanasiou has proven to be an effective winger in Chicago, scoring 20 goals and 40 points in 81 games last season.
  • The New Jersey Devils have formally activated Nolan Foote off of non-roster injured reserve. He’s been working his way back from an upper-body injury suffered during the pre-season that’s since delayed his season debut. Foote was primarily a minor-leaguer last season, scoring 20 goals and 37 points in 55 games with the AHL’s Utica Comets. He’s also managed five goals and seven points in 19 career NHL games, dating back to his debut in 2020-21.

Sabres Recall Lukáš Rousek

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The Sabres had winger Lukáš Rousek back in the lineup for today’s shootout win over the Oilers after recalling him from AHL Rochester on an emergency loan late last night, per CapFriendly.

Rousek, 24, is in his second NHL season and his third playing North American pro hockey in the Sabres organization. A sixth-round pick of the team in 2019, he’d suited up in eight major league games heading into today’s action. The smooth-skating winger has solidified himself as a top-line presence in the minors but has yet to blow the doors off in the NHL, recording a goal and an assist with four shots on goal while averaging 10:55 per game. He didn’t get on the scoresheet in today’s game, but he registered an even rating and one shot on goal and logged nearly 13 minutes.

He’s continually progressed throughout his time in Rochester, however, and could very well make some noise for a spot on the Sabres’ opening-night roster in 2024-25. The 5-foot-11 winger has stayed on pace with last season’s totals, clicking at roughly a 0.8 points per game rate with 10 goals, 38 points, and a -8 rating in 48 games with the Amerks this year. Sabres GM Kevyn Adams inked Rousek to a two-year extension with a $775K cap hit last summer, so he won’t reach restricted free agency until 2025. He’ll have arbitration rights upon expiry.

Rousek’s recall does not count against the Sabres’ four post-deadline recalls because it was executed under emergency conditions. Buffalo would have been short a forward today with Rousek as Jordan Greenway was out with an undisclosed injury.

Sabres Notes: Girgensons, Thompson, Greenway, Captaincy

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While the Sabres had some trade discussions involving forward Zemgus Girgensons, GM Kevyn Adams told reporters including Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News that their preference is to re-sign the pending unrestricted free agent.  The 30-year-old has spent his entire ten-year NHL career in Buffalo after they made him a first-round pick (14th overall) back in 2012.  While Girgensons hasn’t become the two-way threat they envisioned (he hasn’t surpassed the 20-point mark since his sophomore year), he has been an important checker while Adams lauded his dressing room presence.  Girgensons has a $2.5MM salary this season and it’s hard to see him commanding much more than that as he has just seven goals and two assists through 46 games so far this season.

More from Buffalo:

  • The team welcomed back center Tage Thompson back in the lineup today against Edmonton, per a team announcement. The 26-year-old had missed Thursday’s game with an upper-body injury.  It has been a tough year for Thompson who has been limited to 35 points in 53 games after putting up 47 goals and 47 assists last season.  Meanwhile, winger Jordan Greenway was out for today’s contest with an injury after taking a high stick against Nashville on Thursday.  After struggling last season, the 27-year-old has fared a bit better in his first full season with Buffalo, collecting 21 points and 101 hits in 52 games so far.
  • With the Sabres moving captain Kyle Okposo on Friday, they have a decision to make on the captaincy front. Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News relays (Twitter link) that the team will decide on naming a new alternate in the coming days.  However, naming a permanent replacement for Okposo will likely wait until next season.

Sabres Send Devin Cooley To Sharks For Draft Pick

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The Buffalo Sabres have acquired a 2025 seventh-round draft pick from the San Jose Sharks in return for goaltender Devin Cooley.

Cooley, 26, has been a career minor-leaguer, totaling 66 appearances in the AHL since making his professional debut in the 2020-21 season. That includes the 14 games he’s appeared in with the Rochester Americans this season, where he’s managed six wings and a .891 save percentage. That brings Cooley’s career totals in the AHL up to 32 wins and a .900 save percentage. He has also posted 14 wins and a .916 in 25 ECHL games.

