After their 5-4 preseason finale overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday, the Buffalo Sabres reduced their roster to 28 players by returning four players to the AHL Rochester Americans, including 2025 first-rounder Radim Mrtka, blueliners Vsevolod Komarov and Zach Metsa, and injured center Noah Ostlund. On Sunday, the club placed forward Josh Dunne on waivers to get down to 27 players. If Dunne clears, he will be sent down to the Rochester Americans of the AHL.  

All NHL clubs must be down to 23 players and be cap compliant by Monday afternoon, which means that the Sabres have four moves to make, but based on the information available regarding some of their injuries, GM Kevyn Adams could get a slight reprieve by placing four players on injured reserve. 

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After suffering a lower-body injury last Wednesday against Pitsburgh, goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will not be available for the season opener against the NY Rangers next Thursday, which means that Alexandar Georgiev will back up Alex Lyon until Luukkonen is cleared to play. 

Defenseman Michael Kesselring had been dealing with an injury throughout camp that flared up on Wednesday and head coach Lindy Ruff indicated that it was something more than a day-to-day injury. Mattias Samuelsson is out week-to-week, but Ruff said he's ahead of schedule and could return to practice before the opener on October 9. 

Injured reserve is a minimum of seven days, which would seem to be likely for Luukkonen, Greenway, and Kesselring. If Samuelsson is close to returning, then an IR stint is unlikely, and the Sabres would have to make one roster cut on Monday. 

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