Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-5-2019
This is the second of a two part series looking at the Sabres prospect pool with Kris Baker of sabresprospects.com. Part I can be found by clicking here.
As laid out in the previous blog, what Buffalo Sabres general manager Jason Botterill has been able to do on the blueline for his team the last three years has been pretty impressive and that's without landing a franchise-type defenseman in Rasmus Dahlin with the first overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft. Botterill fortified and modernized his D-corps through some savvy trades while he and his scouting staff focused on the blueline at the draft using eight of their 18 picks on defensemen.
That's the good part of the prospect pool. The not so good part comes into play when we take a look at the forwards and goalie situation.
There's a two-fold reason for the not so good part when it comes to the forwards in the system. Botterill inherited a pool bereft of forward talent because a.) they were still recovering from the scorched-earth rebuild of his predecessor and b.) the Sabres top prospects were picked high in the draft and quickly made their way into the NHL lineup. Second-overall picks Sam Reinhart and Jack Eichel were playing for the Sabres as teenagers, while 2017 eighth-overall pick, Casey Mittelstadt also started out his rookie season as a teenager. Which is fine as those top picks are expected to be on a fast-track to the NHL.
Showing posts with label Matej Pekar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Matej Pekar. Show all posts
Friday, November 8, 2019
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
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.
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.
Monday, September 9, 2019
Hockey's back. Quick notes from the Prospects Challenge
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 9-7-2019
When you look at the starting lineup for last night's Buffalo Sabres/New Jersey Devils Prospects Challenge game, one of the things that stands out for Buffalo is the number of mid to lower-round picks and free agents on the roster. It was a pleasant surprise to see 2019 first round pick (7th-overall) Dylan Cozens on the ice after undergoing thumb surgery just after development camp and Sabres fans got their first taste of defenseman Henri Jokiharju (2017, 10th, CHI) in the Blue and Gold. Jokiharju was obtained by Buffalo in July for former first rounder, Alexander Nylander.
The next highest draft pick was center Rasmus Asplund who was picked in the second round (33rd) of the 2016 NHL Draft after the Sabres traded up for him. After that Buffalo's roster consisted of three third-rounders, five fourth-rounders, one sixth round pick, one seventh round pick and six undrafted players.
A 6-4 win, after jumping out to a 6-0 lead is pretty good for a group with so little top-end draft picks.
When you look at the starting lineup for last night's Buffalo Sabres/New Jersey Devils Prospects Challenge game, one of the things that stands out for Buffalo is the number of mid to lower-round picks and free agents on the roster. It was a pleasant surprise to see 2019 first round pick (7th-overall) Dylan Cozens on the ice after undergoing thumb surgery just after development camp and Sabres fans got their first taste of defenseman Henri Jokiharju (2017, 10th, CHI) in the Blue and Gold. Jokiharju was obtained by Buffalo in July for former first rounder, Alexander Nylander.
The next highest draft pick was center Rasmus Asplund who was picked in the second round (33rd) of the 2016 NHL Draft after the Sabres traded up for him. After that Buffalo's roster consisted of three third-rounders, five fourth-rounders, one sixth round pick, one seventh round pick and six undrafted players.
A 6-4 win, after jumping out to a 6-0 lead is pretty good for a group with so little top-end draft picks.
Saturday, September 7, 2019
Star power and intrigue at the 5th annual Sabres Prospects Challenge
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.
Thursday, March 21, 2019
Redemption is right around the corner in a matchup vs. Toronto
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 3-20-2019
The Sabres are heading into tonight's matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs having played one of their best games of the season. Buffalo welcomed former Sabre Ryan O'Reilly and his St. Louis Blues to KeyBank Center on Sunday and came away with the 4-3 shootout win. The Blues cut a 3-1 second period deficit on a play that saw Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen break his stick (surprise) on a one-timer in the late stages of a powerplay only to have the Blues turn that miscue up-ice and have the penalized player, David Perron, score off of the ensuing rush. St. Louis would tack on another goal on a play that turned in the Blues zone as a crossbar hit by Buffalo's Conor Sheary went back up ice leading to a shot on goalie Carter Hutton and a wrap-around goal by St. Louis forward Brayden Schenn. A couple of miscues, and a mild Keystone Cops moment allowed for Schenn to pot that backhander into a gaping net to tie the score at 3-3.
Buffalo's Sam Reinhart would win the game in the shootout for the Sabres.
The win by the Sabres broke a season-high seven-game losing streak and ended their shot at NHL ignominy. Losing that game against St. Louis would have put them within two losses of a 10-game losing streak which would have been an NHL-first for a team that had a 10-game winning streak in the same season.
As we into the final stretch of the season Buffalo is outside of the playoffs playing the role of spoiler and although tonight's game against the Leafs won't spoil too much for Toronto as they're pretty much locked into third place in the Atlantic Division, beating the Leafs is always a good thing. It's also something the Sabres haven't done this season. Buffalo is 0-2-1 against Toronto with their best showing coming at home in early December when they lost an intense back-and-forth contest in overtime as Leafs center Auston Matthews scored the game-winner with less than three seconds left on the clock.
The other two matchups in Toronto were lopsided wins for the Leafs as they beat Buffalo by scores of 5-3 and 5-2.
Sabres PR points out that this rivalry has been dominated by the home team with the hosts winning 28 of the last 37 games. Despite Buffalo's struggles and the Leafs resurgence, the Sabres are 6-3-1 vs. Toronto at KeyBank Center, 19-4-2 in their last 25 home games against the Maple Leafs.
Thanks to proximity and economics a Sabres home game against the Leafs is usually a raucous affair. With staggering ticket prices in Toronto making it difficult for your average-Wayne Leafs fans to attend games, a 100-mile trek to Buffalo for the opportunity to rep the Blue and White is a trip worth taking. The Sabres have some of the lowest ticket prices in the league and there are many season ticket holders who will sell their tickets for top-dollar to a hockey-crazed Leafs fan.
Many Sabres ticket holders see Toronto games as an opportunity to recoup some of the cost and often times it creates a mix close to 50/50 for each fan base. While it's still a home game for Buffalo, as the Sabres continue to struggle, Toronto fans amp up their braggadocio to the point where it sounds like they're the home team when they score a goal.
Buffalo captain Jack Eichel seems to revel in the odd environment created when Leafs Nation invades KeyBank Center. The 22 yr. old has totaled seven points (5+2) in seven home games and simply loves trolling Leafs fans in the lower bowl after a goal. Reinhart is another Sabre who seems to like playing against Toronto. He has 15 points (6+9) in his last 15 meetings against them.
