Sabres Announce Roster Cuts, Place Eight On Waivers To Demote To Rochester

The Buffalo Sabres will take on the Pittsburgh Penguins in the preseason finale on Saturday afternoon at Key Bank Center, dressing a lineup that likely will be the unit that will dress in their season opener in Columbus on Thursday. Veteran defenseman Matt Grzelcyk is listed on the game day roster by the club a day after being signed to provide depth after injuries to top-four blueliners Olen Zellweger and Mattias Samuelsson earlier in the week.

The Sabres made a large swath of roster moves on Friday to get closer to the 23-man roster limit prior to the start of the season. The club is currently at 29 players after demoting forwards Thomas Bordeleau, Matteo Costantini, Riley Fiddler-Schultz, Zac Funk, Matthew Peca, Jake Richard, Redmond Savage, Graham Slaggert, Liam Valente, and Brendan Warren, defensemen Vsevolod Komarov, Noah Laaouan, Gavin McCarthy, Radim Mrtka, and Maxim Strbak, and goalies Talyn Boyko and Scott Ratzlaff to their minor league camp. 

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The Sabres also placed forwards Mason Geertsen, Trevor Kuntar, Aidan McDonough, Carson Meyer, Jason Polin, defensemen Dennis Gilbert and Ryan Johnson, and goaltender Matt Villalta on waivers for the purpose of assigning them to the American Hockey League. 

Of the eight players on waivers, Johnson is the only player potentially being in danger of being claimed, based on his age (25), cap hit ($841,667 AAV through 2027-28), and skating ability, but the former first rounder is not offensive, awould pretty much be limited to being a bottom pairing blueliner on most teams in need of defensive help. 

The Sabres need to get down to 23 players by Monday. With injuries to goalie Alex Lyon, defensemen Mattias Samuelsson, and Olen Zellweger, there is the possibility of one of more being placed on injured reserve to start the season to prevent having to make decisions on whether to place players such as Conor Sheary, Justin Danforth or Tyson Kozak on waivers.   

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