What Buffalo's lineup might look like in 2021 w/extra goalie + taxi squad

The National Hockey League is really trying to get things rolling on January 13 and their tentative agreement with the NHL Players Association is a big step in that direction. Yesterday it was announced that plans are in the works for a 56-game season with training camps set to open January 3 for the 24 teams that made the 2020 NHL Playoffs. The seven teams that missed out would open camps on December 31 giving them very little but still very necessary time to shake off nine months of cobwebs. 

That means the Buffalo Sabres can hit the ice on New Year's Eve.

Some other notes via TSN's Frank Seravalli:

--there will be no exhibition games

--the season is tentatively set to end May 8 with the Stanley Cup being awarded the first week in July

--there are still some snags which includes ratification by the NHL Board of Governors and the NHLPA and what will happen with the five Canadian Provinces and any Covid-19 restrictions which will affect the "All-Canadian" division for this season

Also from Servalli, in addition to player escrow and salary deferrals agreed upon by the two sides:

--players may choose to opt out of the 2020-21 season

--no change to the rosters as they will be capped at 23 men with an $81.5 million salary cap

--a maximum of 29 players will be allowed to practice and travel with the club which includes the 23-man roster plus four to six members (number decided by the club) for the team's "taxi squad," which must include a goalie

--taxi squad players will be treated as if they were in the American Hockey League:  they will need to clear waivers to be "sent down" and they will be paid an AHL salary if on a two-way deal

As of now the four divisions remain as laid out pending Canadian decisions on pandemic travel and restrictions. For the Sabres that means a division featuring:  Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals. And, from Elliotte Friedman this morning on twitter, "playoffs will be top four in each division -- each division produces a champion for the Stanley Cup Semifinal."

That's a huge "ouch!" for the Sabres as they're trying to break a league-long, nine-year playoff drought in what might be the toughest of four divisions.

With that said, hockey's coming and Buffalo will be icing a team and this is what the roster and taxi squad might look like:

Taylor Hall - Jack Eichel - Sam Reinhart

Jeff Skinner - Eric Staal - Dylan Cozens

Victor Olofsson - Cody Eakin - Kyle Okposo

Zemgus Girgensons - Curtis Lazar - Tobias Rieder 

Rasmus Dahlin - Henri Jokiharju

Brandon Montour - Rasmus Ristolainen

Jake McCabe - Henri Jokiharju

Linus Ullmark

Carter Hutton

Those are the 20 givens with training camp and/or waivers-eligibility deciding the other three roster spots and the four to six man taxi squad.

We'll begin filling out the roster with Tage Thompson who is no longer waivers-exempt so he'll be on the 23-man roster and add in Rasmus Asplund who played one and a half seasons in Rochester plus 29 games for the Sabres last year. Asplund also played for Vasteras IK in Sweden's second-tier professional hockey league. Buffalo signed veteran defenseman Matt Irwin to a one-year deal.

The taxi squad will be interesting as the team will probably opt to keep young players in the NHL for proper development. If we start with the mandatory third goalie, the Sabres will probably assign 31 yr. old Dustin Tokarski to the taxi squad. The veteran goalie is on a two-year, two-way deal and should easily clear waivers. That would allow 25 yr. old Jonas Johansson another year in the minors to further develop.

Center Artuu Routsalainen was off to a roaring start for Ilves of Finland's top league, Liiga. The 2019 free agent signee has 27 points (16+11) in only 19 games and should be making a strong push for a roster spot during camp.

Andrew Oglevie is set to begin his third pro season after two partial seasons with the Rochester Americans. The 25 yr. old forward is on a two-way deal and produced 39 points (20+19) in 83 games for the Amerks over two seasons. He is waivers-exempt.

Defenseman Casey Nelson has been in the Sabres organization since he signed a free agent deal coming out of college in 2016. Nelson has played in 151 AHL games and 93 NHL games and is signed to a two-way deal. He will need to clear waivers again.

Buffalo could stop there as they fulfilled NHL requirements and leaving it as so gives them room to expand should a player or two have an impact at training camp.

Many saw 24 yr. old defenseman Will Borgen as set to make a strong push for a roster spot this season. The rugged 6'3" 196 lb. righty has made marked progress in Rochester for two seasons and with a strong camp he could displace Irwin on the roster. And even though Sabreland has counted out forward Casey  Mittlestadt, a good camp and/or a move to the wing could be his ticket to the NHL this season. Mittelstadt came to life in the second half of last season for the Amerks and was showing very good improvement before the season was halted. Having either or both of those two make the roster would be a huge plus for Buffalo.

One final possibility for either a spot on the roster or as a reserve is left wing C.J. Smith who's done yeoman's work since signing with the organization in 2017. Smith most of his time with the Amerks (57 goals and 129 points in 169 games) and didn't look too far out of place in 13 games for the Sabres (2 goals.) With left side in Buffalo is loaded up front, a one-way deal and a probable leadership role in Rochester, Smith may not be in the Sabres plans. However, a strong camp and the fact that he's not waivers exempt could put him in the conversation come January 13.

Routsalainen and 14 other Sabres get cut plus some quick notes

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 9-22-2019


The Buffalo Sabres finished a home-and-home with the Toronto Maple Leafs with a split after a 5-3 win at KeyBank Center last night. A Sabres squad that will look very much like the one they'll be icing on opening night took care of business against that was minus the likes of Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Morgan Reilly and No. 1 goaltender, Frederik Andersen.