Leaf Nation is somewhat troubled these days as the team is in a rut and they're not sure whether it's just that or a case of Toronto being exposed. No doubt the Leafs have firepower up-front but their defense is suspect and their goaltending has been atrocious as of late. Toronto has lost two in a row and four of their last five while being outscored 26-13 in the process and because of that tumble, any hope of overtaking the Boston Bruins for second place in the Atlantic Division has pretty much vanished. The Leafs are six points behind the Bruins in the standings and eight points ahead of the fourth place Montreal Canadiens and because of the NHL's screwy playoff format, Toronto and Boston will meet in the first round of the playoffs if they maintain their holds on second and third place in the division.
While the Leafs are gearing up for the playoffs, the Sabres are nearing the end of another year outside the playoffs. Buffalo is all but mathematically eliminated from the post-season and will have it's playoff drought extended to eight years. The Carolina Hurricanes presently have the longest playoff drought and are in a wild card spot right now, four points ahead of the Canadiens who are on the outside looking in.
After looking like they'd snap their playoff drought during their early 10-game winning streak, Buffalo fell from grace and are left to play out the string. Their precipitous drop from No. 1 in the league to their present status as forgotten leaves a sour taste in the mouths of the faithful in Sabreland but redemption is always around the corner in a matchup against Toronto. There's always that rivalry, and in Buffalo, always a mix in the stands that creates a raucous, playoff-like environment. With the season lost and not much to play for, getting up for a game like this shouldn't be too difficult and in addition, the Sabres have the opportunity to do something they haven't done since December 13--win two games in a row.
Just a little added incentive.
^^^^^^^^^^
The Sabres had an optional skate this morning and based upon yesterday's practice, head coach Phil Housley won't change a winning formula:
Skinner-Eichel-Reinhart
Sheary-Rodrigues-Nylander
Sobotka-Mittelstadt-Thompson
Girgensons-Larsson-Okposo
Dahlin-Montour
Ristolainen-Bogosian
Nelson-Scandella
Goalie Carter Hutton started and won on Sunday so he'll probably get the start in net.
^^^^^^^^^^
One final note, forward Matej Pekar was reassigned to the Rochester Americans yesterday after his Barrie Colts (OHL) season ended. The 2018 fourth-rounder (94th-overall) spent the latter half of his Colts season injured but managed 36 points (14+22) in 33 games for Barrie including nine multi-point games and five three-point games.
Pekar is an agitating forward who became a fan favorite at Sabres Development Camp this summer when he proved he could dish out a good hit and take one as well. The Czech native leveled Buffalo first-overall pick Rasmus Dahlin during camp and when Dahlin returned the favor, both took it as just a part of the game. Pekar has an engaging personality and a fun-loving nature that is the opposite of how he plays the game. He said at camp that noted Bruins pest, and Sabre-killer, Brad Marchand was a player he models his game after and who wouldn't want a player like that on their team.
The Amerks are driving towards the post season with a roster that's quite full right now. How Pekar fits into their plans, especially with Alexander Nylander and Tage Thompson on the playoff-roster but yet to be sent down, is yet to be seen, but you can bet that he'll make his mark somewhere along the line and get noticed.
Here's a two-part profile on Pekar from last summer:
https://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=94414
https://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=94446
The Sabres are heading into tonight's matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs having played one of their best games of the season. Buffalo welcomed former Sabre Ryan O'Reilly and his St. Louis Blues to KeyBank Center on Sunday and came away with the 4-3 shootout win. The Blues cut a 3-1 second period deficit on a play that saw Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen break his stick (surprise) on a one-timer in the late stages of a powerplay only to have the Blues turn that miscue up-ice and have the penalized player, David Perron, score off of the ensuing rush. St. Louis would tack on another goal on a play that turned in the Blues zone as a crossbar hit by Buffalo's Conor Sheary went back up ice leading to a shot on goalie Carter Hutton and a wrap-around goal by St. Louis forward Brayden Schenn. A couple of miscues, and a mild Keystone Cops moment allowed for Schenn to pot that backhander into a gaping net to tie the score at 3-3.
Buffalo's Sam Reinhart would win the game in the shootout for the Sabres.
The win by the Sabres broke a season-high seven-game losing streak and ended their shot at NHL ignominy. Losing that game against St. Louis would have put them within two losses of a 10-game losing streak which would have been an NHL-first for a team that had a 10-game winning streak in the same season.
As we into the final stretch of the season Buffalo is outside of the playoffs playing the role of spoiler and although tonight's game against the Leafs won't spoil too much for Toronto as they're pretty much locked into third place in the Atlantic Division, beating the Leafs is always a good thing. It's also something the Sabres haven't done this season. Buffalo is 0-2-1 against Toronto with their best showing coming at home in early December when they lost an intense back-and-forth contest in overtime as Leafs center Auston Matthews scored the game-winner with less than three seconds left on the clock.
The other two matchups in Toronto were lopsided wins for the Leafs as they beat Buffalo by scores of 5-3 and 5-2.
Sabres PR points out that this rivalry has been dominated by the home team with the hosts winning 28 of the last 37 games. Despite Buffalo's struggles and the Leafs resurgence, the Sabres are 6-3-1 vs. Toronto at KeyBank Center, 19-4-2 in their last 25 home games against the Maple Leafs.
Thanks to proximity and economics a Sabres home game against the Leafs is usually a raucous affair. With staggering ticket prices in Toronto making it difficult for your average-Wayne Leafs fans to attend games, a 100-mile trek to Buffalo for the opportunity to rep the Blue and White is a trip worth taking. The Sabres have some of the lowest ticket prices in the league and there are many season ticket holders who will sell their tickets for top-dollar to a hockey-crazed Leafs fan.
Many Sabres ticket holders see Toronto games as an opportunity to recoup some of the cost and often times it creates a mix close to 50/50 for each fan base. While it's still a home game for Buffalo, as the Sabres continue to struggle, Toronto fans amp up their braggadocio to the point where it sounds like they're the home team when they score a goal.
Buffalo captain Jack Eichel seems to revel in the odd environment created when Leafs Nation invades KeyBank Center. The 22 yr. old has totaled seven points (5+2) in seven home games and simply loves trolling Leafs fans in the lower bowl after a goal. Reinhart is another Sabre who seems to like playing against Toronto. He has 15 points (6+9) in his last 15 meetings against them.
Leaf Nation is somewhat troubled these days as the team is in a rut and they're not sure whether it's just that or a case of Toronto being exposed. No doubt the Leafs have firepower up-front but their defense is suspect and their goaltending has been atrocious as of late. Toronto has lost two in a row and four of their last five while being outscored 26-13 in the process and because of that tumble, any hope of overtaking the Boston Bruins for second place in the Atlantic Division has pretty much vanished. The Leafs are six points behind the Bruins in the standings and eight points ahead of the fourth place Montreal Canadiens and because of the NHL's screwy playoff format, Toronto and Boston will meet in the first round of the playoffs if they maintain their holds on second and third place in the division.
While the Leafs are gearing up for the playoffs, the Sabres are nearing the end of another year outside the playoffs. Buffalo is all but mathematically eliminated from the post-season and will have it's playoff drought extended to eight years. The Carolina Hurricanes presently have the longest playoff drought and are in a wild card spot right now, four points ahead of the Canadiens who are on the outside looking in.
