Let the hockey season begin.
A few notes as the Sabres hit the ice today for the first time as the second day of training camp gets under way.
But first, the Sabres and Cody Hodgson have agreed to a contract extension. The 23 yr. old center signed a reported 6yr./$25.5M contract yesterday for a cap-hit of $4.25M.
The pros and cons of the long-term deal are many and will undoubtedly be hashed out and beaten to death for years to come. That's simply the way things work in Sabretown.
With the six-year commitment from Buffalo, Sabres GM Darcy Regier and his staff look at Hodgson as a top-six, potential top-line, center for years to come. Hodgson showed great chemistry in the offensive zone with bonafide top-line winger Thomas Vanek.
In the 68 games since coming to the Sabres from Vancouver, Hodgson has 18 goals and 24 assists for .62 pts/game.
But, on the negative side his plus/minus for Buffalo is minus-11. Which brings us the cons.
Matthew Coller of WGR wrote an extensive piece about Hodgson's defensive lapses using a boatload of advanced stats and concludes, "by all statistical measures, he was one of the worst defensive players in the NHL." He also throws in a couple of videos to stress his point.
Nothing earth-shattering. Even Canucks GM Mike Gillis openly admitted that he hid Hodgson's defensive shortcomings and anyone who has watched the Sabres for any length of time will tell you that he needs some serious work in the defensive zone. Something that's not lost on Hodgson.
One should also not dismiss Hodgson's skill and vision on the ice, though. Nor should one dismiss his realtively young age. Nor should one dismiss his commitment to an off season conditioning program which keeps him in top shape. Regier said that Hodgson has been working with Sabres skating coach Dawn Braid this summer in addition to his annual visit to Gary Roberts' camp.
The skill is there and the dedication seems to be there as well, which makes for a real solid contract, if not steal, down the road.
Hodgson is a very good player right now and seems like a pretty solid character-guy. After travelling from Vancouver to Buffalo to Rochester and back to Buffalo in a matter of 10 months, Hodgson must be pretty happy to establish some roots for the next six years.
For the Sabres, at the very least they have themselves a solid #2 center who should be good for around 60 points per season at a $4.25M cap-hit within an eventual $70-80M salary cap.
Which is a pretty good deal for all parties involved.
***
The Sabres have four players signed long-term, Hodgson, Ville Leino, Christian Ehrhoff and Tyler Myers.
Leino and Ehrhoff were signed at the start of free agency in 2011 while Myers signed an extension later in that off season.
Myers has seen his confidence and performance decline since he won the Calder Cup in 2010 when he was partnered with Henrik Tallinder (Ryan Miller won the Vezina that same year.)
Tallinder was allowed to walk in the 2010 off season (of which owner Terry Pegula was said to term the departure as "unbelievable,") which may or may not have affected Myers' play. But the team thought it would be advantageous to bring Tallinder back and made a trade with New Jersey to get him.
The tall, lanky former 2nd-round pick for Buffalo (1997) came to the defense of his former d-partner, "I think Tyler is an exceptional young man and player," Tallinder said. "When he came in his first year, I've never seen a guy that talented and that good at that age. Or very few of them, that I"ve played with at least. I think he's still young. I think you guys have been pretty hard on him too. He's going to be an exceptionally good player still. Just give him time. Let him play."
Oddly enough, Sabres head coach Ron Rolston has Myers paired with Ehrhoff to start camp while Tallinder will be with rookie defenseman Mark Pysyk.
Tallinder should prove to be a steadying force for a very young Buffalo Sabres squad and looks to be a very busy man.
In addition to helping Myers mature, he'll be mentoring Pysyk and bestowing fatherly advice on fellow Swede, goalie Jhonas Enroth.
Who knows, if he's healthy, maybe he'll even get some 2nd-pairing minutes.
***
This will be Rolston's first full season behind the bench for Buffalo and his first NHL training camp.
Among the things he mentioned:
- Forward Tyler Ennis, whom Rolston likes at center, will start the season on left wing. Mikhail Grigorenko will join Hodgson down the middle
- He and his staff will decide the captain, not the players, and they will take their time
- All players look to be healthy, including Leino who's coming off of hip surgery, save for Chad Rhuwedel. The defenseman suffered an upper-body injury at Traverse City and is day-to-day
Two of his assistants, Joe Sacco and Jerry Forton were professional acquaintances.
On Sacco who was hired July 2, Rolston emphasized his experience and success as a head coach (Jack Adams candidate with Colorado.) He talked about Sacco's work ethic, knowledge of the game and his communication skills who has been with young teams and knows how to develop them.
Rolston had known recent hire Forton for years through college connections. Forton, he said, "has a lot of character, a lot of integrity and a tremendous passion for the game. He shows a lot of grit as a person overall.
The final thing, which is probably most important, is he's an outstanding communicator and relationship-builder."
Forton will be up in the pressbox replacing Teppo Numminen.
Numminen has been up in the press box for the Sabres for two years and will now be on the bench.
Rolston said that Numminen wasn't in as prominent a position before as he will be now. "He'll be running the defensive core and he'll be working with our powerplay," said Rolston. "He in the position now where he'll be able to make a big difference for our hockey team."
Defense and powerplay? With the performance of the team in those two areas over the years, I'd say Numminen has his work cut out for him.
***
Regier took to the podium and talked about impending free agents Thomas Vanek and Ryan Miller.
Not much needs to be said. Everyone's in a holding pattern, just like the league in general when it comes to player movement.
Late July, after second-tier free agent signings, and August are usually devoid of player movement and this summer was no exception. Especially with the salary cap diving to $64M from $70M.
