Examining the Sabres' pending roster crunch amid disappointing season

It’s fair to say that the Sabres have underachieved relative to expectations this season, leading some to wonder if a big shakeup could be on the way.  That might not be the case just yet, but it certainly feels like a small one could be coming simply out of necessity.

Buffalo currently has 24 players on its active roster, one over the maximum of 23.  They’re allowed to be in that situation during the roster freeze but once that lifts on Thursday, their hand is going to be forced and someone will have to come off the roster.  On top of that, Zemgus Girgensons is nearing a return; he skated in practice for a few days leading up to the holiday break.  He’s on injured reserve, so when he’s ready to be activated, that’s another roster spot that will need to be opened up.

While the Sabres have several waiver-exempt players, it seems unlikely that most of them will be sent down.  Up front, Zach Benson can’t go to the minors, only to junior and at this point, he’s expected to stay up with Buffalo.  John-Jason Peterka is tied for third in team scoring so he’s not going anywhere.  Jack Quinn, meanwhile, just returned and was a full-time regular last season so it’s unlikely he’d be sent down for any sort of extended stint.

On the back end, Owen Power clearly isn’t going anywhere either, while Ryan Johnson has been a regular most nights lately; on merit, he shouldn’t lose his spot.  Dropping him off the roster would also leave them with just six available blueliners which isn’t an ideal situation to be in.

In goal, Devon Levi is waiver-exempt and has been sent down once already this season.  However, since returning from his brief stint with AHL Rochester, he has a .916 SV% in six games, a mark that should see him being deployed once again as their starting netminder.  That makes him a non-desirable candidate to go down as well.

Faced with a variety of less-than-ideal demotion candidates from their waiver-exempt pieces, the next option might be the waiver wire.  They’ve already gone that route recently with Jacob Bryson while Riley Stillman is also receiving a seven-figure salary to play for the Americans as well.

In terms of who could be options on that front, Victor Olofsson’s future with Buffalo has long been in question; had it not been for Quinn’s injury, some had wondered if he’d even be with the team at this point.  He’s playing fourth-line minutes at even strength right now and with a $4.75M price tag, it’s fair to say he won’t be claimed.  If they’re looking for a way to keep as much depth as possible around, waiving and demoting him would accomplish that.  With his contract, they’d have to take a player back if they traded him which wouldn’t solve the current roster logjam.

Tyson Jost might be on unstable ground as well from a waiver perspective.  He now finds himself out of the top 12 with Quinn and Tage Thompson recently returning from their injuries.  He has just four points in 28 games so far this season, a far cry from the 22 he had in 59 contests after being claimed from Minnesota in 2022-23.  Speculatively, his $2M cap charge might be enough to dissuade a team from picking him up on waivers although it’s worth noting that the Sabres didn’t balk at that cap hit a year ago.  Meanwhile, a trade that didn’t involve taking a contract back as well also seems unlikely so going that route isn’t likely to clear a roster spot.

Eric Robinson, who was just acquired from Columbus, is another option.  He has already cleared waivers once this season and considering the trade that brought him over was for about as close to nothing as possible, it’s unlikely he’d be claimed as well.  Waiving and demoting him could ultimately wind up clearing the conditional seventh-round pick they gave up for him since it’s contingent on NHL games played for the rest of the season.  While he has played well in limited action so far, Robinson is a viable option to land on waivers.

Then there’s Eric Comrie.  The netminder has been in the third-string role a lot this season and his numbers when he has played (4.01 GAA, .863 SV%) haven’t been great.  On the other hand, he has been a regular backup for the last couple of years.  At $1.8M, he might pass through waivers but if Buffalo was willing to retain on the contract — they have all three retention slots open — they might be able to get at least a late-round pick in a trade for him.  While that would weaken their goalie depth, they do still have veteran Dustin Tokarski in the fold who can play in a pinch if need be.

Teams don’t like to be put in a situation where they’re going to be forced to make a move.  But the Sabres are about to be in that spot with at least one spot to open on Thursday when the roster freeze ends and another one soon after when Girgensons returns.  GM Kevyn Adams has some decisions to make as a result.