It was a busy Monday in the Buffalo Sabres organization with roster moves. Players assigned to Cincinnati, Rochester and a trade between Buffalo and Nashville.
The day started with 10 players being assigned to the Cyclones from Rochester.
- Forwards (4):Â Pascal Aquin, Vasily Glotov, Judd Peterson, Alex Wideman
- Defensemen (4):Â Tobie Bisson, Anthony Florentino, Eric Knodel, Devante Stephens
- Goaltenders (2):Â Jonas Johansson, Michael Houser
Shortly after 4pm the Buffalo Sabres today announced that they assigned forward Alexander Nylander and defensemen Brendan Guhle and Brandon Hickey to the Rochester Americans. Nylander was a bit of a surprise for many Sabres fans. It’s been his best preseason performance yet and he showed glimpses of cracking the NHL lineup. Brendan Guhle will benefit more in Rochester with top minutes vs a bottom pairing in the NHL. Brandon Hickey had a minor injury and will be curious to see where he fits into a stacked core of defensemen in Rochester.
The most surprising move was around 6:30pm when it was announced that the Buffalo Sabres acquired defenseman Jack Dougherty from the Nashville Predators for forward Nick Baptiste.
Jack Dougherty has played 141 games (3G+21A) in the AHL and is in the final year of his entry level contract. He earned the AHL Specialty AHL Man of the Year award the last two seasons in Milwaukee. The award is given for outstanding contributions to the community.
With an abundance of defensemen it’ll be interesting to see where Dougherty fits or if the Sabres plan to make additional moves.
Nick Baptiste played 157 games (45G+42A) over the course of three seasons with the Rochester Americans. He played 47 games (7G+3A) with the Buffalo Sabres split over the last two seasons. He scored 25 goals during the 2016/2017 season winning over fans and putting himself at the top of the depth charts. Baptiste didn’t do anything to make himself stand out during the preseason and now it’s a new start. He’ll join former Amerk Colin Blackwell in Milwaukee.
Assuming Dougherty is assigned to Rochester here’s what the current Rochester looks like (listed in no particular order):
Forwards (15): Kevin Porter, Kyle Criscuolo, Rasmus Asplund, Danny O’Regan, Justin Bailey, Tyler Randell, Eric Cornell, Andrew Oglevie, Wayne Simpson, CJ Smith, Dalton Smith, Victor Olofsson, Alex Nylander, Myles Powell, Yannick Veilleux
Defensemen (10): Nathan Paetsch, Andrew MacWilliam, Lawrence Pilut, Arvin Atwal, Taylor Fedun, Will Borgen, Brendan Guhle, Brandon Hickey, Zach Redmond, Jack Dougherty
Goalies (2): Scott Wedgewood, Adam Wilcox
View by position:Â http://www.lga585.com/roster/
