Published by hockeybuzz.com, 6-29-2019
Much to the relief of many in Sabreland, Buffalo general manager Jason Botterill made a move yesterday when he acquired right-handed defenseman Colin Miller from the Vegas Golden Knights for a 2021 second round pick (acquired from St. Louis and a 2022 fifth rounder. The well-traveled Miller was drafted in the fifth round (151st-overall) of the 2012 NHL Draft by the Los Angeles Kings and won a Calder Cup with the Manchester Monarchs in 2015 before being traded to the Boston Bruins that off-season. Miller played two seasons in the Bruins organization and was left exposed in the 2017 expansion draft where Vegas picked him up.
The Golden Knights took the league by storm becoming the first team in league history to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals in their inaugural season and they came to within an overtime goal in a controversial Game-7 to advancing in this year's playoffs. The by-product of this immediate success, as well as smart, yet expensive, front office moves, has been cap-issues this off season and Vegas has been forced to makes some tough decisions. The cap itself came in a bit lower than anticipated and the Golden Knights have been over it all off season. They traded Erik Haula and his $2.75 million hit earlier in the week and moved Miller's $3.875 million AAV to Buffalo yet are still about $900K over the cap with five roster spots to fill, according to CapFriendly.
Miller's acquisition adds more depth to the Sabres top-six on defense. Last season Vegas head coach Gerrard Gallant had him on the top-paring while Nate Schmidt was serving a 20-game suspension for violating the league's PED policy and was eventually dropped down the depth chart. Miller also served some time in Gallant's doghouse including a press box stint for Game-1 of the San Jose Sharks series but it looks as if he'll be in at least a solid 4/5 role for Buffalo dependent upon how these next few months shake out.
As of now the Sabres defense is full with Miller joining NHL'ers Rasmus Dahlin, Rasmus Ristolainen, Brandon Montour, Marco Scandella, Casey Nelson and Matt Hunwick as healthy d-men. Zach Bogosian underwent hip surgery and may not be quite ready for the season opener while Lawrence Pilut had shoulder surgery and will almost definitely miss the opener and then some. In addition restricted free agent Jake McCabe has yet to sign.
That's nine NHL defensemen on the roster right now with five of them being right-handed (Miller, Ristolainen, Montour, Bogosian, Nelson) and the fact that Miller is in that group piqued the interest of Sabreland concerning Ristolainen. The big Finn has been an anchor for the Sabres blueline for the last five years while also being considered an anchor in dragging the team down with his minus-143 rating since the 2013 draft pick (eighth-overall) began his playing career in Buffalo. The Sabres have gone through immense changes during his six seasons with the organizations and it seems to be wearing on him. Although we're not sure what Buffalo head coach Ralph Krueger thinks him, there was consternation in Ristolainen's voice at locker cleanout and he may have had enough.
Ristolianen's name has been in the rumor mill for quite sometime although the front office has stood pat on their stated desire to keep him. Could the Miller acquisition be considered a domino? It's pure speculation and social media fodder right now but it's at least eye-brow raising in that Miller is right-handed and considered a top-four d-man while Ristolainen might be Buffalo's biggest trade chip in their quest to add top-six material to the forward ranks.
And so it goes.
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While we're discussing the present and immediate future with the Miller trade, the longer-term future of the Buffalo Sabres will hit the ice for the final day of the Sabres 2019 Development Camp this morning. The youngins have been on the Harborcenter ice since Wednesday going through various drills to see where they're at in their development curve and the culmination of that will be a little competitive fun with the annual French Connection 3-on-3 tournament, a ticketed event for Sabres season ticket holders that will be streamed live at sabres.com.
The 3-on-3 has always closed out camp but has become the main focus of fan interest ever since they dumped the Blue and Gold scrimmage four years ago. It's an opportunity for fans to see young players in a competitive environment and get a feel for what they're all about.
There are a number of "vets" at camp this year and as expected players like Victor Olofsson, Brandon Hickey, Tage Thompson, Andre Oglevie and Will Borgen have already looked like men amongst boys in the various drills. However, there are others to keep an eye on.
2019 first round pick Dylan Cozens (seventh-overall) already has the look of a player who can hang with the big boys. Cozens came in with an NHL frame and doesn't need to add too much more to fill it out. He has the skating and the IQ to potentially have an impact at camp but look for him in Buffalo in a year or two.
The rest of the 2019 draft class is in Buffalo which includes defenseman Ryan Johnson (31st,) goalie Erik Portillo (67th,) right wing Aaron Huglen (102nd,) left wing Filip Cederqvist (143rd,) and right wing Lukas Rousek (160th.) Of that group Portillo has stood out so far flashing some nice form in net as he's been calm in the play but agitated a bit when he gets scored upon.
Other notables at camp so far have been free agent signee Arttu Ruotsalainen and fellow Swede Marcus Davidsson (2017, 37th.) The two centers have shown plenty of speed and skill with the latter looking as if he's coming along nicely in his development.
The Sabres have some condors on the blueline with the likes of Mattias Samuelsson (2018, 32nd) and Philip Nyberg (2016, 129th) both of whom are at least 6'3", have a wide wingspan and use long sticks that allow them to cover a large swath of the ice and can skate very well.
Of particular intrest here was defenseman Borgen. The 2015 fourth-round (92nd) left St. Cloud State as a junior and turned pro in 2017. He hit the ice in Rochester the last two seasons and had a four-game cup of coffee with the Sabres in March. Borgen has the size at 6'3" 196 lbs. and an old-school, lean-on-a-player-hard style of play that was on display early in camp. I asked assistant coach Steve Smith what he thought of Borgen and his old-school style of play and he smiled while also stating that "he can really skate." Smith also suggested that Borgen could be a player for the Sabres roster this fall.
Borgen is another right-handed defenseman which adds another layer to the right side saga on the Sabres blueline.
Stay tuned.
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