Buffalo Sabres Recall Isak Rosen, Reassign Zac Jones

The Buffalo Sabres announced today that forward Isak Rosén has been recalled from their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans. In a corresponding move, defenseman Zac Jones was reassigned.

By swapping out a defenseman for a forward on their roster, the Sabres are left with just six healthy defensemen on their active roster. There are two Sabres blueliners on injured reserve at this moment: Conor Timmins and Jacob Bryson. Timmins broke his leg in the middle of December and was originally given a six-to-eight week return timeline. While we are now squarely within that originally projected return window, there has been no indication Timmins is nearing a return to game fitness.

Bryson has missed four straight games and landed on IR with an upper-body injury. Head coach Lindy Ruff told the media on Jan. 22 that Bryson would miss “some time,” so it seems unlikely Jones has been sent down because any Bryson return is imminent.

Looking at the motivations behind this move, a few, unrelated to injuries, can be identified. First and foremost, the Sabres could simply be interested in returning Rosén to the NHL roster, and are willing to carry just six healthy defensemen in order to make that happen. It’s understandable that the Sabres would want to get a look at Rosén back at the NHL level.

The 22-year-old 2021 first-round pick is a pending RFA, and is reaching a crucial fork in the road in his development. Either he’s going to be able to carve out a spot in the Sabres’ long-term NHL plans, or the Sabres are going to build around other pieces as they pivot to focusing more on contending in the immediate future.

Rosén has been a strong scorer in Rochester for several years now, but has thus far been unable to gain significant traction at the NHL level. While he has seven points in 13 games played this season, he still hasn’t been able to maintain a firm grip on an NHL roster spot. This recall gives him another opportunity to land in the NHL lineup and try to stay there.

From Rochester’s perspective, getting Jones back is a major help to the team’s ability to win games at this point in the season. The Americans are looking to gain ground in their divisional playoff race, and currently sit in fifth place in the North Division. Jones is the team’s leading scorer with 37 points in 32 games, and is their most productive defenseman by a wide margin.

If the Sabres prefer to use Zach Metsa as their No. 6 blueliner at the NHL level, it could make more sense to keep Jones in Rochester, to put that team in the best position to win, rather than keeping him in an NHL press box.