In a move most knew was inevitable, the Buffalo Sabres sent 11 players to Rochester, this afternoon.
Buffalo sent forwards Riley Boychuk, Jacob Lagace, Maxime Legault, Shawn Szydlowski, Travis Turnbull and Mark Voakes; defensemen Alex Beiga, Nick Crawford, Corey Fienhage and Matt MacKenzie and goalie Jeff Jakaitis to the Americans. Rochester’s training camp will begin on Monday. A large number of the 41 players remaining with the Sabres will likely join these 11 once this weekend’s three-game set is complete.
Goaltenders David Leggio and Drew MacIntrye will certainly be sent to Rochester after backing up this weekend and young prospects like Marcus Foligno, Zack Kassian and Brayden McNabb will also join the Amerks.
Alex Biega was the only one of this group to see time in a preseason game, however the inclusion of Boychuk and MacKenzie intrigue me the most. Both are products of the 2010 draft and share a 1991 birth year. While each have played four seasons in the WHL, neither entered training camp with a contract. Boychuk has shown some growing pains to the pro game so far, but MacKenzie has some potential to blossom into an offensive threat a la Brian Campbell.
It remains to be seen if these two will end up in Rochester for the season. If that is the case if would add two more names to an already crowded roster battle. As more players appear to be destined for the minors, the new affiliation with Gwinnett makes more sense every day.
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