Sabres place goaltender Dustin Tokarski in COVID protocol

Malcolm Subban can’t get to the Buffalo Sabres fast enough. The team announced that Dustin Tokarski has been placed in the COVID protocol, forcing them to recall Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen from the AHL. Buffalo made a trade for Subban earlier Thursday but will have to go with Luukkonen and Aaron Dell until he arrives.

Casey Mittelstadt has also been activated from injured reserve ahead of Thursday night’s game against the Florida Panthers.

It’s certainly not an ideal situation for Buffalo, given that Tokarski was the more reliable of the two they currently had healthy and in the NHL. The 32-year-old journeyman has a .903 save percentage in 14 appearances this season, compared to Dell’s brutal .862 in five games. While Luukkonen was always supposed to take over the net at some point, the issue so far has been his own struggles in the minor leagues. The 22-year-old netminder has an .888 in 12 appearances with the Rochester Americans, and adding Subban was very clearly about allowing the Sabres to keep him in the AHL to develop further.

Now with Tokarski out that’s not possible, at least for Thursday. The team did not confirm whether Tokarski has tested positive for coronavirus, but if he has and is experiencing any symptoms, he’ll be held out for a minimum of 10 days. That would mean at least five games, meaning when Subban does arrive, he very well may immediately become the NHL starter for the next little while.