After looking like they'd snap their playoff drought during their early 10-game winning streak, Buffalo fell from grace and are left to play out the string. Their precipitous drop from No. 1 in the league to their present status as forgotten leaves a sour taste in the mouths of the faithful in Sabreland but redemption is always around the corner in a matchup against Toronto. There's always that rivalry, and in Buffalo, always a mix in the stands that creates a raucous, playoff-like environment. With the season lost and not much to play for, getting up for a game like this shouldn't be too difficult and in addition, the Sabres have the opportunity to do something they haven't done since December 13--win two games in a row.
Just a little added incentive.
^^^^^^^^^^
The Sabres had an optional skate this morning and based upon yesterday's practice, head coach Phil Housley won't change a winning formula:
Skinner-Eichel-Reinhart
Sheary-Rodrigues-Nylander
Sobotka-Mittelstadt-Thompson
Girgensons-Larsson-Okposo
Dahlin-Montour
Ristolainen-Bogosian
Nelson-Scandella
Goalie Carter Hutton started and won on Sunday so he'll probably get the start in net.
^^^^^^^^^^
One final note, forward Matej Pekar was reassigned to the Rochester Americans yesterday after his Barrie Colts (OHL) season ended. The 2018 fourth-rounder (94th-overall) spent the latter half of his Colts season injured but managed 36 points (14+22) in 33 games for Barrie including nine multi-point games and five three-point games.
Pekar is an agitating forward who became a fan favorite at Sabres Development Camp this summer when he proved he could dish out a good hit and take one as well. The Czech native leveled Buffalo first-overall pick Rasmus Dahlin during camp and when Dahlin returned the favor, both took it as just a part of the game. Pekar has an engaging personality and a fun-loving nature that is the opposite of how he plays the game. He said at camp that noted Bruins pest, and Sabre-killer, Brad Marchand was a player he models his game after and who wouldn't want a player like that on their team.
The Amerks are driving towards the post season with a roster that's quite full right now. How Pekar fits into their plans, especially with Alexander Nylander and Tage Thompson on the playoff-roster but yet to be sent down, is yet to be seen, but you can bet that he'll make his mark somewhere along the line and get noticed.
Here's a two-part profile on Pekar from last summer:
https://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=94414
https://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=94446
Friday, December 28, 2018
December quick hits on the Sabres forwards, Part 2
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 12-26-2018
The Christmas break is winding down for the NHL with 16 games set for tomorrow night to get the season rolling again. For hockey fans in the U.S., the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championships in Vancouver, B.C. begin this evening with Team USA and Sabres d-prospect Mattias Samuelsson (2018, 32nd-overall) taking on Team Slovakia at 6:30 ET. Three other Buffalo prospects will be in action this year beginning today: the Czech Republic and forward Matej Pekar (2018, 94th) open up the tourney vs. Team Switzerland at 4:00 ET while defenseman Oskari Laaksonen (2017, 54th) and goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (2017, 89th) of Team Finland hit the ice at 10:30 ET to take on Team Sweden, last year's silver medal winner.
Down in Cleveland, Ohio the Rochester Americans will be trying to shake a three-game losing streak against the Monsters. The Amerks haven't won since defeating Cleveland in a home-and-home Dec. 14-15.
The Sabres return to action tomorrow night in St. Louis against Ryan O'Reilly and the Blues. The two teams pulled off a blockbuster deal in the off season with Buffalo sending O'Reilly to St. Louis for forwards Patrick Berglund, Vladimir Sobotka and Tage Thompson along with a conditional first round pick and a 2021 second rounder. And with that in mind, we'll continue our quick hits on the Sabres forwards with one of those players involved in the deal.
The Christmas break is winding down for the NHL with 16 games set for tomorrow night to get the season rolling again. For hockey fans in the U.S., the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championships in Vancouver, B.C. begin this evening with Team USA and Sabres d-prospect Mattias Samuelsson (2018, 32nd-overall) taking on Team Slovakia at 6:30 ET. Three other Buffalo prospects will be in action this year beginning today: the Czech Republic and forward Matej Pekar (2018, 94th) open up the tourney vs. Team Switzerland at 4:00 ET while defenseman Oskari Laaksonen (2017, 54th) and goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (2017, 89th) of Team Finland hit the ice at 10:30 ET to take on Team Sweden, last year's silver medal winner.
Down in Cleveland, Ohio the Rochester Americans will be trying to shake a three-game losing streak against the Monsters. The Amerks haven't won since defeating Cleveland in a home-and-home Dec. 14-15.
The Sabres return to action tomorrow night in St. Louis against Ryan O'Reilly and the Blues. The two teams pulled off a blockbuster deal in the off season with Buffalo sending O'Reilly to St. Louis for forwards Patrick Berglund, Vladimir Sobotka and Tage Thompson along with a conditional first round pick and a 2021 second rounder. And with that in mind, we'll continue our quick hits on the Sabres forwards with one of those players involved in the deal.
Friday, October 19, 2018
Which Sabres team will show up tonight @ San Jose? Plus, pipeline notes
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 10-18-2018
The Buffalo Sabres are 3-3-0 in 2018-19 and it's good, especially for a team that finished dead last in the NHL last season. Within that record is a trio of wins that were solid and losses that were lopsided. Buffalo's wins were against the NY Rangers (3-1,) Vegas Golden Knights (4-2) and Arizona Coyotes (3-0.) The combined record of those three teams is 6-12-1 and their goal differential is a minus-18. The Sabres three losses were against the Boston Bruins (0-4,) Colorado Avalanche (1-6) and Golden Knights (1-4.) Their combined record is 10-7-2 and their goal differential is a plus-7.
It's not hard to figure out that in this shortened season the Sabres have been able to defeat lesser teams, or in Vegas' case a team not playing well on the road, but have had a lot of trouble with the better teams including the Golden Knights at home.
The faults we've seen in this year's edition of the Sabres is disparaging in that we've generally been seeing the same things happen for a few years now. Some of that includes getting off to slow starts and falling behind, poor passing and the inability to beat good goaltending or finish their chances. They been had difficulties with a strong forecheck and are unable and/or unwilling to go to the greasy areas of the ice when facing a collapsing defense.
"We've got to make sure our execution has to be ready when the puck drops," coach Phil Housley told the media yesterday. "Not 10 minutes into the game or at the end of the first period. The way we attack the game. Especially entering the offensive zone, getting more pucks to the net and more people there, stopping and paying a price to score some goals.
Sometimes it seems as if it's a systemic issue whereas the coaching staff is seemingly unable to make any adjustments. Other times it seems as if some (many?) individual players would rather cheat up-ice or play on the perimeter and let someone else do the dirty work. Most times it seems as if it's a combination and when they play a team like Boston or Vegas that are both strong on the forecheck, quick to the puck and collapse in the defensive zone while waiting to counterpunch on the break, it turns into an easy win for the opposition.
