Sabres Dealing With Key Injuries Heading Into Season, Claim Ellis Off Waivers

Power, who is Kesselring’s defense partner, was dealing with a nagging injury towards the back half of the preseason, and is expected to miss at least the first week of the season. Still, he is expected to be back sooner rather than later. With Greenway, he was dealing with an injury the entire preseason; his timetable is still unknown, so as of right now, Justin Danforth will be replacing him in the Sabres lineup.

Luukkonen missed most of training camp due to a lower-body injury that was described as a “tweak” that he suffered in the offseason. He ended up returning to practice a couple of weeks ago and then got some preseason game action in a 5-3 loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins last week, but had to exit early due to reaggravating the same injury and is now expected to miss some time.

Zach Benson & Mattias Samuelsson Should Be Ready For Opening Night

Some positive news on the injury front as both Benson and Samuelsson skated with the team during practice on Monday morning, as both players continue to work their way back from their respective injuries. Benson was skating with his usual linemates, Josh Norris and Tage Thompson, whereas Samuelsson was skating on a defensive pair with Bowen Byram.

I would expect both players to play in the season opener when the New York Rangers visit Buffalo on Thursday evening.

This is how the Sabres’ lines looked at practice on Monday morning.

Forward lines

Zach Benson – Josh Norris – Tage Thompson
Jason Zucker – Jiri Kulich – Alex Tuch
Jack Quinn – Ryah McLeod – Josh Doan
Beck Malenstyn – Peyton Krebs – Justin Danforth

Defense pairs

Rasmus Dahlin – Conor Timmins
Bowen Byram – Mattias Samuelsson
Jacob Bryson – Mason Geertsen
Extras: Ryan Johnson, Tyson Kozak

For opening night, I would expect Johnson to take on the third pair, left defenseman role, and Bryson to be the third pair, right defenseman, with Geertsen and Kozak being the team’s extras.

Other Sabres’ News & Notes

In other Sabres news, the team claimed goaltender Colten Ellis off of waivers on Monday. With Luukkonen dealing with injuries and Alexandar Georgiev not looking so hot in the preseason, the Sabres felt like they could take a shot on Ellis.

Ellis is 25 years old, and until last season, he had been bouncing between the American Hockey League (AHL) and the ECHL. Last season was his first full season in the AHL, during which he played 42 regular-season games for the St. Louis Blues’ affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds, and recorded a 22-14-5 record, a goals-against average (GAA) of 2.63, and a save percentage (SV%) of .922. He also played in the playoffs, recording a 1-2 record with a GAA of 2.32 and a SV% of .933.

The Sabres are hoping Ellis can contribute to the team, as he was claimed off waivers. Since they cannot send him to the AHL, the team will carry three goaltenders on the roster to start the season.