Regier said the trade-window was "closed right now" and that he doesn't expect much to happen on that front until the deadline approaches.
Vanek addressed the issue in his cold, business-like fashion (which isn't necessarily a bad thing.) He basically said that he was here as a Buffalo Sabre and from his standpoint he'd like to see where this rebuild goes before talking extension. And he expects the Sabers to take the same approach.
Vanek has said before that he likes to keep his options open.
As for Miller, he was a bit warmer to Buffalo and the thought of an extension, "Darcy [Regier] has to build a team and maybe he feels he wants me here," said Miller. "I'm happy to be here, I have a great connection with the city."
He reiterated that he and his agent Mike Liut never asked for a trade yet also knew that it was a possibility and said of a possible trade, "I don't know if that was the best thing for me anyway."
Regier was on WGR this morning and made it clear that the organization would welcome the opportunity to talk to both players but emphasized that the club does not have a standing offer for Vanek or Miller.
Another player that will be a free agent at season's end is forward Steve Ott. Regier said that the two sides have had some preliminary conversations.
***
The Sabres training camp roster:
BUFFALO SABRES 2013 TRAINING CAMP ROSTER
# DEFENSE POS HT WT S BIRTHPLACE DATE 12-13 TEAM GP G A PTS PIM
67 Austin, Brady D 6-3 232 L Bobcaygeon, Ontario 6-16-93 Belleville (OHL) 64 8 15 23 22
24 Bagnall, Drew D 6-3 220 L Oakbank, Manitoba 10-26-83 Houston (AHL) 47 1 5 6 88
42 Boland, Connor D 6-2 200 L Whitby, Ontario 11-29-94 Peterborough (OHL) 49 1 2 3 34
62 Crawford, Nick D 6-1 192 L Brampton, Ontario 2-23-90 Rochester (AHL) 53 5 14 19 18
10 Ehrhoff, Christian D 6-2 203 L Moers, Germany 7-6-82 Buffalo Sabres 47 5 17 22 34
34 Gauthier-Leduc, Jerome D 6-1 190 R Quebec City, Quebec 7-30-92 Rochester (AHL) 48 3 4 7 8
51 Lepkowski, Alex D 6-4 202 L West Seneca, New York 4-8-93 Barrie (OHL) 60 0 9 9 78
47 MacKenzie, Matt D 6-5 212 R New Westminster, British Columbia 10-15-91 Rochester (AHL) 30 0 4 4 66
Gwinnett (ECHL) 2 1 0 1 2
4 McBain, Jamie D 6-2 200 R Edina, Minnesota 2-25-88 Carolina Hurricanes 40 1 7 8 12
44 McNabb, Brayden D 6-5 212 L Saskatoon, Saskatchewan 1-21-90 Rochester (AHL) 62 5 31 36 50
57 Myers, Tyler D 6-8 227 R Houston, Texas 2-1-90 Buffalo Sabres 39 3 5 8 32
3 Pysyk, Mark D 6-1 193 R Sherwood Park, Alberta 1-11-92 Rochester (AHL) 57 4 14 18 20
Buffalo Sabres 19 1 4 5 0
55 Ristolainen, Rasmus D 6-4 224 R Turku, Finland 10-27-94 TPS (SM-liiga) 56 3 12 15 32
5 Ruhwedel, Chad D 5-11 182 R San Diego, California 5-7-90 UMass-Lowell (H-East) 41 7 16 23 20
Buffalo Sabres 7 0 0 0 0
52 Sulzer, Alexander D 6-1 204 L Kaufbeuren, Germany 5-30-84 Buffalo Sabres 17 3 1 4 10
20 Tallinder, Henrik D 6-4 215 L Stockholm, Sweden 1-10-79 New Jersey Devils 25 1 3 4 10
6 Weber, Mike D 6-2 199 L Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 12-16-87 Buffalo Sabres 42 1 6 7 70
61 Zadorov, Nikita D 6-5 219 L Moscow, Russia 4-15-95 London (OHL) 63 6 19 25 54
# GOALTENDER POS. HT WT C BIRTHPLACE DATE 12-13 TEAM GP W-L-OT GAA
1 Enroth, Jhonas G 5-10 166 L Stockholm, Sweden 6-25-88 Buffalo Sabres 12 4-4-1 2.60
31 Hackett, Matt G 6-2 173 L London, Ontario 3-7-90 Houston (AHL) 43 19-20-3 2.66
Rochester (AHL) 3 3-0-0 1.62
Minnesota Wild 1 0-1-0 5.08
49 Knapp, Connor G 6-5 215 L York, New York 5-1-90 Rochester (AHL) 7 1-6-0 3.34
Greenville (ECHL) 12 5-7-0 3.05
50 Lieuwen, Nathan G 6-5 192 L Abbotsford, British Columbia 8-8-91 Rochester (AHL) 4 1-2-0 2.65
Greenville (ECHL) 27 14-10-2 2.93
35 Makarov, Andrey G 6-1 193 L Kazan, Russia 4-20-93 Saskatoon (WHL) 61 37-17-5 2.62
30 Miller, Ryan G 6-2 175 L East Lansing, Michigan 7-17-80 Buffalo Sabres 40 17-17-5 2.81
General Manager: Darcy Regier
Head Coach: Ron Rolston
Asst. Coach: Joe Sacco
Asst. Coach: Teppo Numminen
Asst. Coach: Jerry Forton
Goaltending Coach: Jim Corsi
Strength & Conditioning Coach: Doug McKenney
Admin. Asst. Coach: Corey Smith
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