Sabres Place Alexandar Georgiev on Waivers

The Alexandar Georgiev era has ended in Buffalo before it even started. After claiming goalie Colten Ellis from the St. Louis Blues on Monday, the Sabres have placed the 29-year-old Georgiev on waivers.  The former Rangers, Avs, and Sharks goalie started strong allowing no goals in two periods against Columbus last month, but allowed 11 goals in three games against Detroit and Pittsburgh, including three goals late in the third period and overtime against the Penguins last Friday. 

Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said that Georgiev did everything that he was asked, but that the club could not pass up on the opportunity to claim Ellis.  If the veteran clears on Wednesday, he can be demoted to the Rochester Americans of the AHL to join Devon Levi and Scott Ratzlaff. 

“When Ellis became available, he’s someone that, as an organization, we felt really highly about,” Ruff said. “I like his puck play. I watched a good part of his games yesterday, the calmness about him, so there’s I can understand why he’s been kind of on the radar.” 

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 The 25-year-old Ellis was a 2019 third round pick of the Blues and has spent five years in the ECHL and AHL. Last season, Ellis had an excellent campaign with AHL Springfield, where he posted a 22-14-3 record, 2.63 GAA and .922 save percentage. 

“It’s definitely a whirlwind. but (at) the same time I’m just trying to live in the moment. It’s my first time experiencing all this, so just trying to soak it all in, take it day by day and learn as much as I can.” Ellis said after practicing with his new teammates on Tuesday.  “I just kind of got everything organized in Springfield, and drove here, it only ended up only being five and a half hours, so was able to get in here last night.”

The Sabres schedule is forgiving in that they have only one series of back-to-back games in October, against division rival Toronto on October 24th and 25th, which would allow the club to lead heavily on defacto starter Alex Lyon. Ruff indicated that injured goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is feeling better after suffering an unspecified lower-body injury, but did not provide a timetable for the starter’s return.  

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