Buffalo Sabres youngins will be headed to Traverse City, Michigan from September 5-9 as part of the Traverse City Prospects Tournament.
Buffalo won the tournament in their first year--2011--and is the defending champion as last year's tournament was cancelled because of the NHL lockout.
The team will feature a mix of players with some NHL experience like Mark Pysyk and Mikhail Grigorenko, some AHL'ers including Jerome Gauthier-Leduc and Fredrick Roy and will feature recent draft picks like Joel Armia (2011,) Zemgus Girgensens (2012,) Rasmus Ristolainen and Nikita Zadorov (2013) who will be making their first appearance.
The Sabres have one invitee, D Connor Bolland.
(for the full roster, click here)
A quick note on the roster in general: the team has some size and girth. The average numbers up-front are 6' 1/2" 192 lbs while on the back end the average is 6'2" 205 lbs.
Of the 24 prospects headed to Traverse City, two are already slated to be on the big club--Pysyk and Grigorenko. And there may be one more poised to make the team out of camp in two-way forward Johan Larsson.
Larsson is a 5'11" 200 lb. C/LW who came over from Minnesota in the Jason Pominville trade. Although not the top prospect in the Wild pool at the time, Larsson was right there just behind center Mikael Granlund and neck-in-neck center Charlie Coyle.
The 2010 second-round pick (#56) had just played his first NHL game and was preparing for his next one when the Minnesota Wild told him he was traded. He spent the rest of the season with the Rochester Americans.
Of all the Sabres forward prospects, including Grigorenko, Larsson may prove to be the most NHL ready at this stage of the game. He plays a solid two-way game, can skate and has a nice skill-set. He has a bit of grit to go along with his play-making abilities as well. Although he doesn't have the offensive up-side of Grigorenko, his defensive game is NHL-ready and as we'll see, his offensive numbers eventually come along.
Last year with the Amerks he played in 7 regular season games had one goal, three assists and was a minus-2. Before coming to the Sabres organization he had 15 goals and 22 assists in 62 games for the AHL's Houston Aeros. It was his first year of North American hockey.
From 2008 to 2012, Larsson was in his homeland of Sweden playing in their leagues.
Hockey'sFuture followed his progression through the ranks and his "eye for the game" (as they describe it) reflects in his numbers as he wrapped his hands around the game at the various levels.
Starting with the 2008-09 season, Larsson played for Byrnas at the J20 junior level. That year he recorded 4 goals and 5 assists in 33 games. The next season for the J20 Byrnas team he had 15 goals and 19 assists in 40 games.
Larsson began the 2010-11 season with J20 Byrnas and proceed to torch the league for 6 goals and 9 assists in 10 games before making the jump to the Swedish Elite League.
That season, his rookie season with Byrnas Elite he had 4 goals and 4 assists in 43 games.
His 2011-12 sophomore season for Byrnas saw a big jump in his numbers as he scored 12 goals and had 24 assists in 49 games.
All the positive traits that Larsson shows on the ice--his intelligence, hockey sense, "eye for the game" and work ethic--allowed him to methodically climb up each hockey rung producing big jumps in production as he learned at each level. Those traits also came in handy during his rather surprising April 3, 2013, the date he was traded.
Chadd Cassidy was interim coach (now head coach) with the Rochester Americans at the time of the trade and he had high praise for how Larsson handled everything. He said Larsson "plays a lot older than he is, is very smart and thinks the game very well."
It' echo's something Ryan Kennedy of the HockeyNews wrote about him (via hockeywilderness) back in 2011: "[Larsson] is a dynamic and intelligent player who works extremely hard and is beyond competitive."
Kennedy ends up comparing Larsson to fellow Swede Sammy Pahlsson. Pahlsson was one of the best defensive forwards in the game during his NHL career, but hockeywilderness author Dan Chan bumps that comparison up a notch, "So the Wild drafted a player that has tons of similarities to Sammy Pahlsson, one of the leagues premium defensive forwards, but seems to have a knack of showing up offensively as well? A bulky, versatile forward? A nineteen year old that plays regular minutes, will captain his country against top junior players, and will be relied on for his offensive game, his defensive game, his faceoff ability, and his grit and energy?
Forget Pahlsson, that sounds alot like what Mikko Koivu does for the Wild."
Some pretty good comparisons that seem to be ringing true two years later.
Larsson had good numbers for the seven games he played as an Amerk after the trade, and proceeded to kick it up a notch in the playoffs.
In three games for Rochester he had three assists and was a plus-2. He centered a line that had 2012 first-round draft pick Girgensons on the wing with the "Latvian Locomotive" cashing in three goals on Larsson's three assists. Girgensons was also a plus-2.
Interesting to note that both Larsson and Girgensons are hard-skating, two-way centers who can play the wing. Having both progressing very well may have allowed the organization to eschew two-way forwards Elias Lindholm and Bo Horvat at the 2013 Draft in favor Ristolainen and Zadorov, two big, gritty, skilled defensmen with some offensive upside.
Larsson (as well as Girgensons) is the type of two-way forwards the Sabres are centering their rebuild around and both will have a shot at the big club this season, probably in a third-line role.
At this point, Larsson probably has the upper edge being older and having worked his way up the ranks. Cassidy took a look at his pro-aspects, '[Larsson is] very good positionally. He’s got a good a good skill level. He’s probably more of a playmaker than he is a finisher. He’s very strong. He wins a lot of puck battles. He’s very well put together. He’s a guy that really helps your D corps out in terms of being able to get the puck out of your zone as a centerman.'
At some point during the 2013-14 season, Larsson will get his shot to take his game to the pro level. The Sabres want players like him. They need players like him. And it wouldn't be surprising to see Larsson bring his "Pahlsson/Koivu-like" game to the Sabres as early as Day-One.
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