{"id":471847,"date":"2026-02-25T22:02:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T22:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/471847\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T22:02:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T22:02:10","slug":"sabres-announce-multiple-ir-moves-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/471847\/","title":{"rendered":"Sabres Announce Multiple IR Moves \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Buffalo Sabres have sorted out their injuries ahead of their return to action on Wednesday night. Forwards Joshua Norris<\/a> and Joshua Dunne<\/a>, as well as goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen<\/a>, have been activated from injured reserve and will be available for Wednesday\u2019s game against the New Jersey Devils. In a corresponding move, Buffalo has also placed wingers Zach Benson<\/a> and Jordan Greenway<\/a> on IR per NHL.com\u2019s Heather Engel<\/a>. Greenway has not played since January 22nd, while Benson missed Buffalo\u2019s final game before break on February 5th.<\/p>\n

Buffalo will exchange roster forwards with these moves. Norris has served a middle-six center role when healthy but has only appeared in 19 games this season as he battled through multiple injuries. His most recent was sustained on January 14th, in a matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers. The 26 year old has racked up 17 points in his appearances this season, the third-highest scoring pace on the team behind Tage Thompson<\/a> and Rasmus Dahlin<\/a>. He should return to an impact role on the second-line and should help the Sabres bridge the divide until Benson is able to return.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old Benson dealt with a couple of different ailments over the three-week Olympic break. His current injury has not been disclosed, though head coach Lindy Ruff<\/a> did clarify that it is separate from the upper-body injury he sustained on February 2nd<\/a>. Benson returned to skating earlier this week but hasn\u2019t yet been folded into Buffalo\u2019s practices, suggesting he could still have a bit before returning to NHL action. He will be eligible for activation as soon as he\u2019s back to full health.<\/p>\n

Buffalo will want their dynamo winger back as soon as possible. Benson has earned 26 points in 42 games this season \u2013 a 51-point scoring pace. On top of that, his best impacts have seemed to come away from the puck, where his mix of tenacity and skill allow Benson to fill any role on the forecheck. He has often been deployed on the second-line but has received upwards of 20 minutes of ice time a night when Buffalo needs a punch.<\/p>\n

The biggest impact from these moves could be in net. Luukkonen went down with a lower-body injury on January 27th. The injury not only held him out of Buffalo\u2019s subsequent five games, it also costed Luukkonen his spot on Team Finland\u2019s Olympic roster.<\/p>\n

Buffalo survived Luukkonen\u2019s absence by leaning on Alex Lyon<\/a> as their starter. He performed well, setting a .922 save percentage and two wins in four games in injury-relief, while rookie backup Colten Ellis<\/a> recorded one overtime-loss. Luukkonen has split starts with Lyon for much of the year and recorded 11 wins and a .902 save percentage in 21 games. Those marks both fall just shy of the 14 wins and .912 save percentage that Lyon has reached in 27 games. The pair of goaltenders will continue to compete for starts, while Ellis likely remains with the NHL roster as an extra hand.<\/p>\n

Buffalo\u2019s series of moves is wrapped up by swapping two bruising depth-forwards off of IR. Greenway ranks seventh on the Sabres in hits-per-game, with an average of 7.18. Just above him, at sixth, is Dunne who has averaged 7.66 hits in what is his first chance at an extended NHL look. Greenway has beat out the first-year pro on the scorecard, netting five points and a minus-nine in 33 games, while Dunne has four points and a minus-four in 28 games. The two will exchange spots near the bottom of Buffalo\u2019s lineup. The veteran Greenway would seem to have the edge on minutes when he\u2019s back to full health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Buffalo Sabres have sorted out their injuries ahead of their return to action on Wednesday night. Forwards…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5100],"tags":[1107,229,5133,5,402,11074,51361,19171,4,1108,405,7800,4023],"class_list":["post-471847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-buffalo-sabres","tag-buffalo","tag-buffalo-sabres","tag-buffalosabres","tag-hockey","tag-injury","tag-jordan-greenway","tag-joshua-dunne","tag-joshua-norris","tag-nhl","tag-sabres","tag-transactions","tag-ukko-pekka-luukkonen","tag-zach-benson"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116133530472798646","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471847\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}