Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Sabres Rumors

Jiri Kulich Reassigned To Rochester

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

After a standout performance with Team Czechia at the 2024 World Junior Championship, the Buffalo Sabres announced they have reassigned forward Jiri Kulich to their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans. Leading his team to a bronze medal finish over Team Finland, Kulich tied for for the lead in scoring over the whole tournament, scoring six goals and 12 points in seven games.

He has continued to impress at the AHL level this season, impressively scoring 16 goals in 23 games up to this point, still leading Rochester in goal-scoring, and tied for fourth throughout the entire league. With Buffalo having a relatively packed forward core, it is more than likely that Kulich won’t become a full-time player for the Sabres until the start of next season.

[SOURCE LINK]

Sabres’ Kyle Okposo Out Week-To-Week

at CDT | by 3 Comments

Sabres captain Kyle Okposo will be out on a week-to-week basis with a lower-body injury, the team said Tuesday. Okposo was unexpectedly absent from team practice this morning, as relayed by The Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski. Head coach Don Granato said later Tuesday that Okposo sustained the injury during the team’s loss to the Senators on Sunday, but did not miss a shift.

Okposo, 35, is in his second season as the Sabres’ captain and his eighth in Buffalo since signing a seven-year, $42MM contract as a free agent in the summer of 2016. He’s no longer bound to that initial long-term deal, signing a one-year, $2.5MM contract extension to remain in upstate New York for this season last May.

It’s been another decent season of depth production from the Minnesotan, who missed significant chunks of the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons with severe concussion symptoms. While he had no points in his last four games prior to the injury, he had notched eight goals and six assists for 14 points in 38 games. That puts him on the exact 0.37 points-per-game pace he set last season with the Sabres, although it remains a step back from the 21 goals and 45 points he scored in the 2021-22 campaign.

Okposo hasn’t been the bona fide second-line winger the Sabres thought they were getting almost eight years ago, but the seventh overall pick by the Islanders in the 2006 NHL Draft has grown into a valuable veteran presence on a team largely dominated by young talent. He doesn’t log a ton of time on special teams units, although he does still see occasional usage on the power play and penalty kill and averages nearly 14 minutes per game in all situations. His 49.6% Corsi share at even strength certainly doesn’t make him a chance-suppression juggernaut, but he’s avoided becoming a liability in the late stages of his career.

It’s a tough injury break for a Sabres team that’s already dealt with the longer-term absences of Zach Benson, Zemgus Girgensons, Jack Quinn, and Tage Thompson this year. After an already disappointing start to the season, the Sabres are no closer to turning things around with a 4-5-1 record in their last ten games. Nearly halfway through the NHL calendar, their playoff chances have dipped below ten percent, per MoneyPuck – a tough spot to be in for a rebuilding team expected to take steps forward from their tenth-place finish in the Eastern Conference last season. Their 15-19-4 record has them 14th in the conference at present, ahead of only the Blue Jackets and Senators.

With two extra forwards already on the roster available to replace Okposo in the lineup (Victor Olofsson and Eric Robinson), the Sabres do not need to make a recall from AHL Rochester. If they choose to do so, they currently have a full 23-player roster and would need to move Okposo to injured reserve to accommodate a recall. One of Olofsson or Robinson will likely slot in a fourth-line role alongside Girgensons and Peyton Krebs in their next game against the Canadiens on Thursday.

Eric Comrie Clears Waivers

at CDT | by 5 Comments

01/01/24: Comrie has cleared waivers, according to The Athletic’s Chris Johnston. He is now eligible for assignment to the Rochester Americans.

12/31/23: The Buffalo Sabres have placed goaltender Eric Comrie on waivers, opening up room for them to activate forward Zemgus Girgensons off of injured reserve. Girgensons has been out of the lineup since November 24th, battling with a lower-body injury.

Comrie’s waiving comes after Devon Levi’s resurgence to the starter’s net. Top rookie Levi was briefly assigned to the AHL, playing in two games with the Rochester Americans where he saved 70 of a possible 76 shots, good for a .921 save percentage and 1-1 record. Levi has played in seven games since returning from the minor leagues, setting a 4-1-1 record and .906 save percentage. His new momentum has reestablished him as the Sabres’ starting goaltender, making Comrie’s roster spot expendable. Comrie has appeared in seven games with the Sabres this year, setting a dismal 1-5-0 record and .863 save percentage.

