BUFFALO, NY — First-round picks Carter Yakemchuk and Cayden Lindstrom got the call to Buffalo this week, and GM Mic Moore says it wasn't about readiness. It was about supervision.
"The old guys needed somebody to push their walkers around the rink," Moore said. "You can't have grown men falling over during warmups. It's a liability issue."
Yakemchuk, a defenseman, has appeared in 7 games so far, chipping in 2 assists. Lindstrom, a center, has 2 games under his belt with a clean stat line — 0 points, 0 penalty minutes, 0 mistakes anybody's noticed yet.
"That's the beauty of youth," Moore said. "They haven't broken anything. Give it time."
The call-ups come as Buffalo's lineup has aged into a group Moore now refers to as "the assisted living line," a roster that's been bleeding bodies to injury for weeks.
"We had guys pulling groins putting on their skates," Moore said. "One fella tweaked something reaching for the Gatorade. I don't want to name names. It was Berggren."
Moore said the plan is simple: let the kids do the skating, let the veterans do the sitting.
"Yakemchuk and Lindstrom are here to cover minutes and, frankly, wipe some chins. It's a mentorship thing. They mentor the vets on how legs work."
Asked if the rookies were nervous about the callup, Moore shook his head.
"Nah. They're twenty-something. Nothing scares you at that age. Wait'll their groins turn thirty. Then we'll talk."
Fresh legs. Old problems.
9/8/2026 - 245 words
