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Matt Bartkowski Signs AHL PTO

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Veteran defenseman Matt Bartkowski has found a new home, at least for now. The Rochester Americans announced they’ve signed Bartkowski to an AHL PTO. The team expects Bartkowski to meet them for today’s game in Laval against the Rocket. Rochester is the AHL affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres.

The addition of Bartkowski appears to be the result of a chain reaction in the Sabres organization after a rash of injuries on Buffalo’s blueline. When the Sabres lost defensemen Henri Jokiharju and Mattias Samuelsson in short order last weekend, the team recalled fellow defensemen Lawrence Pilut and Kale Clague from Rochester. Of course, that helped to repair the Sabres’ ailing defense-corps, but served to dismantle Rochester’s, stealing two of their best defenders. The Americans initially responded by recalling Zachary Berzolla from the ECHL, and earlier this week added another NHL veteran in Brandon Davidson on an AHL PTO.

A veteran of 256 career NHL games, Bartkowski last played in the NHL back in 2020-21, dressing for just one game with the Minnesota Wild. The 34-year-old hasn’t seen even semi-regular NHL time since he played 18 games as a member of the Calgary Flames all the way back in 2017-18. The defenseman did have some NHL interest this summer coming off of two exceptional AHL seasons with the Iowa Wild and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, signing a PTO with the New York Rangers back in September, who ultimately released him from that tryout. Bringing Bartkowski in should give the Americans a healthy, veteran presence to help patch the holes not only on their own blueline, but that of the entire NHL-AHL-ECHL organization.

More On Sabres’ Defense Search

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Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams was clear this week that the team might make a move to add some defensive depth in the wake of injuries to Mattias Samuelsson and Henri Jokiharju. The executive claimed it wouldn’t be a big move though, striking some of the top names off the speculation board. One that remained was Ethan Bear, given his situation with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Bear requested a trade in the past and hasn’t played at all this season, despite signing a one-year, $2.2MM deal in the summer. The right-shot defenseman might seem like the perfect answer for the Sabres right now, especially given his relatively young age. While Buffalo has discussed Bear with the Hurricanes, according to Darren Dreger of TSN, he doesn’t believe they are willing to give up an asset at this point.

The Hurricanes are clearly not willing to just give Bear away, even with the awkwardness surrounding the situation. The 25-year-old does still hold some value as an asset. It also makes sense that the Sabres aren’t willing to pay for someone like that, given they won’t have much room for him once everyone is healthy. Samuelsson avoided a long-term injury and is expected back in a few weeks, meaning the available minutes will quickly disappear.

If the Sabres do make an addition, it seems more likely to be a veteran depth player that can move in and out of the lineup when necessary. For Carolina, that means one fewer team on the market for Bear, who they seem in no rush to move.

Buffalo Sabres Considering Depth Addition

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The Buffalo Sabres lost Mattias Samuelsson and Henri Jokiharju within a few days of each other, suddenly robbing their defensive group of much of its depth. The good news, as general manager Kevyn Adams told reporters including Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News, is that while Samuelsson will miss several weeks, he will not need surgery. Jokiharju meanwhile is week-to-week with a fracture from taking a puck to the face.

With that in mind, Adams explained that the team is considering adding an NHL-level defenseman of some kind, but downplayed the significance of any such move. It won’t be a big change (if one comes at all) but the Sabres are in an interesting situation when it comes to additions like this.

With so much cap space available – the team is still ~$20MM under the ceiling – they could afford to add a bad contract from another team looking for space, with a sweetener to go with it. While it might look odd to add a big ticket for just a few weeks of depth play until Samuelsson and Jokiharju come back, weaponizing the cap space the team has right now can be an effective way to make sure their window is open even longer down the road.

Remember, that cap space isn’t going to be there forever in Buffalo. The team has big extensions kicking in for Tage Thompson and Samuelsson next season and has Dylan Cozens to sign next summer. The following year, Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, Jacob Bryson, and Peyton Krebs are all up for new deals, meaning that extra breathing room is going to disappear quickly.

