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Buffalo Sabres Roster: Who Gets Called Up Next?

By Jack Gorman

Jan 16, 2016; Buffalo, NY, USA; Buffalo Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma behind the bench during the third period against the Washington Capitals at First Niagara Center. Sabres beat the Capitals 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 16, 2016; Buffalo, NY, USA; Buffalo Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma behind the bench during the third period against the Washington Capitals at First Niagara Center. Sabres beat the Capitals 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Buffalo Sabres have a team full of young promising talent, but they also have some veterans that will help lead the young players.

You have the young players who are in their first full year in Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart. Then you have the players like Marcus Foligno, Ryan O’Reilly and Evander Kane who have been in the league for a couple of years but are still under 25. Then you have the veterans who will help shape and lead the team and help the young guys in Brian Gionta, David Legwand, and Matt Moulson.

So with all of the groups of players, is there any room for guys who can be called up to the main roster from Rochester?

When the Sabres played the Capitals on Saturday night, you saw some off the young guys that were playing for the Sabres for the first time this season make some big plays that changed the result of the game from the other two times that the Sabres played Braden Holtby and the Capitals.

This time, instead of the Sabres seeing the brick wall Holtby, the Sabres chased him out of the net in the second period after putting up four goals, two of which were from players who just got a call up from Rochester in Philip Varone and Tim Schaller.

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Varone made the most of his opportunity when he scored a goal in his first game of the season. Now we will have to wait and see what the Sabres do with him seeing the injuries to Zemgus Girgensons, Tyler Ennis and Nicolas Deslauries.

Saturday night, you also saw the return of Mark Pysyk who got 15 minutes of ice time. But that goes to ask: who will be next to be called up?

The first players that I would look are the players that are doing the best and have the most points so far in the season.

Jason Akeson has had 24 points in 36 game with the Americans; he plays right wing, so a possibility would be to put Akeson on a line with Gionta and Foligno.

To make a line where everyone is playing their normal position, you can bring the AHL All-Star in Cal O’Reilly up, is the older brother of NHL All-Star Ryan O’Reilly. Cal is second in points with 23 and has played two games with the Buffalo Sabres and has one goal.

Sep 21, 2015; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Buffalo Sabres forward Phil Varone (84) against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. The Sabres defeated the Wild 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 21, 2015; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Buffalo Sabres forward Phil Varone (84) against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. The Sabres defeated the Wild 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports /

Out of all the forwards who have been called up, my favorite ones so far have been Varone and Cal O’Reilly.

I like Varone better because he made a big play on his first night in Buffalo and he is one of the leading goal scorers in Rochester with 10 goals. He can be valuable to putting the puck into the net, which the Sabres still have trouble doing.

The other thing I like about Varone over O’Reilly is that Varone is younger.

I’m not saying that I don’t like Cal O’Reilly; he is, after all, in the AHL All-Star game.

He has been called up to the Sabres once this year and I’d like to see him given another opportunity on the main roster and possibly get the chance to play with his brother again. I think they would automatically have good chemistry together.

A player that could be brought up to solidify the blueline of the Sabres could be Jerome Leduc, who has 14 points and 5 power play goals and could play on the left side with Mark Pysyk instead of Mike Weber.

Another option that could help the Sabres is calling up a player who has been called up before in Chad Ruhwedel, who has played at total of 32 games with the Sabres in his three years with Buffalo. Ruhwedel who has 10 points in 32 games this season with Rochester but is currently out with a broken arm.

The third option that the Sabres could bring up for defensive help is Matt Donovan who has played 37 games with Rochester and has 12 points but has the best plus/minus at a -11. Donovan has yet to play with the Sabres but has played in 67 NHL games with the New York Islanders.

The defensemen that I would give a call up would be Matt Donovan and Jerome Leduc.

I would give Donovan the call first because he has been playing well in Rochester and I feel he could step in and play better than Mike Weber.

I would not mind seeing Donovan and Pysyk together; they could be two guys that could make a difference.

Neither Donovan nor Leduc have played on the Sabres main roster yet, and I think it would be an interesting to see what they would do with the opportunity. You  could even give Leduc some power play minutes to see how he does with it because he has five power play goals while in Rochester.

Next: Girgensons Suffers Upper-Body Injury

Who would you like to see the Buffalo Sabres call up next?

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