Rosen Sent Down Again Without Getting An Opportunity

The Buffalo Sabres have lost seven of their last eight games, the latest being a 7-3 thrashing at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday. The club is well out of the race for an Eastern Conference playoff spot and is hoping to finish another disappointing season on a positive note, but one thing that the club has been slow at doing is giving one of their flourishing prospects a legitimate opportunity to play higher in the lineup.

On Thursday, the club sent forwards Joshua Dunne and Isak Rosen down to the Rochester Americans of the AHL. The two forwards were recalled due to illness going through the Sabres locker room.

While Dunne is a career AHLer who filled in on the fourth line against the Florida Panthers on Saturday, Rosen is third in the league with 26 goals and has yet to get a legitimate chance to play higher in the lineup at the NHL level. The 21-year-old winger was drafted 14th overall in 2021 (the same draft as Owen Power) and is closing in on 200 games in the AHL but has only played 10 NHL games, including three games as a callup in November, February, and March this season.

The development path of the Sabres has been questioned in recent years, with some of their top prospects receiving little or no time in the minors. Former Sabre Dylan Cozens and 2023 first-rounder Zach Benson went directly from the WHL to the NHL, Owen Power and Devon Levi went straight to the Sabres after two seasons in the NCAA, and wingers JJ Peterka and Jack Quinn spent one season with the Amerks.

Some of the shortcomings or inconsistencies in their games may have been straightened out with more time in the AHL, something that may not be the case with Rosen, who is in his third AHL season. With little or no consequence remaining other than draft position in the remaining 18 games, it would make sense to give Rosen a serious look at playing higher in the lineup before sending him back to Rochester for the Calder Cup Playoffs, but so far the Sabres have not shown any signs of giving the Swedish winger a long look.