BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres placed Zach Bogosian on waivers Friday in a move that could give the injury-plagued defenseman a new home and open a spot on Buffalo’s crowded blue line.
Bogosian goes on waivers just over a week before the NHL trade deadline. He asked for a trade earlier this season.
The 29-year-old has been in and out of the lineup with hip injuries and has also sat as a healthy scratch. He missed the first 22 games of this season recovering from offseason hip surgery - his second in there years - and has been a healthy scratch in seven of Buffalo’s past eight games.
Bogosian counts $5.14 million against the salary cap in the final year of his contract.
He would be assigned to Rochester of the American Hockey League if he clears waivers and would still count $4.07 million against Buffalo’s cap.
Bogosian joined the Sabres in 2015 in a multiplayer trade with Winnipeg that was then-general manager Tim Murray’s attempt to rebuild the roster. The deal hasn’t panned out for Buffalo, which is now on its third coach and second GM and is in jeopardy of extending the NHL’s longest active playoff drought to nine years.
He has a goal and four assists in 19 games this season and 53 goals and 141 assists in 636 regular-season games with the Atlanta Thrashers, Winnipeg Jets and Sabres.
The Sabres then freed up another roster spot by assigning defenseman Lawrence Pilut to the minors. The two moves leave Buffalo with just six defensemen on its roster.
Buffalo is coming off a 4-3 overtime win over Columbus and off until hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday night.