There's a predictability to the Sabres and we've been seeing that on the powerplay as well. It's a tale of two powerplays as Buffalo is a combined 4/9 with the man advantage in their three wins and 0/15 in their three losses which includes and 0/7 effort against the Avalanche and 0/6 last game against Vegas. Buffalo's powerplay centers around Jack Eichel where he's in the right circle ready for a one-timer or working a triangle with a man below the line and one in the slot. When neither is working, it doesn't seem as if they can generate much in the way of opportunity.
The Sabres are in the midst of a season-long, five-game road trip that continues in San Jose, CA tonight with a visit to the Shark Tank, which is one of the toughest arenas to play in. The Sharks made some moves dating back to last season's trade deadline that have many seeing them as a Stanley Cup contender. San Jose traded for Sabres winger Evander Kane at the 2018 NHL trade deadline and he helped them reach the second round of the playoffs before the upstart Golden Knights won defeated them in six games.
In the off season the Sharks added to an already solid blueline featuring former Norris Trophy winner Brent Burns by trading for Ottawa's Erik Karlsson, a Norris winner himself.
San Jose is off to a slow start and head into tonight's contest with a 2-3-1 record and will be returning home after a five-game road trip. The Sharks went 2-2-1 on the trip outscoring their opponents 15-14, although eight of those goals came in one game (Philadelphia.)
The Sabres are a surprising 6-3-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Sharks and what's even more interesting is that they won all four contests while in the throes of their tank years from 2013-15. The "Eichel-era" Sabres so far have gone 2-3-1 against San Jose with their last win coming at home in overtime on February 7, 2017. Buffalo lost both contests last season by the identical 3-2 score.
It's anybody's guess which Sabres team will show up tonight.
*****
Some notes:
--Buffalo enters tonight's game with 12 goals-for which ties them with the Florida Panthers for 26th in the league while their 2.00 goals/game ranks them 28th. They're also tied for 28th in 5v5 goals with six.
--One person not having much of a problem scoring goals is Victor Olofsson. Unfortunately for the Sabres he's in Rochester playing for the Amerks right now. The former seventh round pick (2014, 181st-overall) is second in the league with five goals while his 12 points leads the AHL. Olofsson was named the AHL player of the week for last week.
--After a rough start where they dropped back-to-back home games to begin the season, the Amerks are on a roll. Rochester is on a four-game winning streak scoring 18 goals in those games. Olofsson scored all five of his goals during that streak, defenseman Zach Redmond has lit the lamp four times with winger Alexander Nylander (2016, eighth) scoring twice. Olofsson leads the league with 12 points, Redmond is fifth with 10 and Nylander comes in tied for 10th with seven points.
--Amerks defenseman Lawrence Pilut, a Buffalo 2018 free agent signing, is tied for second in the AHL with 10 points (2+8) and has a plus-7 rating.
--In addition to Olofsson, Nylander and Pilut, all younger players looking to take the next step and have an impact at the NHL level, the Sabres pipeline is getting stronger. Goalie Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen was named OHL player of the week to start the season. Luukkonen won all five of his starts, had a 1.78 GAA and a .944 sv% during that stretch. Although he's cooled off a bit for the Sudbury Wolves, the 2017 second round pick (54th) is looking pretty strong after opting for the Canadian Hockey League over playing in his native Finland.
--Another player who made the move to the CHL was center Matej Pekar. The 18 yr. old Czech native had been in the USHL last season and it looked as if he'd be there again before entering college, but he made the move to the Barrie Colts, also of the OHL and has been playing great. Pekar has 11 points (6+5) in 11 games and was just signed to his entry-level deal by the Sabres.
--Barrie's head coach, Dale Hawerchuk, is a NHL Hockey Hall of Famer that played for the Sabres and he, loves the way the kid plays the game. "He's a gamer all the time," Hawerchuk told the press. "He lives and breathes the game." It's not unlike what we heard from Pekar's coaches at Muskegon. His former coach John LaFontaine called him "an ultimate team player" with "a passion and work ethic that's off the charts. Lumberjacks assistant coach Mike Hamilton called him a "phenomenal young man."
There's more to Pekar than that and for a profile piece on him click here for part one and here for part two.
The Buffalo Sabres are 3-3-0 in 2018-19 and it's good, especially for a team that finished dead last in the NHL last season. Within that record is a trio of wins that were solid and losses that were lopsided. Buffalo's wins were against the NY Rangers (3-1,) Vegas Golden Knights (4-2) and Arizona Coyotes (3-0.) The combined record of those three teams is 6-12-1 and their goal differential is a minus-18. The Sabres three losses were against the Boston Bruins (0-4,) Colorado Avalanche (1-6) and Golden Knights (1-4.) Their combined record is 10-7-2 and their goal differential is a plus-7.
It's not hard to figure out that in this shortened season the Sabres have been able to defeat lesser teams, or in Vegas' case a team not playing well on the road, but have had a lot of trouble with the better teams including the Golden Knights at home.
The faults we've seen in this year's edition of the Sabres is disparaging in that we've generally been seeing the same things happen for a few years now. Some of that includes getting off to slow starts and falling behind, poor passing and the inability to beat good goaltending or finish their chances. They been had difficulties with a strong forecheck and are unable and/or unwilling to go to the greasy areas of the ice when facing a collapsing defense.
"We've got to make sure our execution has to be ready when the puck drops," coach Phil Housley told the media yesterday. "Not 10 minutes into the game or at the end of the first period. The way we attack the game. Especially entering the offensive zone, getting more pucks to the net and more people there, stopping and paying a price to score some goals.
Sometimes it seems as if it's a systemic issue whereas the coaching staff is seemingly unable to make any adjustments. Other times it seems as if some (many?) individual players would rather cheat up-ice or play on the perimeter and let someone else do the dirty work. Most times it seems as if it's a combination and when they play a team like Boston or Vegas that are both strong on the forecheck, quick to the puck and collapse in the defensive zone while waiting to counterpunch on the break, it turns into an easy win for the opposition.
There's a predictability to the Sabres and we've been seeing that on the powerplay as well. It's a tale of two powerplays as Buffalo is a combined 4/9 with the man advantage in their three wins and 0/15 in their three losses which includes and 0/7 effort against the Avalanche and 0/6 last game against Vegas. Buffalo's powerplay centers around Jack Eichel where he's in the right circle ready for a one-timer or working a triangle with a man below the line and one in the slot. When neither is working, it doesn't seem as if they can generate much in the way of opportunity.
The Sabres are in the midst of a season-long, five-game road trip that continues in San Jose, CA tonight with a visit to the Shark Tank, which is one of the toughest arenas to play in. The Sharks made some moves dating back to last season's trade deadline that have many seeing them as a Stanley Cup contender. San Jose traded for Sabres winger Evander Kane at the 2018 NHL trade deadline and he helped them reach the second round of the playoffs before the upstart Golden Knights won defeated them in six games.