Even without those top Leafs players, Toronto looked extremely sharp led by John Tavares and Mitch Marner along with defensive anchor, Jake Muzzin. Head coach Mike Babcock has had his system in place for four seasons and he's running it with a talent pool that's deep and high on skill and speed.

For their part, the Sabres are on their third coach since Babcock was hired in Toronto and by the looks of it, they've taken to a system that pushes the pace and allows for plenty of creativity.

Plenty of Sabres players to watch as Buffalo visits Columbus tonight

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 9-17-2019



Last night the Buffalo Sabres displayed some star-power in their opening preseason game at Pegula Ice Arena on the campus of Penn State University. The 'Pegula' mentioned above is the Pegula family lead by patriarch Terry who sold interests in his East Resources Energy company and donated over $100 million dollars to his alma mater to start a NCAA Division I hockey program. The crown jewel of Terry's generous donation is the 6,000-plus seat multi purpose arena that began hosting Sabres preseason games in 2016 with a game versus the Minnesota Wild. For the past three years Buffalo has opened up the home portion of the preseason against the Pittsburgh Penguins, an organization that Pegula also has ties to.

So it's not surprising that the Sabres trotted out captain Jack Eichel, 2018 first-overall pick Rasmus Dahlin, 40-goal scorer Jeff Skinner and 2019 first round pick Dylan Cozens for last nights game in the hopes of some fireworks, especially with a new head coach in Ralph Krueger. The Sabres dominated the first two periods outshooting the Penguins a whopping 37-9 and took a 4-1 lead into the third period. That would dissipate, however, as Pittsburgh scored three unanswered goals to send the game to overtime. Eichel saved the day as he scored the overtime winner with only eight seconds left in the extra session.

Star power and intrigue at the 5th annual Sabres Prospects Challenge

Published by hockkeybuzz.com, 9-6-2019

The 5th annual Buffalo Sabres Prospects Challenge begins tonight. Prospects from the Sabres, Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins will get the opportunity to show what they've got against their peers in the round-robin tournament that ends on Monday. The event will be held at Harborcenter in downtown Buffalo adjacent to KeyBank Center and admission is $10.

Sabres fans get to see their prospect pool in a competitive environment, some of whom will be donning the Blue and Gold for the first time. And for those attending tonight's game at 7:30 pm, they'll have the added bonus of seeing 2019 first-overall pick Jack Hughes in action as he'll be skating for the Devils.

Hughes is the marquis name at the tournament and one can expect a heavy dose of the 5'10" 166 lb. Orlando, Florida native as he'll be bringing his speed, vision and skill-set to the rink for the first time in a Devils sweater. Fans of all four teams will be watching their own prospects but Hughes is the player that should grab the attention of every fan base.

Some quick notes on Arttu Ruotsalainen and the Sabres

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 5-5-2019


According to reports  out of Finland, Tampereen Ilves center Arttu Ruotsalainen and the Buffalo Sabres have reached a verbal agreement on a contract. Ruotsalainen is with Team Finland at the IIHF World Championships in Slovakia and it's been said that the two sides will sign an agreement once the tournament is finished.

Ruotsalainen is on the smallish side at a reported 5'8" 181 lbs. and it took him a year to find his stride in SM-liiga, Finland's top pro league, but he broke out this season while leading the Lynx in goals (21) and points (42) which were ninth and T-18th in the league, respectively . He also had seven points (2+5) in seven playoff games.

Word of the agreement between the 21 yr. old Ruotsalainen and the Sabres came from Finnish newspaper Iltalehti and made it's way across the pond early this morning. According to the paper Ruotsalainen is signed with Ilves until 2022 and like the Sabres contract with Russian free agent Victor Antipin two years ago, should he not be on Buffalo's roster, he can return to Finland.

After the trade of Ryan O'Reilly to St. Louis last off season the Sabres had difficulties filling their No. 2 center slot. The hope was that Patrick Berglund, one of the pieces coming back for Buffalo in the trade, would hold the fort until rookie Casey Mittelstadt could fill in that spot but Berglund struggled with the Sabres and was relegated to a reserve role before calling it quits and walking away from his contract. Mittelstadt also struggled and an array of forwards/centers tried to fill that spot but none could get the job done consistently. Ruotsalainen probably won't address that need right now but he will add depth for the club down the middle.

Buffalo also had one of their prospects skating for Ilves last season. Defenseman Oskari Laaksonen was selected in the third round (89th-overall) of the 2017 draft by the Sabres and played his first full season in SM-liiga. The 6'2" 165 lb. righthanded defenseman finished seventh on the team in scoring with 24 points in 48 games tying Ruotsalainen for second on the team with 21 assists. Laaksonen is presently signed with the Lynx through 2020/21.

For those like myself who don't know a lot about Ruotsalainen, check out his highlights on Ilves' facebook page. I don't think he used a slapshot on any of his goals and he always seemed to be in the thick of things around the net.

One more quick note for Sabres fans, God help play-by-play man Rick Jeanneret if he has to call a game with Ruotsalainen and present Sabres d-man Rasmus Ristolainen, not to mention Rasmus Dahlin and if he makes the club, Ramsus Asplund.

Oy vey.