Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Colten Ellis had his first practice with the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday after being claimed off waivers on Monday from the St. Louis Blues.
Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff says they couldn’t pass up the opportunity to claim Ellis, who had been on their radar.
Meanwhile, Alexandar Georgiev has been placed on waivers. Despite Georgiev missing Tuesday's practice, he has not been placed on unconditional waivers, which would be to terminate his contract.
"I’ve been around him, he’s a good person. He’s worked hard and has done everything that was asked, I just felt that we couldn’t pass up on this opportunity," explained Ruff following Tuesday's practice.
Speaking of goaltending, Ruff also gave an update on the status of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen on Tuesday.
"'UPL' is feeling better, which is good. He’s progressing," he said. "We feel in Lyon, we’ve got a guy that can play also and help us win games."
Ellis has spent five seasons in the Blues organization in the ECHL and AHL. It didn’t seem like an NHL chance was on the horizon, so he was pleased he was claimed by the Sabres.
"It was my first time going on waivers, so I didn’t really know what the process is like," Ellis admitted following Tuesday's practice. "When I got the call yesterday, I was super excited for the opportunity here."
Ellis was solid last season with the Springfield Thunderbirds, and felt he got what he could out of the season.
"It was good," he said. "It’s all you look for every year, to improve on the things that you work on all summer."
Ellis has also worked with two goalie coaches this offseason to refine his skills.
By the time waivers were over and the NHL awarded Ellis to Buffalo, he had already gotten from St. Louis to Springfield. He says he got right in the car and drove the five-and-a-half hours to Buffalo to join the Sabres.
Ellis feels he’s prepared for this opportunity.
Blues general manager Doug Armstrong says he was surprised Buffalo would go for a goalie with no NHL experience:
At Tuesday's practice, Ruff says he liked what he saw from Owen Power in no contact session. Power is definitely an option to play Thursday against the New York Rangers.
Many are criticizing the Sabres' new strength and conditioning coaches for all the early season injuries, but Ruff bristled at that idea.
"Let’s go to [Mattias] Samuelsson first, I don’t think it has anything to do with that. He got slew footed by [Miles] Wood at the end of the game, and he didn’t feel great. But he wanted to practice the next day, and that practice locked him up," Ruff said.
"If you look around the league, you’re going to end up with a lot of guys with hip and groin [ailments], you’re always going to have that this time of year. [Zach] Benson, a little bit of that, but he’s back now. Luukkonen has nothing to do with strength and conditioning. [Jordan] Greenway has nothing to do with strength and conditioning.
"I might argue we’ve got some guys that are in a better place because of it. The practices were hard, they were demanding, And if I would point at anything, I would criticize myself before I even went to strength and conditioning."
The lines didn’t change on Tuesday, but the defensive pairings did:
Byram - Dahlin
Samulesson - Timmins
Johnson - (Power and Bryson)
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