Comrie’s spot will now be used on Zemgus Girgensons, who is progressing in his return from an injury suffered midway through the team’s November 24th win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. The 29-year-old winger has appeared in 20 games with the Sabres this year, scoring two goals and recording seven penalty minutes. He’s in his 10th season with the Sabres, originally joining the team in the 2012 NHL Draft, when he was taken 14th-overall. Girgensons was apart of an interesting 10-15 range that year, which saw him drafted alongside players like Slater Koekkoek and Mikhail Grigorenko. Star players Tomas Hertl and Andrei Vasilevskiy were drafted only a few picks later, going 17 and 19 respectively.

Comrie Expecting To Be Waived

at CDT | by 3 Comments

Having to place both Tyson Jost and Jacob Bryson on waivers to make space on their roster over the last several weeks, the Buffalo Sabres still find themselves in a difficult situation. They still maintain a full 23-man roster, and will once again need to make room, as veteran center Zemgus Girgensons is nearing activation off of the injured reserve.

One of the clearer choices in who will ultimately sent down is goaltender Eric Comrie, who has not played in a game since earlier this month on December 5th. Seeing only a total of seven games up to this point, Comrie carries a 1-5-0 record on the year, with a .863 SV% and a 4.01 GAA. With young netminders Devon Levi and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen carrying the bulk of the load between the pipes, it makes little sense for the Sabres to continue with three netminders.

[SOURCE LINK]

Don Granato Out With Illness, Seth Appert To Serve As Interim Coach

at CDT | by 8 Comments

  • The Sabres announced (Twitter link) that head coach Don Granato will miss today’s game versus Columbus due to illness. Instead of using an assistant in the interim head coaching role, Buffalo has recalled Rochester’s head coach Seth Appert who will be in charge behind the bench.  Appert is in his fourth season with the Amerks who also play tonight but will have assistants Vinny Prospal and Nathan Paetsch split the coaching duties for that contest.

Jost Sent To Amerks

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

  • The Sabres announced that they’ve assigned center Tyson Jost to AHL Rochester. The move comes as little surprise after he cleared waivers earlier today on the heels of notching just four points in his first 29 games while carrying a $2MM contract.  With Ryan Johnson’s quick recall following the move, Buffalo will need to make another roster move to activate Zemgus Girgensons off IR; he could be cleared to return on Saturday.

Tyson Jost, Michael Hutchinson Clear Waivers

at CDT | by 5 Comments

Dec. 29: Jost and Hutchinson both passed through waivers unclaimed, per Friedman.

Dec. 28: According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, forward Tyson Jost and goaltender Michael Hutchinson have been placed on waivers by the Buffalo Sabres and Detroit Red Wings, respectively.

Jost, 25, arrives on waivers in the midst of a difficult contract season in Buffalo. The pending unrestricted free agent is making $2MM against the cap but has not provided much return on investment for the Sabres. He’s scored just four points in 29 games this season and has seen his role on the team erode compared to last year.

Last season, Jost averaged 13:20 time-on-ice per game and saw over a minute of penalty-killing time per game as well.

So far this season, Jost has dropped under a minute short-handed and has seen his overall ice time drop dangerously close to the 10 minute plateau.

That decline in role has come alongside his significantly reduced production, and now he’ll be made available to all 31 other teams.

It’s a relatively quick turnaround for Jost, a player who just last night skated as the Sabres’ number-one center in the absence of Tage Thompson. But in a different sense, Jost’s return to the AHL (which seems likely as his $2MM cap hit makes claiming him a difficult prospect for most teams across the league) has been a long time coming. The former top prospect played well at the BCHL and NCAA levels but has struggled to make his mark on the NHL.

Jost’s ability to play a two-way game meant that earlier in his career, Jost could be trusted to play in a bottom-six role at the NHL level. As a result, he never got to play in the AHL on any sort of extended basis. That meant that he never got the chance to learn how to score on a consistent basis as a professional, and his offensive game never quite took off.

