With the Buffalo Sabres off until Saturday night, they’ve re-assigned three players to the American Hockey League. Justin Bailey, Brady Austin and Casey Nelson will all be headed down to the Rochester Americans for at least a few days, while the team figures out who will be healthy for their weekend matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Bailey, 21, has spent 32 games with the Sabres this season, registering just four points. The second-round pick in 2013 has established himself as an effective power forward at the minor-league level, and looks like he’ll be an NHL player for years to come. While he doesn’t possess elite skill, he has shown he can play the net-front on a powerplay and remove pucks from defenders (or defenders from pucks) in the corner.
Austin and Nelson both were only called up on Monday after Taylor Fedun and Cody Franson were struck by injury. The pair have played the past two games and were forced into extended action after Rasmus Ristolainen was ejected early from last night’s contest. Both are young enough to develop into something more than organization depth, but haven’t shown much promise of locking down an NHL job full-time just yet.