It’s an enviable position to be in, not needing to make a big move but having the capacity to help out another team. While they obviously want their young studs back in the lineup, Adams has all the leverage here in any negotiations as he calls around the league.

Subban A Couple Of Weeks From Returning

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  • Sabres goaltender Malcolm Subban has had some rough injury luck lately. After suffering a season-ending wrist injury back in January, he re-signed in Buffalo only to suffer an injury in his first preseason game with AHL Rochester earlier this month.  However, the 28-year-old is a couple of weeks away from being cleared to return, mentions Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald.  Buffalo’s preference is to have prospect Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen play heavy minutes in the minors so Subban’s eventual return will give them some insurance on that front as he’d be the one to be called up if one of Craig Anderson or Eric Comrie gets injured.

Brandon Davidson Signs AHL PTO

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The Rochester Americans are bringing back a familiar face, signing Brandon Davidson to a professional tryout agreement. Davidson spent last season with the team while on a one-year, two-way contract with the Buffalo Sabres but was not re-signed this summer.

Now 31, Davidson’s time in the NHL appears to be over. The veteran defenseman has played just 28 games at that level since the start of the 2018-19 season, and spent all of last year in the minor leagues. Once a relatively effective bottom-pairing option that could bring defense and physicality to the table, he should no longer be considered an NHL-level player.

Still, that doesn’t mean he can’t be effective at the AHL level. Davidson is expected to meet the team for games this weekend. If he proves healthy and in shape, it’s easy to see the Americans extending him a full-season contract to add another veteran presence to the back end. A deal like this does not mean he can be recalled to the Sabres – he would need to sign an NHL contract for that to happen.

Snapshots: Samuelsson, Bear, Wright

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Buffalo Sabres fans held their breath last night when freshly extended defenseman Mattias Samuelsson went down with an injury in their game against Vancouver. Now, The Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski reports that Samuelsson avoided a long-term injury but is still set to miss at least “a few weeks,” joining Henri Jokiharju on the list of injured Sabres top-four defensemen.

An exact timeline won’t be had on Samuelsson until the team returns to Buffalo, head coach Don Granato said today, and the injury will force some depth defenders to shine in order for Buffalo to keep up its strong start. Lawrence Pilut will make his season debut in the team’s next game after two seasons overseas, and free-agent acquisition Ilya Lyubushkin will be tasked with replacing Samuelsson as the defensive anchor on the top pairing alongside the red-hot Rasmus Dahlin.

  • It’s no secret the Canucks are in trouble, winless so far to start the year. With injuries and general positional depth weakness hampering their defense, the team has been looking to add, and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on 32 Thoughts that the team has checked in on defenseman Ethan Bear as a potential trade acquisition. Bear, the 25-year-old right-shot defenseman, has been thrust down the depth chart in Carolina and has yet to appear in a game this season. The Hurricanes were shopping him prior to the season’s start, and the Canucks have more than enough room thanks to LTIR to accommodate his $2.2MM cap hit. He still has some upside and could provide some better matchups once Quinn Hughes returns to the lineup.
  • Sportsnet’s Jason Bukala ponders whether the Seattle Kraken may opt to send Shane Wright back to the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs after an unimpactful start to the season. Wright hasn’t received many opportunities, he has shown smooth skating and pace, but Bukala points out that Wright’s had some positional issues defensively and may need a bit more development before being able to execute his playstyle properly at the NHL level.

Dahlin Among NHL Three Stars

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The NHL released its Three Stars for last week, with Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin taking the top spot. While he was good through the first few years of his career, Dahlin has really taken another step under Sabres head coach Don Granato. Last season he set career highs with 13 goals and 53 points, and he’s off to an incredible start this year with five goals and eight points in five games. Dahlin became the first defenseman in NHL history to score in the first four games of a season and then broke his own record by scoring again on Saturday night.

