The roster is set. Now the Buffalo Sabres can get down to the business of dropping the puck.
The Sabres got down to the 23-man roster limit by Monday's NHL deadline by putting veteran center Riley Sheahan on injured reserve and sending defenseman Lawrence Pilut and goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to Rochester. Forward Olivier Nadeau, who was injured and did not participate in training camp, was returned to Gatineau of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Both Luukkonen and Pilut had good showings in training camp but were simply victims of numbers. Pilut didn't score in three games but tied Dylan Cozens for the team lead in assists with three while Luukkonen posted a 2.00 goals-against average and .933 save percentage in his two starts, stopping 56 of 60 shots.
Both players figure to get heavy minutes in Rochester, with Pilut likely to see work in all situations and Luukkonen slated to be the Amerks' No. 1 goaltender.
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The final Buffalo roster has Craig Anderson and Eric Comrie as the goaltenders. The rest of the roster looked like this in practice Monday:
Forwards (14): Jeff Skinner-Tage Thompson-Victor Olofsson, Jack Quinn-Casey Mittelstadt-Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs-Dylan Cozens-JJ Peterka, Zemgus Girgensons-Rasmus Asplund, Vinnie Hinostroza. Anders Bjork and the injured Kyle Okposo skated as extras.
Defense (7): Mattias Samuelsson-Rasmus Dahlin; Owen Power-Henri Jokiharju, Jacob Bryson-Ilya Lyubushkin. Casey Fitzgerald skated with Pilut on Monday and is the seventh defenseman right now.
Peterka will keep learning
Asked about the decision to start Peterka in the NHL after an uneven training camp, General Manager Kevyn Adams said the Sabres hope the 20-year-old rookie will follow a similar path as last year in Rochester.
"It's just a tremendous honor and I couldn't be more proud," Okposo said of being named Sabres captain. "I'm just gonna continue to be myself. If you start to act a different way, or do things differently, the guys see through that in a heartbeat. You can't fool anybody. So authenticity is definitely number one on my list."
"There's no straight trajectory up when you're talking about young players that are developing," Adams said. "I look at JJ and he started off in the American Hockey League a little bit like, 'Whoa, this is fast. This is physical. How am I going to figure this out?' Offense took a little while last year but he took off really after Christmas ... The details in the game were better and then offense started coming. And he was dominant in the playoffs last year."
Peterka led the Amerks last season with 28 goals and 68 points. Quinn had 26 goals and 61 points.
"We're going to push JJ. We're going to challenge him to make sure that he's learning every day," Adams said. "He's growing every day. But I think the body of work that he and Jack Quinn had in Rochester last year helped us feel comfortable that they're ready to take this step."
Subban injured in Rochester
Luukkonen's backup to start the season in Rochester is expected to be Michael Houser after Malcolm Subban was injured in Sunday's exhibition against Utica in Blue Cross Arena.
"It could be a little bit of time," Adams said about Subban's prognosis.
The affable Subban, who needed wrist surgery after suffering a severe injury in a game Jan. 11 against Tampa Bay, re-signed with the Sabres over the summer and was expected to be a strong complement to Luukkonen.
"It's tough, frustrating for players," Adams said. "Especially having been there myself when you work so hard to put yourself in a position to have success, you're healthy, had good summer, and then you have a setback. He's just such a phenomenal person. And I told him we look at him as a really important person in the organization."
