How will the Buffalo Sabres utilize their newest ECHL affiliate?

The Buffalo Sabres reached a deal to become affiliates with the ECHL’s Jacksonville Icemen following a stint with the Cincinnati Cyclones. 

Lately, we haven’t seen the Buffalo Sabres allocate important prospects to the ECHL often, and the only two that come to mind include Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Matej Pekar. Luukkonen has since worked his way into the NHL and he has a chance to snag the 1B job with the Sabres in 2023-24 while Pekar’s career with the organization appears to be over.

However, just because we haven’t seen many top prospects playing in the ECHL, it doesn’t mean the Icemen won’t be an integral part of the Sabres overall plan. Take Michael Houser, who saw time with the Sabres former affiliate, the Cincinnati Cyclones on multiple occasions, ended up playing in six contests between the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

Therefore, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Sabres pumped more goaltenders into their pipeline via the draft and free agency in anticipation of a situation that Houser found himself in. With little room in Rochester, Jacksonville would be the only other option for these goaltenders, and while the Sabres shouldn’t need to use them, if the injury bug hit their goaltenders again, then at least these prospects got some much-needed reps in.

We should also look at players who came up from the ECHL and played a prominent role in the Rochester Americans Calder Cup Playoff run. Brendan Warren is one name that jumps out, and he ironically played in 91 games for the Icemen between 2019-20 and 2020-21. Warren has since become an integral part of the Amerks, and he ended up with five points in eight playoff contests.

Buffalo Sabres may use new ECHL affiliate for deep depth, goaltender development

Given the potential influx of goaltenders in Rochester that include Dustin Tokarski, Devin Cooley, and likely Eric Comrie, Houser should return to Jacksonville. And while he isn’t a developmental player, it doesn’t mean Buffalo won’t ultimately allocate a prospect like Topias Leinonen or Scott Ratzlaff if the duo ultimately decides to sign and join the North American professional ranks or move on from junior hockey, respectively.

The ECHL would be a perfect opportunity for someone like Leinonen to get used to the differences between the North American and European games. It’s also a good spot for players like Warren, who have signed with the Amerks but may need some seasoning in a lower league before they play in the AHL.

And while such players will probably never see NHL ice, at least with the Buffalo Sabres, their time in the ECHL will make an impact nonetheless when it comes to being basically more unfamiliar players that the Blue and Gold’s current prospects would need to learn to build fast chemistry with once they receive a recall into the AHL. Therefore, the Icemen serve an important function to the Sabres, even if we won’t see them gracing the ice at the KeyBank Center.

Source: Sources: Sabres complete affiliation agreement with ECHL’s Jacksonville Icemen by Lance Lysowski, BuffaloNews.com

(Statistics provided by Hockey-Database)