Buffalo Sabres Recall Kale Clague

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Amid a brief wave of injuries to their defenseman, the Buffalo Sabres announced that they have recalled defenseman Kale Clague from the Rochester Americans of the AHL. No corresponding move has been announced. The Sabres, who have $19MM in cap space, didn’t make the move for any cap purposes, but instead had a spot to give after Mattias Samuelsson left last night’s game with a lower-body injury. Though not specified in the Sabres announcement, Samuelsson has been placed on IR reports Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News.

Buffalo is clearly having itself a tough weekend on the injury front, losing not only Samuelsson, but defenseman Henri Jokiharju as well, who was placed on IR on Friday with an upper-body injury. In response to that injury, the Sabres recalled defenseman Lawrence Pilut from Rochester the same day. Should they play, Pilut and Clague will have a chance to make an impact on a Buffalo team that appears to finally be turning a corner, off to a 4-1-0 start early on this season.

If and when Clague plays, it’ll be his first game in a Sabres sweater. The 24-year-old was originally a 2016 draft pick of the Los Angeles Kings, where he played parts of three seasons before the Montreal Canadiens selected him off waivers last December. Montreal failed to quality him this summer, and he hit the free agent market, where the Sabres signed him to a one-year, two-way contract. This season, Clague has three points, all assists in five games at the AHL level. For his NHL career, he has 16 points in 58 games.

As much as these injuries impact the Sabres, they can be felt in Rochester too. With Pilut and Clague making the trip up the road from Rochester to Buffalo, the Americans are out a pair of defensemen themselves. As a result, the team appears to have recalled defenseman Zach Berzolla from the Cincinnati Cyclones, their ECHL affiliate.

Latest On Mattias Samuelsson

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  • The Buffalo Sabres received an injury scare last night when defenseman Mattias Samuelsson, a core piece of their blueline, left their contest against the Canucks with a lower-body injury. While we don’t yet have full details on what Samuelsson suffered, we do know that Sabres fans can breathe a sigh of relief. The Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski reports that the Sabres and Samuelsson “got good news” regarding Samuelsson’s injury and that the team and player “avoided the worst.” While this update is obviously relatively vague, it does suggest that Samuelsson won’t be out as long as some might have initially feared he would be.

Lawrence Pilut Recalled By Buffalo Sabres

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After Henri Jokiharju took a puck to the face and exited last night’s game, the Buffalo Sabres have recalled Lawrence Pilut from the minor leagues. The team has not yet announced the extent of Jokiharju’s injuries.

Pilut, 26, is still waiver-exempt (amazingly), one of the biggest reasons why he wasn’t on the team to begin the year after a strong preseason. The Swedish defender is back in North America after spending the last two seasons in the KHL, and had two points in his first three games with Rochester before the recall. Undrafted, Pilut has found success at basically every level of hockey, including for a time in the NHL. In 2018-19 he played 33 games with the Sabres, recording six points and generally looking as though he could handle minutes in the big leagues.

When those minutes didn’t continue, he took an opportunity to play a bigger role in the KHL and had 28 points in 57 games during his first season in Russia. While he may never become a full-time player with the Sabres, Pilut represents some very solid depth for a club that looks like a real playoff contender this year. Buffalo is 3-1 and coming off an impressive victory over the Calgary Flames last night.

With Jokiharju exiting early, Mattias Samuelsson and Rasmus Dahlin both logged huge minutes, each nearing the 26-minute mark in the game. Jacob Bryson and Owen Power each cracked 20 themselves, while Casey Fitzgerald played just over 15. Where Pilut fits into that group remains to be seen, though with Ilya Lyubushkin nearing a return from his day-to-day injury, it’s not even a guarantee that he gets into a game at all. The Sabres continue their western trip with a stop in Vancouver tomorrow night.

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