The Buffalo Sabres took what is the final step to preparing for the regular season on Monday afternoon when they cut their roster down to 23 players ahead of the NHL deadline. They will now have a few days of practice before they have their first game of the regular season on Thursday against the New York Rangers.
When looking at the roster, the Sabres had to make some tough decisions due to a number of injuries they are dealing with. It is not the typical number of players at each position that NHL teams will use during the season.
These are four takeaways that fans should know about the Buffalo Sabres roster that was announced on Monday.
Buffalo Sabres start out with a long list on injured reserve
The Buffalo Sabres have dealt with a number of injuries over the course of the preseason and while some players look set to return, there are a number of other players that hopefully were going to be back but will now miss the first week of the season.
On Monday, the team placed five players on the injured reserve which included Jordan Greenway, Michael Kesselring, Caron Meyer, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, and Owen Power. For two of those players, Greenway and Meyer, they did not play at all this preseason, and Meyer is dealing with an ACL injury from last season that will keep him out of a large percentage of the season.
As for Greenway, he has begun practicing and might not miss much time past the minimum seven days that are required when placed on injured reserve. The same goes for Power and Kesselring, but being without both really is going to test this defense.
Buffalo Sabres keep three goalies on the initial roster
Another player who was placed on injured reserve was Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who was expected to be the team's starting goalie but entered training camp with an injury. The Sabres seemed to be patient in hopes of getting him healthy for the season, and he did make his debut in the fifth preseason game.
However, that return only lasted one period as he suffered another lower-body injury and will force the Sabres to turn to Alex Lyon as the starter to begin the season. In addition, they have Alexandar Georgiev, who was signed as a free agent around the time Luukkonen's first injury was discovered, and they claimed Colten Ellis on Monday, who was waived by the St. Louis Blues.
It will be interesting to see if the Sabres stick with three goalies while Luukkonen is on injured reserve or if they did it to get a look at Ellis before making a decision on the backup to Lyon.
Buffalo Sabres have only six active defensemen
One of the reasons they may not be done with roster moves is that the Sabres right now have only six defensemen on this roster. If they were to suffer another injury at this position group, they likely would have to call up someone from Rochester.
The blueline has really been tested this preseason, as not only have Power and Kesselring missed some time due to injuries, but there have been instances over the past few weeks that Mattias Samuelsson and Bo Byram have not been available.
The biggest surprise out of this group is that Samuelsson wasn't placed on injured reserve, as he seemed the biggest question mark in terms of availability for Thursday. He did practice on Monday in a non-contact jersey so the team must clearly be confident in his availability for the game against the Rangers.
Mason Geersten makes the Buffalo Sabres roster and could help on defense
While the Sabres did keep only six defensemen, they have 14 forwards on the roster and one of the reasons they may have done that is the versatility provided by Mason Geersten. He has been a great surprise this training camp and preseason after joining the Buffalo Sabres as a free agent.
It has been a long time between NHL games for Geersten as the last time he appeared in a game was during the 2021-22 season with the New Jersey Devils. However, Lindy Ruff was the head coach for the Devils and he knows what he has with him on the Sabres.
What he might have is a player that can be an emergency defensemen if it is needed during the game but should primarily be a part of the fourth line.