ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Blues lost goalie Colten Ellis, who was claimed off waivers by the Buffalo Sabres on Monday.

The 25-year-old, a 2019 third-round pick, would have been the starting goalie at Springfield of the American Hockey League but required waivers in order to be sent down.

The Sabres are in need of current reinforcements with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen out week-to-week with a lower-body injury.

With Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer entrenched as the 1-2 punch in St. Louis, the Blues were hoping to get Ellis through.

The Blues, however, could get Ellis back in the organization once the Sabres get UPL back from injury and re-expose Ellis on waivers. The only edge they could get is if they re-claim him, they don't ha e to keep him in the NHL and could assign Ellis immediately to Springfield. It would be a regular waiver claim process, so other teams could have dibs before the Blues so we will see how this goes.

In the meantime, Vadim Zherenko becomes Springfield's No. 1 goalie, with Will Cranley as the backup.

Also, Hunter Skinner cleared waivers and will head to Springfield; the defenseman made a strong case for himself in training camp to be the seventh defenseman, but Matthew Kessel won over the job.

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