With only two games remaining in the preseason schedule for the Sabres, decision time is nearing for the final roster construction. Oft-injured defenseman Mattias Samuelsson is out of the lineup on a week-to-week basis with an upper body ailment, and Bowen Byram is day-to-day with a mystery injury, so Radim Mrtka and Ryan Johnson will draw in against the Penguins tonight.

Samuelsson is such a frustrating player.  

Coming off a bad year that was made worse by his – shall we say – inconsistent physical play, this season needed to be a redemption year for Samuelsson but that will have to wait now. There was a lot of noise in the Sabres community prior to the draft that perhaps Kevyn Adams would cut his losses and buy out the remaining five years of his contract so the Sabres could start fresh with an updated defensive group. That didn’t happen and here we are. Samuelsson, who has never played more than 62 games in a season, is hurt again.

Ryan Johnson and Jacob Bryson look to be the two candidates to replace Samuelsson in the short term. Purely from a fatigue standpoint, Ryan Johnson would be the more interesting choice because we know what Jacob Bryson is: a completely non-descript defenseman with a small stature and not much in the way of physicality. He’s another one of the players that Adams returned from last year’s disappointing club due to reasons known only to Adams. Why did they need to bring Bryson back? Why not try something else? Culture, probably. Guys who want to be here and so on.

Ryan Johnson, a 2019 first-round pick selected with St. Louis’s first the Sabres received as part of the Ryan O’Reilly trade, at least offers the promise of potential. We don’t know for sure after 44 NHL games if he’s going to be good or not, and while Lindy Ruff is not going to put Johnson in the lineup just because fans are sick of Bryson, there is an argument to be made that the Sabres need to take some calculated risks to raise the potential ceiling of the team. We know for sure after 254 games that Jacob Bryson is not going to suddenly become a better player. He is who he is.

Meanwhile, Radim Mrtka is sitting over to the side looking like the best option of the three.

Mrtka, of course, is not going to get serious consideration to make the roster due to his age and inexperience, but if we’re being honest, he looks like the clear-cut option of the three. Not only did he score a goal in Saturday’s contest against the Red Wings, he led all Sabres defensemen with 5 hits and he generally looks like an (admittedly young) NHL player.

Adams likely would not consider putting Mrtka on the roster due to the general manager’s previous mistakes of rushing players to the NHL when they’re not ready. The list of those players is long: Devin Levi, Dylan Cozens, and yes, the aforementioned Mattias Samuelsson who played fewer than 50 games for the Rochester Americans. Still, the potential of Mrtka is undeniable, and the ceiling of the defensive group looks incredible when he’s inserted into the lineup. Let’s take a look:

I already know what you’re thinking: “not only are you going to play an 18-year-old on an NHL roster AGAIN, but you’re going to put him on the first pair?” Yes, yes, I am. Rasmus Dahlin is one of the best defensemen in the league, so the opportunity for Mrtka to succeed there would be enormous. Plus, if it goes badly, the Sabres could just use this as a nine-game tryout for Mrtka so he can get his feet wet at the NHL level before sending him back to juniors.

Again, the Sabres do not have the undeniable talent level that many other teams have. They need to be bold and take chances if they want to succeed this year. It is a risk, absolutely, but it’s one that could pay off massively and would allow us to avoid a world where Jacob Bryson and Conor Timmins are a pair together in the year of our lord 2025. This approach would also allow Byram to slide all the way to the third pair where he could take advantage of other team’s depth players.

Ryan Johnson is the safe and responsible choice. It’s probably going to be Ryan Johnson. But it sure would be fun if they took a swing with Mrtka.