Now he’ll likely land with the Sabres’ AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans, and get the chance to potentially play in a starring offensive role that he never received in the NHL. For the Sabres, sending him to the AHL would save the team some cap space and would also clear a roster spot to be used on a different player.

As for Hutchinson, he’s already cleared waivers this season (for his original assignment to the AHL) and has been through the process numerous times before in his career as a third goalie.

As an established veteran netminder in a league perpetually in need of quality goaltending, there is a chance Hutchinson gets claimed. His league-minimum cap hit is easy for most teams to fit into their financial picture, although his AHL performance (5-7-1 .895 save percentage) is not hugely encouraging.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Sabres Reassign Olivier Nadeau To ECHL

at CDT | by 2 Comments

  • The Sabres demoted forward prospect Olivier Nadeau from AHL Rochester to ECHL Jacksonville on Friday morning, per a team release. Nadeau, 20, has been a frequent healthy scratch in Rochester, playing five out of a possible 26 games in his first pro season. He’s suited up just twice this month and has not played since December 16. While the 2021 fourth-round pick recorded his first professional goal, the lack of playing time is surely not a positive thing for his development. He’ll head to a lower-level club where he could potentially lock down a top-six role after notching over a point per game in the past three QMJHL seasons.

Sabres Activate Tage Thompson, Assign Ryan Johnson To AHL

at CDT | by 7 Comments

4:30 PM: The Buffalo Sabres have recalled Ryan Johnson from the AHL, proving that these moves were merely paper transactions.

10:00 AM: The Sabres activated center Tage Thompson on Friday after a very short stint on the non-roster list, according to a team release. With no existing room on the 23-man roster to execute the move, the team assigned rookie defenseman Ryan Johnson to AHL Rochester to accommodate Thompson’s return.

Thompson was a late scratch for Buffalo’s last contest, a 4-1 loss against the Bruins on Wednesday, for personal reasons. After exceeding the 23-player limit on the active roster over the course of the holiday freeze, the Sabres moved Thompson to the non-roster list before 11:59 p.m. that night to be compliant when the freeze lifted Thursday morning.

The transaction suggests Thompson will be available for Saturday’s game against the Blue Jackets. Buffalo GM Kevyn Adams will need to make an additional roster move to activate Sabres mainstay Zemgus Girgensons from injured reserve, as he’s expected to return from a lower-body injury that’s kept him out since late November. That will likely be assigning center Tyson Jost to Rochester this afternoon, assuming he clears waivers.

Thompson, 26, had four points in his last five games, including a three-point effort in the Sabres’ 9-3 drubbing of the Maple Leafs last week. In ten games since returning from a wrist injury that cost him nearly three weeks, Thompson has struggled with three goals and seven points and a -5 rating.

Johnson, the Sabres’ 31st overall pick in 2019, returns to Rochester to continue his development. The University of Minnesota product had a strong training camp and has looked good in 20 games of NHL action this year. He hasn’t provided much in the way of offense with two assists, and he’s received zero usage on special teams, but he’s graded out well possession-wise in his even strength minutes with a 51.7% Corsi share and an expected plus-minus rating of +0.1. Only Rasmus Dahlin has controlled more shot attempts at even strength than Johnson.

In fact, Johnson has graded out so well defensively that there’s some warranted speculation that the Sabres will make an additional roster move in order to bring him back up to the NHL. Given his waiver-exempt status, though, assigning him to the minors is the most convenient way to make room for both Girgensons and Thompson to suit up tomorrow.

The Sabres would need to make an additional waiver placement or trade to create room to recall Johnson again. The team’s other waiver-exempt talents – Zach Benson, Devon Levi, John-Jason Peterka, Owen Power, and Jack Quinn – have solidified full-time roles, and sending any of them down would be extremely detrimental to a team that needs a major winning streak to get back into the playoff conversation.

In his first nine games with Rochester, the 22-year-old had four assists and a +2 rating. He has not played an AHL contest since being recalled to Buffalo in early November.

Sabres Place Tage Thompson On Non-Roster List

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Sabres placed star center Tage Thompson on the non-roster list after he was absent from last night’s 4-1 loss to the Bruins for personal reasons. While the move was announced Thursday, it was likely filed with the league in order to reduce the Sabres’ active roster to 23 players before the holiday roster freeze lifted last night at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

scroll to top