The AHL’s Rochester Americans, the Buffalo Sabres’ top affiliate, have added a pair of talents for the 2026-27 campaign. According to a team announcement, the Americans signed forward Thomas Bordeleau and netminder Talyn Boyko to one-year AHL deals.
Bordeleau, 24, is a former second-round pick of the San Jose Sharks. Before playing for the Sharks organization, Bordeleau spent two years with the University of Michigan Wolverines, scoring 20 goals and 67 points in 61 games with a +36 rating.
Although Bordeleau never won the National Championship with the Wolverines, he was on one of the most dominant regular-season teams in college hockey, which included seven first-round picks, four of which were in the top five.
After his sophomore season with the Wolverines, Bordeleau signed his entry-level deal with the Sharks. He registered five assists in eight NHL games and three assists in two games with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda.
The following campaign, his rookie season in the professional landscape, Bordeleau finished with 22 goals and 41 points in 65 games for the Barracuda, with another two assists in eight games for the Sharks.
Unfortunately, Bordeleau failed to gain much traction since. He remained a skilled scorer in the AHL and had a successful stint with the Sharks during the 2023-24 season, but was ultimately overlooked on an increasingly crowded forward San Jose depth chart.
Eventually, the Sharks traded him to the New Jersey Devils ahead of the 2025-26 season, and he spent much of the year with their AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets, before a mid-season trade sent him to the St. Louis Blues organization.
Meanwhile, Boyko, 23, doesn’t have as much of a resume in the AHL. Much of his professional experience in North America came in the ECHL with the Cincinnati Cyclones and Tulsa Oilers.
His only AHL experience to date has been with the Hartford Wolf Pack, managing a career record of 2-4-2 with a .906 SV% and 2.86 GAA in 10 games. He spent much of last season on loan with the Finnish Liiga’s KalPa, finishing with an 8-4-4 record in 16 games with a .876 SV% and 2.97 GAA.