San Jose’s last-minute acquisition of Cooley corresponds with their swapping of Kaapo Kahkonen and Vitek Vanecek. Devils team reporter James Nichols reported that Vanecek could miss the rest of the season with a lower-body injury, some bad news for a Sharks team already down Mackenzie Blackwood to a groin injury. That means the San Jose Sharks will have to ice Magnus Chrona and Cooley as their top two options. Interestingly, the pair of rookie NHL goalies have experience playing together – with a senior-year Cooley backing up a freshman-year Chrona at the University of Denver in the 2019-20 season. The pair combined for 20 wins, before Cooley moved to the pros in 2020-21. Chrona is now in his first pro season, boasting an .830 save percentage in his first four NHL games and a .892 in his first 24 AHL games.

Sabres Send Erik Johnson To Flyers

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The Buffalo Sabres are sending veteran defenseman Erik Johnson to the Philadelphia Flyers, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Johnson has been a focal piece of trade rumors for a while, now moving to the fourth club of his career. Philadelphia will be sending a 2024 fourth-round pick the other way, per The Athletic’s Chris Johnston. The deal features no salary retention.

Johnson hit the open market for the first time in seven years this summer, signing a one-year, $3.2MM deal with the Sabres. It marked his first move since February of 2011, when he was traded to Colorado alongside Jay McClement and the 11th-overall pick in 2011 that turned into Duncan Siemens. In return, the St. Louis Blues received Chris Stewart, Kevin Shattenkirk, and the 32nd-oveall pick in 2011 that turned into Ty Rattie. Johnson quickly established himself as a focal piece of Colorado’s blue line, averaging over 24 minutes of ice time through his first 22 games with the Avalanche. He maintained that heavy usage across the next 13 seasons, averaging over 21 minutes of ice time as he totaled 717 games and 246 points in Colorado. His burly size and long reach made him a coveted asset, even if his scoring never rose above a career-high 39 points scored in the 2013-14 season.

Johnson will likely be leaned on as the replacement for top-pair defenseman Sean Walker, who the Flyers traded to the Colorado Avalanche for a conditional 2025 first-round pick and centerman Ryan Johansen, who the Flyers are continuing to shop around. Walker spent nearly all season alongside Nick Seeler, who the Flyers recently signed to a four-year contract extension. Johnson certainly won’t bring the scoring touch that Walker managed, scoring 22 points in 63 games, but he should maintain the burly presence in the neutral zone that earned Walker praise. This move also gives Philadelphia more room to utilize their young defensemen, including Ronald Attard and Yegor Zamula.

Panthers Acquire Kyle Okposo

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After adding Vladimir Tarasenko earlier this week, the Panthers have made another addition up front.  They’ve acquired winger Kyle Okposo from the Sabres in exchange for defenseman Calle Sjalin and a conditional 2024 seventh-round pick.  The pick will elevate to a fifth-round selection if Florida wins the Stanley Cup.

Okposo has served as Buffalo’s captain in each of the last two seasons, a fitting reward after eight years with the club. Florida will become just the third team that Okposo has played for in his 17-year career, which kicked off when the New York Islanders selected him seventh-overall in the 2006 NHL Draft, taking him in the same top 10 that featured Erik Johnson, Jonathan Toews, and Nicklas Backstrom. Okposo would play two seasons at the University of Minnesota before making his professional debut in the 2007-08 season and playing out his rookie NHL season in 2008-09. He scored 18 goals and 39 points in 65 games as a first-year, quickly establishing the reliable, top-six impact that he’s brought throughout his entire career. Okposo has since had five seasons of 50 or more points, including a career-high 69 points scored in the 2013-14 season. In full, he’s totalled 1045 games and 614 points in the NHL.

Okposo has only entered the open market once, signing a seven-year contract with the Sabres in the summer of 2016. He’s since played through some of Buffalo’s worst seasons, experiencing four different coaches and no playoff berths with the team. But he’s stuck through it all, providing a consistent impact in all three zones that he’s sure to bring to Florida now. His departure marks the end of an era for the Sabres, with Zemgus Girgensons the last Sabre from the 2016-17 team. Okposo is slated to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, and at 35, he’ll likely begin considering his future. But with this move to Florida, he’ll first get the chance to chase a Stanley Cup – an opportunity he hasn’t had much of across his 1,000-game career.

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