Buffalo sends Ruotsalainen back to Finland and assigns 14 to the AHL.
By Chad DeDominicis / Diebytheblade.com
After four preseason games, the Buffalo Sabres announced their first round of major cuts. They reduced their training camp roster by 15 players after the moves they made this morning.
The most surprising of the moves may be that they already assigned forward Arttu Ruotsalainen back to Finland to play for Ilves in Liiga. The speedy forward played well the first few weeks of camp, but ultimately the decision was made to send him back to play in the Finnish pro league. Ilves has started their season 0-5.
After that, the other “big” move was C.J. Smith being assigned to the Rochester Americans. Smith had a chance to push for a spot in camp this year, but was disappointing. He let a big chance go by and this may have been one of his last opportunities to secure a full-time roster spot with the Sabres.
The other players assigned to the Amerks include: Eric Cornel, Sean Malone, Andrew Oglevie, Kyle Olson, Kevin Porter, Jacob Bryson, Casey Fitzgerald, Brandon Hickey, Zach Redmond, Devante Stephens, Andrew Hammond, Michael Houser, and Jonas Johansson.
The only two players who will require waivers are Smith and Hammond.
Rochester opens its 2019 Training Camp on Monday, Sept. 23 at 12:30 pm at the Blue Cross Arena. The week-long camp is free and open to the public with all practice sessions taking place at the BCA.