The Sabres placed defenseman Jacob Bryson on injured reserve Friday and recalled Zachary Jones from AHL Rochester to replace him on the active roster, according to Rachel Lenzi of The Buffalo News.
Bryson, 28, is now ineligible to play in the Sabres’ next two contests in what is a light week for them. He suited up in Thursday’s 4-2 win over the Canadiens but left the team’s road trip today and returned to Buffalo to be evaluated for an upper-body injury, head coach Lindy Ruff told Lenzi.
Playing time has been difficult to come by for Bryson as of late. While he’s suited up in 10 of Buffalo’s last 11 games, his bottom-pairing ice time has been incredibly restricted, averaging just 9:19 of ice time per game since the calendar turned to 2026.
The 5’9″ Bryson is in his sixth NHL season, all with Buffalo. He’s been a clear-cut bottom-pairing/press box option since debuting in 2021, four years after the Sabres made him a fourth-round pick out of Providence College, and has 48 points and a -38 rating in 287 career appearances.
Five of those points have come in 33 outings this year. The Sabres have rarely had all their defensemen healthy, contributing to him playing in two-thirds of their games. Michael Kesselring has missed much of the year with lower-body issues and is still being load-managed as he steps back into the lineup, while Conor Timmins has been out with a broken leg since before Christmas.
Now, they’re short another depth option, meaning Kesselring’s in-and-then-out-again routine may be ending. It’s hard to find a more direct replacement for Bryson than Jones, a similarly undersized lefty who’s produced at essentially the same exact pace throughout his career.
Buffalo has recalled Jones multiple times to serve as short-term roster depth since plucking him from the Rangers in free agency last summer, but he hasn’t yet made his Sabres debut. That hasn’t stopped him from playing the most dynamic offensive hockey of his life in Rochester, where he leads the team in scoring with 37 points (six goals, 31 assists) in 32 games.
It’s concerns over Jones’ defensive game that have kept him from locking down an everyday NHL role. With a -1 rating in Rochester despite that elite scoring line, those concerns haven’t dissipated. And with Buffalo’s defense group already being lefty-heavy, it stands to reason that right-shot depth option Zach Metsa has a clearer path to minutes in Bryson’s absence than Jones does.