In the off season the Sharks added to an already solid blueline featuring former Norris Trophy winner Brent Burns by trading for Ottawa's Erik Karlsson, a Norris winner himself.
San Jose is off to a slow start and head into tonight's contest with a 2-3-1 record and will be returning home after a five-game road trip. The Sharks went 2-2-1 on the trip outscoring their opponents 15-14, although eight of those goals came in one game (Philadelphia.)
The Sabres are a surprising 6-3-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Sharks and what's even more interesting is that they won all four contests while in the throes of their tank years from 2013-15. The "Eichel-era" Sabres so far have gone 2-3-1 against San Jose with their last win coming at home in overtime on February 7, 2017. Buffalo lost both contests last season by the identical 3-2 score.
It's anybody's guess which Sabres team will show up tonight.
*****
Some notes:
--Buffalo enters tonight's game with 12 goals-for which ties them with the Florida Panthers for 26th in the league while their 2.00 goals/game ranks them 28th. They're also tied for 28th in 5v5 goals with six.
--One person not having much of a problem scoring goals is Victor Olofsson. Unfortunately for the Sabres he's in Rochester playing for the Amerks right now. The former seventh round pick (2014, 181st-overall) is second in the league with five goals while his 12 points leads the AHL. Olofsson was named the AHL player of the week for last week.
--After a rough start where they dropped back-to-back home games to begin the season, the Amerks are on a roll. Rochester is on a four-game winning streak scoring 18 goals in those games. Olofsson scored all five of his goals during that streak, defenseman Zach Redmond has lit the lamp four times with winger Alexander Nylander (2016, eighth) scoring twice. Olofsson leads the league with 12 points, Redmond is fifth with 10 and Nylander comes in tied for 10th with seven points.
--Amerks defenseman Lawrence Pilut, a Buffalo 2018 free agent signing, is tied for second in the AHL with 10 points (2+8) and has a plus-7 rating.
--In addition to Olofsson, Nylander and Pilut, all younger players looking to take the next step and have an impact at the NHL level, the Sabres pipeline is getting stronger. Goalie Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen was named OHL player of the week to start the season. Luukkonen won all five of his starts, had a 1.78 GAA and a .944 sv% during that stretch. Although he's cooled off a bit for the Sudbury Wolves, the 2017 second round pick (54th) is looking pretty strong after opting for the Canadian Hockey League over playing in his native Finland.
--Another player who made the move to the CHL was center Matej Pekar. The 18 yr. old Czech native had been in the USHL last season and it looked as if he'd be there again before entering college, but he made the move to the Barrie Colts, also of the OHL and has been playing great. Pekar has 11 points (6+5) in 11 games and was just signed to his entry-level deal by the Sabres.
--Barrie's head coach, Dale Hawerchuk, is a NHL Hockey Hall of Famer that played for the Sabres and he, loves the way the kid plays the game. "He's a gamer all the time," Hawerchuk told the press. "He lives and breathes the game." It's not unlike what we heard from Pekar's coaches at Muskegon. His former coach John LaFontaine called him "an ultimate team player" with "a passion and work ethic that's off the charts. Lumberjacks assistant coach Mike Hamilton called him a "phenomenal young man."
There's more to Pekar than that and for a profile piece on him click here for part one and here for part two.
Saturday, August 25, 2018
Sabres find plenty of character, and a character, in Matej Pekar. Pt. 2
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 8-23-2018
This is the second of a two-part profile on 2018 Sabres fourth round draft pick (94th-overall,) Matej Pekar.
Part 1 can be found by clicking here.
After listening to Muskegon Lumberjack coaches talk about forward Matej Pekar's unrelenting work ethic and style of play, one might get the impression that he's all work, no play and is a really dull young man. To the contrary, Pekar seems like he's enjoying life in America as a teenage hockey player both on and off the ice and it shines through during interviews.
At his post draft presser an extremely giddy and smiling Pekar told the gathered media "I probably sound a little bit stupid, but I'm so happy to be here I don't know what to say." After he got hammered with a hard check by first-overall pick Rasmus Dahlin at development camp, Pekar told the local press with a smile of almost disbelief, and maybe a touch of pride, that he never saw Dahlin hit someone so hard.
And during the three on three tournament Pekar played his dogged style against 2017 Sabres first rounder Casey Mittelstadt who didn't take kindly to it. With a gadfly grin he told the media, "that’s my shot to kind of piss him off, get in his head and try to win the game for the team. It’s way more fun when you see Casey getting pissed at you."
There's an honesty about Pekar in how he plays the game and, seemingly, how he goes about life. On the ice he knows who he is and get's at it. Off the ice he has a very engaging personality and a smile that says he knows what to take seriously and what not to. It's something that shone through at Sabres Development Camp and turned him into a fan favorite. Sure, on the ice he oozes character, loves to play the game hard, and getting under an opponent's skin brings a broad smile to his face. That engaging smile may have been a product of a job well done and/or is the product of passing through difficult thresholds at a young age where he tasted failure and worked hard to overcome them.
Then again, maybe his father Joseph Pekar has something to do with his son's sunny disposition.
Make no mistake, Pekar got his work ethic from his father. "That's how he raised me. He always pushed me to work hard," he said. But when I asked him if he got his sense of humor from his father he was quick to reply, "100%."
At the draft presser Pekar told the story of the Sabres meeting Joseph while he was wearing his "funny Detroit Red Wings pants." Those "funny pants" were actually pajama bottoms that he'd bought while visiting his son. "He was here for a visit a year ago," Pekar told me, "and we saw them in some shop and he said, 'I have to buy them. For five bucks. I'm gonna buy them.'
"He used to wear them everywhere including business meetings," said Pekar chuckling the entire time he told the story and added that after Buffalo drafted him, Joseph's bosses said that they'd get him some Sabres towels.
"He's like that all the time," said Pekar. "People that know him well expect things like that from him."
Joseph should take pride in knowing that the son he raised worked hard at his game and ended up being selected in the NHL Draft while never losing that magnetic personality. It also had to be a very proud moment to have a connection to former Sabre and Czech legend, Dominik Hasek, who's hometown is only about 85 miles from them. Pekar lit up when I asked if he'd ever watched old videos of Hasek at the 1998 Nagano Olympics where the future Hall of Famer lead the Czech Republic to gold.
"Not only do I watch it, I've seen it a lot of times," said Pekar and even noted the trade of Hasek from the Chicago Blackhawks to Buffalo. He's also very familiar with another Czech legend, Jaromir Jagr and has followed him closely as well even pointing out, with a laugh, that Jagr, "liked to stick his butt out just to protect the puck."
