Sabres assign Brendan Guhle to Rochester

Brendan Guhle played a few games with the Buffalo Sabres earlier this season - and looked good doing it - but he’ll finish this season in Rochester.

Guhle’s season with Prince George of the WHL came to an end earlier this week, and the Sabres officially announced today that they’ve assigned him to the Amerks. The ‘Merks also announced they’ve signed forward Alexandre Goulet to a PTO, I’m assuming mostly for the Guhle/Goulet thing.

Drafted in Round 2 of the 2015 draft, Guhle is the best defensive prospect the Sabres have in their system, and the only one with a realistic chance to play in Buffalo next year. The Sabres, who desperately need help on the blue line, will get a chance to see how Guhle handles AHL competition over the last few games, as they’ve already seen him score 29 points in 32 games with Prince George.

We also saw Guhle for three games earlier this year as an emergency call-up, and he played well enough to have many fans thinking that he should start next season with the blue and gold rather than the AHL. But defenseman can be tricky creatures, and a bit of time in the minors could be what Guhle needs as he adjusts to a more man-sized game.

Of course, we won’t know what Sabres GM Tim Murray is going to do with Guhle until next year, but at least this will give Sabres (and embattled Amerks) fans something to watch for at the end of the season.