Sabres new No. 13 says Jack is ready to lead. Plus Summer Showcase news

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 7-29-2019


The Buffalo Sabres will have a new No. 13 when they hit the ice for the 2019-20 season. Recently acquired winger Jimmy Vesey tweeted out that he will be wearing that number for the Blue and Gold. Vesey, a former college free agent who shunned the Nashville Predators and the Sabres when he signed with the NY Rangers in 2016, wore No. 26 for the Blueshirts but unfortunately for him that number is taken by 18 yr. old defenseman Rasmus Dahlin.

Of note, only six other players in Sabres fancies history have worn the No. 13: defenseman Jim Schoenfeld, on his second go-round with the Sabres; winger Yuri Khmylev; Vyacheslov Koslov, the disenchanted winger who came to Buffalo in the Dominik Hasek-forced trade with the Detroit Red Wings; first round pick Jiri Novotny; Buffalo native Tim Kennedy; and the most recent, Nicholas Baptiste in 2017-18.

Filling out the Sabres 2019 NHL Draft, Day-2

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 6-23-2019


The Buffalo Sabres were set up for a few long bouts of inactivity yesterday on Day-2 of the 2019 NHL Draft in Vancouver. Buffalo selected 31st on day-one and wouldn't be selecting again until pick-67 after trading their second rounder to the Carolina Hurricanes as part of the Jeff Skinner deal (for posterity, the 'Canes selected goalie Pyoter Kochetkov with the 36th pick.) The Sabres would also have long wait between their own pick in the third round and a late pick in the fourth round (via the Evander Kane to SJS trade) as they had dealt their own to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the deal for Conor Sheary and Matt Hunwick.

Buffalo had also traded away their fifth-rounder to Detroit in the Scott Wilson deal and weren't set to draft until the 6th round but used two of their three sixth-rounder (plus their own seventh-round pick) to move up in the fourth and to acquire a fifth rounder.

When all was said and done the Sabres used six picks in the 2019 NHL Draft, two on the first day and four yesterday.

Buffalo selected center Dylan Cozens with the seventh-overall pick on Friday and ended Day-1 of the draft by taking defenseman Ryan Johnson 31st-overall. Of the 12 picks (six each year) general manager Jason Botterill has made since taking over in 2017, seven have been on defensemen and three have been centers so it's not surprising that he added to those counts on Day-1.

Botterill took goalie Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen and winger Linus Weissbach in 2017 but went strictly defense and center last year. On Day-2 yesterday he added to those positions selecting a goalie in the third round followed by three consecutive picks on the wing.

With the 67th pick of the draft Buffalo drafted goalie Erik Portillo who was draft-eligible last year as a 17 yr. old but went undrafted. Portillo is a native of Sweden who struggled in his initial draft year but came on strong in 2018-19 with a 1.99 goals-against average and .931 save percentage for Frolunda of Sweden's Super Elit junior circuit. The huge 6'6" 209 lb. Portillo adds to the Sabres depth in net but is a "longer-term project," according to Botterill, as he'll be headed to the USHL (Dubuque Fighting Saints) next season before heading to the University of Michigan the following year.