With Pekar it's not so much that what he says, but it's how he says it. There's joy and humor for him in those comedic moments and it comes through (even over the phone) whether he's talking about his dad's "funny pants" or how Jagr "stuck his butt out."
When I talked to him on a Sunday, it was his day to be away from hockey and I asked him what he was going to do. Pekar said he was going to play a pickup game of basketball with his friends "to just get some...active rest," before stopping for a second and chuckling a bit at the term he just used. After that he said maybe he and his friends would go to the movies. Before I could ask what movie he might see or what kind of movies he liked, he said, "we don't go there for the movie, we just go there for the popcorn" and laughed.
The sheer joy of indulging in that slice of Americana really came through when he said "the last time we went there I ate a bucket [of popcorn] and fell asleep half-way through the movie" causing an eruption of laughter on both ends of the phone line.
Pekar's zest for life and positivity will be tested again this season as there's a lot of work ahead of him. The 18 yr old left winger will be venturing into new territory for Muskegon as the Lumberjacks will be looking at him as a scorer and to him for leadership. He knows that the coaching staff will put him in a position to score, but that "he has to score the goals" and he also said he's honored to be considered a leader, likes to be a leader and feels that he can lead both on and off the ice.
Pekar certainly has the on-ice character and work-ethic to succeed and the more he and the team succeed, the more his personality will blossom. The Sabres certainly could use players with on-ice attributes like that while the Buffalo media and fan base could use an influx of positivity and humor. It's a good combination and hopefully we'll see Pekar talking about him pissing off star NHL players and/or scoring goals in post-game interviews for the Sabres somewhere down the road.
This is the second of a two-part profile on 2018 Sabres fourth round draft pick (94th-overall,) Matej Pekar.
Part 1 can be found by clicking here.
After listening to Muskegon Lumberjack coaches talk about forward Matej Pekar's unrelenting work ethic and style of play, one might get the impression that he's all work, no play and is a really dull young man. To the contrary, Pekar seems like he's enjoying life in America as a teenage hockey player both on and off the ice and it shines through during interviews.
At his post draft presser an extremely giddy and smiling Pekar told the gathered media "I probably sound a little bit stupid, but I'm so happy to be here I don't know what to say." After he got hammered with a hard check by first-overall pick Rasmus Dahlin at development camp, Pekar told the local press with a smile of almost disbelief, and maybe a touch of pride, that he never saw Dahlin hit someone so hard.
And during the three on three tournament Pekar played his dogged style against 2017 Sabres first rounder Casey Mittelstadt who didn't take kindly to it. With a gadfly grin he told the media, "that’s my shot to kind of piss him off, get in his head and try to win the game for the team. It’s way more fun when you see Casey getting pissed at you."
There's an honesty about Pekar in how he plays the game and, seemingly, how he goes about life. On the ice he knows who he is and get's at it. Off the ice he has a very engaging personality and a smile that says he knows what to take seriously and what not to. It's something that shone through at Sabres Development Camp and turned him into a fan favorite. Sure, on the ice he oozes character, loves to play the game hard, and getting under an opponent's skin brings a broad smile to his face. That engaging smile may have been a product of a job well done and/or is the product of passing through difficult thresholds at a young age where he tasted failure and worked hard to overcome them.
Then again, maybe his father Joseph Pekar has something to do with his son's sunny disposition.
Make no mistake, Pekar got his work ethic from his father. "That's how he raised me. He always pushed me to work hard," he said. But when I asked him if he got his sense of humor from his father he was quick to reply, "100%."
At the draft presser Pekar told the story of the Sabres meeting Joseph while he was wearing his "funny Detroit Red Wings pants." Those "funny pants" were actually pajama bottoms that he'd bought while visiting his son. "He was here for a visit a year ago," Pekar told me, "and we saw them in some shop and he said, 'I have to buy them. For five bucks. I'm gonna buy them.'
"He used to wear them everywhere including business meetings," said Pekar chuckling the entire time he told the story and added that after Buffalo drafted him, Joseph's bosses said that they'd get him some Sabres towels.
"He's like that all the time," said Pekar. "People that know him well expect things like that from him."
Joseph should take pride in knowing that the son he raised worked hard at his game and ended up being selected in the NHL Draft while never losing that magnetic personality. It also had to be a very proud moment to have a connection to former Sabre and Czech legend, Dominik Hasek, who's hometown is only about 85 miles from them. Pekar lit up when I asked if he'd ever watched old videos of Hasek at the 1998 Nagano Olympics where the future Hall of Famer lead the Czech Republic to gold.
"Not only do I watch it, I've seen it a lot of times," said Pekar and even noted the trade of Hasek from the Chicago Blackhawks to Buffalo. He's also very familiar with another Czech legend, Jaromir Jagr and has followed him closely as well even pointing out, with a laugh, that Jagr, "liked to stick his butt out just to protect the puck."
With Pekar it's not so much that what he says, but it's how he says it. There's joy and humor for him in those comedic moments and it comes through (even over the phone) whether he's talking about his dad's "funny pants" or how Jagr "stuck his butt out."
When I talked to him on a Sunday, it was his day to be away from hockey and I asked him what he was going to do. Pekar said he was going to play a pickup game of basketball with his friends "to just get some...active rest," before stopping for a second and chuckling a bit at the term he just used. After that he said maybe he and his friends would go to the movies. Before I could ask what movie he might see or what kind of movies he liked, he said, "we don't go there for the movie, we just go there for the popcorn" and laughed.
The sheer joy of indulging in that slice of Americana really came through when he said "the last time we went there I ate a bucket [of popcorn] and fell asleep half-way through the movie" causing an eruption of laughter on both ends of the phone line.
Pekar's zest for life and positivity will be tested again this season as there's a lot of work ahead of him. The 18 yr old left winger will be venturing into new territory for Muskegon as the Lumberjacks will be looking at him as a scorer and to him for leadership. He knows that the coaching staff will put him in a position to score, but that "he has to score the goals" and he also said he's honored to be considered a leader, likes to be a leader and feels that he can lead both on and off the ice.
Pekar certainly has the on-ice character and work-ethic to succeed and the more he and the team succeed, the more his personality will blossom. The Sabres certainly could use players with on-ice attributes like that while the Buffalo media and fan base could use an influx of positivity and humor. It's a good combination and hopefully we'll see Pekar talking about him pissing off star NHL players and/or scoring goals in post-game interviews for the Sabres somewhere down the road.
Thursday, August 23, 2018
Sabres find plenty of character, and a character, in Matej Pekar. Pt. 1
Published by hockeybuzz.com 8-21-2018
When Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula talked about "adding discipline, structure, communication and character" to the organization after firing general manager Tim Murray in 2017, he emphasized "we have to have character." Jason Botterill, the man he hired to replace Murray, is also a firm believer in character as a foundational building block. Prior to his first draft as a GM, Botterill talked with the hosts of The Instigators on his approach to selecting players that particular word came up numerous times.
