Sabres Notes: Dunne, Kesselring, Jones
Jan. 15th: According to Rachel Lenzi of The Buffalo News, the Sabres have officially activated Kesselring from the injured reserve, per the NHL media site.
Jan. 14th: The Buffalo Sabres will be without their typical fourth-line center for quite some time. According to Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio, Joshua Dunne is expected to miss the next four to six weeks with a mid-body injury.
After Monday’s loss to the Florida Panthers, head coach Lindy Ruff indicated that Dunne wasn’t injured from the hit by Panthers defenseman Donovan Sebrango, which was the original thought at the time. Ruff went on to explain that the mid-body injury has been bothering Dunne for the last little while.
With all due respect to Dunne, he’s not an irreplaceable part of the Sabres’ forward core. The 27-year-old center has scored one goal and four points in 28 games with Buffalo this season, with a -4 rating. Still, he’s given them a 50.6% success rate in the faceoff dot, which has been beneficial given that he’s started 78.2% of his shifts in the defensive zone.
Given the duration of the expected recovery timeline, the Sabres will likely place Dunne on the injured reserve by the end of the weekend. This will give Buffalo the space to recall a depth forward as they embark on a five-game road trip next week.
In more positive news on the injury front, Hamilton also reported that defenseman Michael Kesselring is ready to return to the lineup, but won’t play this evening. Kesselring has been on Buffalo’s injured reserve for the last week, and the idea is that the team doesn’t want him returning for a back-to-back homestand.
Kesselring has been relatively disappointing throughout his first year with the team, though much of that can be attributed to injuries. He’s only appeared in 16 games for the Sabres this season, going scoreless while earning a -4 rating. Still, his advanced metrics have been solid, and he’s only one year removed from scoring seven goals and 29 points in 82 games with the Utah Hockey Club.
Meanwhile, Kesselring’s impending return has spurned a proactive roster move from Buffalo. Earlier today, the team shared that they’ve reassigned Zachary Jones to the AHL’s Rochester Americans. Despite spending multiple days on the NHL roster, Jones has yet to play for the Sabres this season, instead scoring three goals and 32 points in 28 games for AHL Rochester.
Buffalo Sabres Recall Zachary Jones
Saturday: It was a short-term demotion for Jones as WGR 550’s Paul Hamilton relays (Twitter link) that he is back up with Buffalo to once again serve as the reserve defender. The assignment was simply to get him into a game with AHL Rochester to keep him fresh.
Friday: The Buffalo Sabres announced that they’ve reassigned depth defenseman Zachary Jones to the AHL’s Rochester Americans. The Sabres are now down to six defensemen on the active roster.
Since the team has an upcoming five-game homestand beginning tomorrow night against the Anaheim Ducks, they may be able to wait a few days before recalling another defenseman if the rest of the core is fully healthy. Still, since Michael Kesselring won’t be eligible for activation until Buffalo’s January 14th contest against the Philadelphia Flyers, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them recall a different option, such as Ryan Johnson for a day or two.
Despite being the second recall of the year for Jones, he has yet to play a game for the Sabres. After being non-tendered by the New York Rangers last offseason, Jones quickly signed a one-year, $900K agreement with Buffalo on the opening day of free agency.
Although he may have liked to get into an NHL contest by now, it’s been all AHL for the former 68th overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft. Given his output with AHL Rochester this season, it’s somewhat surprising that the Sabres haven’t gotten him at least one look.
At the time of writing, Jones has scored three goals and 31 points in 28 games for the Americans, leading the team in scoring. He’s only two points back of Ryan Ufko for the highest-scoring defenseman in the AHL with four fewer games played. If he continues his current pace, it’ll be surprising if Jones doesn’t come home with the Eddie Shore Award, annually given to the league’s top defenseman.
Buffalo Sabres Make Four Roster Moves
The Buffalo Sabres announced a series of roster moves today, as they activated veteran Jason Zucker off of injured reserve and recalled defenseman Zac Jones from their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans. In two corresponding moves, the Sabres placed defenseman Michael Kesselring and goaltender Alex Lyon on injured reserve.
