The regular season is less than a week away for the Buffalo Sabres, and they have some tough decisions to make before they can take the ice against the New York Rangers. It begins with their current roster as they still have 28 players, even after sending four players down to Rochester, and will need to get down to 23 by the deadline.
This year could be more challenging than past seasons because the Sabres are dealing with so many injuries coming out of the preseason. They have players like Jordan Greenway, who hasn't even been able to practice yet, but might be close to some who returned but are out once again, like Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
The team is going to take that into account in terms of how they divide up the 23 roster spots between forwards, defensemen and goalies. With that in mind, these are the players who are on the roster bubble by position.
Which Buffalo Sabres are in jeopardy of losing their roster spot ahead of the deadline?
Forwards
On the Bubble: Josh Dunne, Mason Geertsen, Tyson Kozak, Beck Malenstyn, Carson Meyer
Carson Meyer was signed this summer but is coming off an ACL injury suffered during the season. He has yet to practice at all, and there hasn't been an update that he is close to returning. He is a likely candidate for Season Opening Injured Reserve, and probably why he is still currently on the Sabres roster.
Of the four other players, it seems that it is going to come down to Mason Geerstsen and Beck Malenstyn for those final spots. Malenstyn played in 76 games last season with the Sabres and seems like he has the better chance.
However, Geersten has looked good this preseason, and Lindy Ruff knows him from his time with the New Jersey Devils, when he played in 25 games during the 2021-22 season. This was the last time he had played in an NHL game, but that drought could be coming to an end.
Defensemen
On the Bubble: Jacob Bryson, Ryan Johnson
Most NHL teams will only keep seven defensemen on their roster but with how many injuries they currently have, it wouldn't be surprising to see them keep eight. The Sabres were able to get Bo Byram back on Friday night against the Penguins after he missed a few games and that is a big boost.
However, there are questions still outstanding on Owen Power, Michael Kesselring, and Mattias Samuelsson. The injuries for Kesselring and Samuelsson are considered more week-to-week, so keeping eight defensemen could make a lot of sense.
Goalies
On the Bubble: Alexandar Georgiev
Typically, NHL teams only have two goalies on their 23-player roster, but once again, injuries could change that for the Sabres. The team is without Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen after playing only one period in his preseason debut on Wednesday and is considered week-to-week.
If Luukkonen is not expected to be ready, then they may keep three goalies, and Georgiev would essentially be the backup to Alex Lyon. However, if they are keeping eight defensemen and three goalies, this leaves only 12 forwards, and the Sabres wouldn't have any extra on the roster to handle injuries.
The more likely scenario is that Georgiev is waived before the deadline, and if he clears waivers, he could go down to Rochester. This would then allow the Sabres to move Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to injured reserve and open a roster spot to bring Georgiev back up to Buffalo.
It will be interesting to see how the Sabres handle these moves ahead of the deadline but whatever roster they have on Monday is unlikely to be the one they have going into the game on Thursday against the Rangers.