Zucker, 33, has been out since the Sabres’ Dec. 8 contest against the Calgary Flames. Despite losing Zucker, a veteran of nearly 800 games who had 18 points in 21 games before his injury, the Sabres went on a 10-game win streak starting in their first game without Zucker, a streak that only came to an end Jan. 3 at the hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Per NHL.com’s Heather Engel, Zucker will return to the lineup as the Sabres’ second-line right winger. When he last played, Zucker was the team’s third-line left wing, skating on a line with Jack Quinn and Ryan McLeod. Zach Benson is now in that spot.
The return of Zucker should help the Sabres build more momentum in their push to end their playoff drought, which stands as the league’s longest. The 33-year-old is playing out the first year of a two-year contract extension he signed in March of last year, one that carries a $4.75MM cap hit.
Shifting focus to the Sabres’ defense, the team placed Kesselring on IR after he missed the team’s Saturday loss to the Blue Jackets. The 25-year-old missed nearly a month with a lower-body injury in November and December, and also began the season with a lower-body injury that cost him nine games. The 6’5″ blueliner was acquired by the Sabres over the summer as part of the JJ Peterka trade. The Sabres also received breakout winger Josh Doan from the Utah Mammoth in the deal.
His difficulty staying healthy has cost Kesselring the chance to play a significant role on head coach Lindy Ruff’s defense. Through 16 games played this season, Kesselring doesn’t have a point and is averaging just over 15 minutes of ice time per game, including just over a minute shorthanded.
Replacing Kesselring on the roster is Jones, a former minor league and NCAA standout. Once one of the better prospects in the New York Rangers’ system (he was ranked No. 2 in their pool by The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler in 2022), Jones failed to earn a regular role on the Rangers, serving mainly as a reserve defenseman under former head coach Peter Laviolette.
Jones was not extended a qualifying offer by the Rangers last summer, and the Sabres signed him to a one-year, $900K deal with a hefty $550K AHL salary. While he has yet to make his Sabres debut after failing to earn a spot on the team out of training camp, he has been brilliant at the AHL level. Jones has 30 points in 27 games for the Americans, leading the team in scoring.
If Jones gets the chance to play during this recall, it would be a significant opportunity for him as he is a pending restricted free agent. The Athletic’s Matthew Fairburn wrote on Jan. 3 that the Sabres “don’t have a lot of internal options Ruff trusts.” If Jones can find a way to earn the trust of Ruff to a greater extent than his rival Sabres depth blueliners have been able to (namely Zach Metsa, Jacob Bryson, and Ryan Johnson), he could secure an extended runway to show off his skills at the NHL level.
To clear sufficient room for Jones’ recall and Zucker’s activation on their regular roster, the Sabres placed Lyon, a goalie, on IR. Lyon has been dealing with a lower-body injury and will now miss at least a week due to this IR placement. The 33-year-old has a 10-6-3 record this season with a .904 save percentage, and is under contract at a $1.5MM AAV through next season. Since the Sabres have been carrying three goalies on their active roster, they are able to place Lyon on IR without recalling another netminder.
With Lyon injured, Ruff and the Sabres will turn to veteran Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and rookie waiver claim Colten Ellis in the crease to help sustain the momentum they built with their win streak.
Photos courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images
Sabres Recall Zac Jones
The Sabres announced that they’ve recalled defenseman Zachary Jones from AHL Rochester. Jones will replace rearguard Rasmus Dahlin on the active roster as he heads to the non-roster list following today’s news of an indefinite leave of absence.
Jones, 25, has parts of five NHL seasons under his belt but hasn’t yet appeared for Buffalo this year. He was briefly rostered for a couple of days last month but didn’t get into a game. The lefty debuted with the Rangers back in 2020-21 and languished in a fringe press box/minor-league role for essentially his entire tenure. He never logged more than 46 appearances in a campaign, that career-high coming last season, and was finally non-tendered by the club last summer.
Despite looking like he could at least be a reliable No. 7 option in New York, the market for Jones wasn’t very strong. He accepted a high-paying two-way deal from Buffalo ($950K NHL/$550K AHL) and cleared waivers at the beginning of the season. Aside from that two-day call-up in October, he’s spent the season in Rochester with mixed results. Jones has always been viewed as an offensively talented rearguard who was considered enough of a defensive liability to keep him out of an everyday role. Nothing he’s done in Rochester has changed that perception. He’s off to an electric start on the scoresheet with a league-leading 13 assists but has a -4 rating, tied for second-worst on the team.
That dichotomy will keep him from being an NHL regular, but he remains an intriguing call-up option if a team needs a puck-mover in sheltered minutes. With Buffalo’s offensive heartbeat on the blue line in Dahlin now unavailable, bringing up an offensive-minded name from the minors is a natural choice. Jones, a 2019 third-round pick, has a 4-24–28 scoring line in 115 career appearances while averaging 15:54 of ice time per game.
Sabres Activate Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen From Conditioning Stint
Oct. 23: The Sabres announced they’ve recalled Luukkonen from his conditioning stint, putting him back on the active roster. He suited up for Rochester in a 4-2 win over Syracuse on Wednesday, making 21 saves on 23 shots for a .913 SV%.
Oct. 21: Sabres starting netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will head to AHL Rochester on a conditioning stint, the club announced. The team also reassigned defenseman Zachary Jones to Rochester after recalling him on Sunday. Luukkonen remains on IR while on his conditioning stint, so Buffalo is operating with an open roster spot with the Jones reassignment.
Luukkonen, 26, has yet to suit up in the regular season. He showed up to camp with a lower-body issue that sidelined him for a few days. He was eventually able to make a preseason start but sustained a second injury in the first period of that game that landed him on the shelf on a week-to-week basis before opening night. He’s now eligible to suit up for or practice with Rochester for up to two weeks before the Sabres have to leave him on IR or reinstate him.
In the meantime, veteran backup Alex Lyon has more than picked up the slack. He signed a two-year, $3MM deal in the offseason, and he’s started and finished all six of the Sabres’ games thus far. He’s carrying a 2-4-0 record after last night’s loss to Montreal, but has an eye-popping .924 SV% and 2.55 GAA in the process, even recording a 32-save shutout against the Panthers last weekend. His 4.5 goals saved above expected rank ninth in the NHL, per MoneyPuck.
It begs the question whether Luukkonen will even see the lion’s share of starts when he’s ready to return. Lyon is untested in this type of usage – the 32-year-old has only ever topped 30 starts in a season once – but it’s nearly impossible to justify taking the reins away from him given his early-season showing.
Giving Luukkonen a conditioning stint, aside from getting up to speed, also provides the Sabres more time to decide what to do with Colten Ellis. They claimed the 25-year-old off waivers from the Blues a few weeks ago for him to supplement Lyon with Luukkonen out. They sang his praises after the claim and would prefer to retain him, but must expose him to waivers again if they want him to go to Rochester. Doing so could result in a reclaim by the Blues, who could send him directly to their AHL affiliate if they’re the only team to submit a claim.
Luukkonen now looks to shake off the rust following a tough start to the year. After finishing 12th in All-Star Team voting in 2023-24 with a career year, the 2017 second-round pick regressed mightily in 2024-25. While he made a career-high 55 starts, it didn’t come with great numbers – a 24-24-5 record, .887 SV%, and 3.20 GAA with a pair of shutouts. That was “good” for -8.6 GSAx after posting a 9.4 the year before.
As for Jones, he was a healthy scratch for last night’s loss. Buffalo recalled him to ensure they had seven healthy defensemen on the active roster while Jacob Bryson sat in concussion protocol. He hasn’t been cleared yet, but if Buffalo needs another defenseman for tomorrow’s home game against the Red Wings, they can easily recall someone else from Rochester.