"Let's be honest," he told the hosts back in 2017, "there's an element of luck (to the draft) but there also needs to be a structure to it. That's why it's so key, finding certain elements in the character aspect. You're picking a player when they're 17 or 18 yrs. old, they're not a finished product. There's much for them to do. Their drive off the ice, their willingness to improve their game in the weight room or on the ice. These are key attributes.
"You're not going to be perfect," he continued, "maybe they're not always going to be the most high-end guys, but you've got to find those character guys who are going to be willing to put the work in."
It took Botterill a year to get his scouting staff in place and 2018 looks to be a banner draft, especially when you have a defenseman like Rasmus Dahlin, who combines high-end skill and high character, at the top. Fourth round pick Matej (pronounced, meh-tay) Pekar from the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL may not have the high-end skills of a Dahlin, but the 94th-overall selection has that character Botterill was looking for. And what we've come to find out since his selection, he's also a bit of a character as well.
At his post-draft presser, Botterill said of Pekar, "What we like about him is his tenacity, his ability to skate, his ability to get on the forecheck.
"Our guys talked about his style of play, relentless on the forecheck, getting after it," continued Botterill to the gathered media. "He's underdeveloped from a physical standpoint but everything we've heard from behind the scenes is that he's working very hard at that and that will continue to develop over the next little bit."
New Lumberjacks head coach Mike Hamilton was "behind the scenes" last year as an assistant in Muskegon and when I talked to him last week her relayed the same thing to me about Pekar via a phone conversation. He called the 18 yr. old left-winger a "meat and potatoes guy, with no ego to him who's going to show up to work every day."
Hamilton was just promoted to head coach after being a part-time assistant coach with the Lumberjacks for the last five years. A native of Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan just north of Detroit, Hamilton spent years coaching youth hockey with the HoneyBaked youth hockey program on the east side of the state and also played for Minnesota State University. Hamilton's connections with the Lumberjacks run deep. His son Trevor, who just signed with the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League, also played at Muskegon and Hamilton had played junior hockey under John LaFontaine, the coach he replaced. He was involved with Dan Israel's purchase of the team.
LaFontaine had done some nice work in Muskegon coaching them to a 70-43-7 mark over his two seasons there which included setting a franchise record for most points in a season in 2016-17. Andrei Svechnikov, the second-overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, lead that record setting team with 29 goals and 58 points in 48 games while on his way to being named USHL rookie of the year. LaFontaine's team added another ROY honor the following season when Pekar was named the league's top rookie. Unfortunately, Muskegon was ousted in the first round in both of those seasons and LaFontaine was replaced by Hamilton.
Hamilton had nothing but high praise for LaFontaine, telling me that his predecessor "may have sacrificed some wins for [player] development, but he did his players great things by developing them and teaching them the right way to play the game." A total of five Lumberjacks were taken at the 2018 NHL Draft lead by Svechinkov, who played for Barrie of the OHL last season. Pekar was joined by team mates Jachym Kondelik (111th, NSH,) Mikael Hakkarainen (139th, CHI) and Emilio Pettersen (167th, CGY.)
Both Hamilton and LaFontaine were effusive in their praise of Pekar's work ethic and willingness to do whatever it took for team success. LaFontaine called him "the ultimate team player" with "a passion and work ethic that's above the charts." Hamilton said, "when there was ice, he was always first on the ice, last off it on a daily basis" and that Pekar "works and pushes and wants more and wants to get better. Wanting more instruction, wanting more video, wanting more analysis" calling him a "phenomenal young man" and adding that, "when people would call, it was almost as if we were giving them a line of B.S. because there's not a lot of bad things to say about Matej."
The coaches pointed to Pekar's difficult journey from the Czech Republic to NHL Draft as a driving force to his overall disposition. Pekar came to North America at the age of 14, played travel hockey with Tier-2 level Jimmy Johns jumped up the U-16 Tier-1 Elite Hockey League with the Oakland Jr. Grizzlies before getting drafted by the Chicago Steele in the third round (46th) of the USHL Draft. After not making the team out of camp, Pekar was traded to the Lumberjacks for Cole Kodsi who was a 16th round pick of the Lumberjacks.
"I didn't even make the 30-man roster (in Chicago,)" Pekar told me. "Fortunately they traded me to Muskegon which was even better for me."
LaFontaine pointed to Pekar and his hockey journey as someone who's "appreciative of what he's got," one who "stays humble, stays working, maybe because he didn't have everything handed to him and seemed to appreciate every step of the way."
When Pekar joined LaFontaine and the Lumberjacks he didn't know what to expect. "I was super nervous because I didn't make the Chicago team," he said. "I just tried to work hard and play the way I could play and try to prove myself to the coaches."
Pekar did make the team and started out at left wing on the second and third lines during exhibition games and played the first game of the season on the third line. Prior to the second game he got the opportunity to skate with the top line because of some lobbying on the part of a couple team mates. "The guys told me that Jachym (Kondelik) asked the coach if he could try putting two Czechs together to see how it works," he said.
"I would say two team mates," recalled LaFontaine. "At the time on our first line was a fellow countryman (Kondelik,) he was in his second year for us and our leading scorer Anthony Del Gaizo. They played together a week or two and they asked if they could try Matej on the line.
"Once we moved [Pekar] there, he never left the top line."
Pekar willfully and gratefully did a lot of the dirty work on that line going into the corners and fishing out the puck despite being a lengthy, skinny, somewhat scrawny kid who got pushed off the puck a lot. At least early on. But he was never afraid nor discouraged. According to LaFontaine said Pekar worked at it and figured out how play in those tight areas. That maneuvering lead to 40 assists which was tops amongst rookies and third in the league while his linemate Del Gaizo lead the league with 40 goals.
"He was a surprise for our whole staff last year in regards to how many points he really did put up ," said Hamilton of Pekar. "We knew he was a good player, but on a team that was that deep in high-end talent, we were absolutely surprised with a rookie coming in and putting up as many points as he did."
Pekar finished the season with 54 points which tied him amongst rookies with projected 2019 top overall pick, Jack Hughes.
After playing set-up man for the first 29 games of the season with 20 assists and only five goals, Pekar began to gain more confidence shooting and scoring while also continuing to rack up assists. He upped his goal-total to nine in the last 27 games of the season and could have had more according to the coaches saying he was unselfish to the point where he'd pass up an opportunity of his own to set up a team mate. Maybe passing up a little too many.
"During the middle of the season he was passing up too many opportunities to score himself," said LaFontaine. "He was playing with older players and he just wanted to please them. They got on his case and as coaches we told him it's time to be a little more selfish and he started putting the puck in the net which was great to see."
When asked if it was difficult for Pekar to make that transition into more of a scorer, LaFontaine said that it took a while for him to build up confidence. According to the coach, Pekar knew he was passing up shots, he just didn't have any confidence at all in his shooting ability but he worked at it. "He didn't want to let his linemates down," said the LaFontaine, "so like he's accustomed to doing, he put extra time in the weaknesses of his game, which was finishing, and by the end of the year it began to turn into a strength."
When Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula talked about "adding discipline, structure, communication and character" to the organization after firing general manager Tim Murray in 2017, he emphasized "we have to have character." Jason Botterill, the man he hired to replace Murray, is also a firm believer in character as a foundational building block. Prior to his first draft as a GM, Botterill talked with the hosts of The Instigators on his approach to selecting players that particular word came up numerous times.
"Let's be honest," he told the hosts back in 2017, "there's an element of luck (to the draft) but there also needs to be a structure to it. That's why it's so key, finding certain elements in the character aspect. You're picking a player when they're 17 or 18 yrs. old, they're not a finished product. There's much for them to do. Their drive off the ice, their willingness to improve their game in the weight room or on the ice. These are key attributes.
"You're not going to be perfect," he continued, "maybe they're not always going to be the most high-end guys, but you've got to find those character guys who are going to be willing to put the work in."
It took Botterill a year to get his scouting staff in place and 2018 looks to be a banner draft, especially when you have a defenseman like Rasmus Dahlin, who combines high-end skill and high character, at the top. Fourth round pick Matej (pronounced, meh-tay) Pekar from the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL may not have the high-end skills of a Dahlin, but the 94th-overall selection has that character Botterill was looking for. And what we've come to find out since his selection, he's also a bit of a character as well.
At his post-draft presser, Botterill said of Pekar, "What we like about him is his tenacity, his ability to skate, his ability to get on the forecheck.
"Our guys talked about his style of play, relentless on the forecheck, getting after it," continued Botterill to the gathered media. "He's underdeveloped from a physical standpoint but everything we've heard from behind the scenes is that he's working very hard at that and that will continue to develop over the next little bit."
New Lumberjacks head coach Mike Hamilton was "behind the scenes" last year as an assistant in Muskegon and when I talked to him last week her relayed the same thing to me about Pekar via a phone conversation. He called the 18 yr. old left-winger a "meat and potatoes guy, with no ego to him who's going to show up to work every day."
Hamilton was just promoted to head coach after being a part-time assistant coach with the Lumberjacks for the last five years. A native of Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan just north of Detroit, Hamilton spent years coaching youth hockey with the HoneyBaked youth hockey program on the east side of the state and also played for Minnesota State University. Hamilton's connections with the Lumberjacks run deep. His son Trevor, who just signed with the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League, also played at Muskegon and Hamilton had played junior hockey under John LaFontaine, the coach he replaced. He was involved with Dan Israel's purchase of the team.
LaFontaine had done some nice work in Muskegon coaching them to a 70-43-7 mark over his two seasons there which included setting a franchise record for most points in a season in 2016-17. Andrei Svechnikov, the second-overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, lead that record setting team with 29 goals and 58 points in 48 games while on his way to being named USHL rookie of the year. LaFontaine's team added another ROY honor the following season when Pekar was named the league's top rookie. Unfortunately, Muskegon was ousted in the first round in both of those seasons and LaFontaine was replaced by Hamilton.
Hamilton had nothing but high praise for LaFontaine, telling me that his predecessor "may have sacrificed some wins for [player] development, but he did his players great things by developing them and teaching them the right way to play the game." A total of five Lumberjacks were taken at the 2018 NHL Draft lead by Svechinkov, who played for Barrie of the OHL last season. Pekar was joined by team mates Jachym Kondelik (111th, NSH,) Mikael Hakkarainen (139th, CHI) and Emilio Pettersen (167th, CGY.)
Both Hamilton and LaFontaine were effusive in their praise of Pekar's work ethic and willingness to do whatever it took for team success. LaFontaine called him "the ultimate team player" with "a passion and work ethic that's above the charts." Hamilton said, "when there was ice, he was always first on the ice, last off it on a daily basis" and that Pekar "works and pushes and wants more and wants to get better. Wanting more instruction, wanting more video, wanting more analysis" calling him a "phenomenal young man" and adding that, "when people would call, it was almost as if we were giving them a line of B.S. because there's not a lot of bad things to say about Matej."
The coaches pointed to Pekar's difficult journey from the Czech Republic to NHL Draft as a driving force to his overall disposition. Pekar came to North America at the age of 14, played travel hockey with Tier-2 level Jimmy Johns jumped up the U-16 Tier-1 Elite Hockey League with the Oakland Jr. Grizzlies before getting drafted by the Chicago Steele in the third round (46th) of the USHL Draft. After not making the team out of camp, Pekar was traded to the Lumberjacks for Cole Kodsi who was a 16th round pick of the Lumberjacks.
"I didn't even make the 30-man roster (in Chicago,)" Pekar told me. "Fortunately they traded me to Muskegon which was even better for me."
LaFontaine pointed to Pekar and his hockey journey as someone who's "appreciative of what he's got," one who "stays humble, stays working, maybe because he didn't have everything handed to him and seemed to appreciate every step of the way."
When Pekar joined LaFontaine and the Lumberjacks he didn't know what to expect. "I was super nervous because I didn't make the Chicago team," he said. "I just tried to work hard and play the way I could play and try to prove myself to the coaches."
Pekar did make the team and started out at left wing on the second and third lines during exhibition games and played the first game of the season on the third line. Prior to the second game he got the opportunity to skate with the top line because of some lobbying on the part of a couple team mates. "The guys told me that Jachym (Kondelik) asked the coach if he could try putting two Czechs together to see how it works," he said.
"I would say two team mates," recalled LaFontaine. "At the time on our first line was a fellow countryman (Kondelik,) he was in his second year for us and our leading scorer Anthony Del Gaizo. They played together a week or two and they asked if they could try Matej on the line.
"Once we moved [Pekar] there, he never left the top line."
Pekar willfully and gratefully did a lot of the dirty work on that line going into the corners and fishing out the puck despite being a lengthy, skinny, somewhat scrawny kid who got pushed off the puck a lot. At least early on. But he was never afraid nor discouraged. According to LaFontaine said Pekar worked at it and figured out how play in those tight areas. That maneuvering lead to 40 assists which was tops amongst rookies and third in the league while his linemate Del Gaizo lead the league with 40 goals.
"He was a surprise for our whole staff last year in regards to how many points he really did put up ," said Hamilton of Pekar. "We knew he was a good player, but on a team that was that deep in high-end talent, we were absolutely surprised with a rookie coming in and putting up as many points as he did."
Pekar finished the season with 54 points which tied him amongst rookies with projected 2019 top overall pick, Jack Hughes.
After playing set-up man for the first 29 games of the season with 20 assists and only five goals, Pekar began to gain more confidence shooting and scoring while also continuing to rack up assists. He upped his goal-total to nine in the last 27 games of the season and could have had more according to the coaches saying he was unselfish to the point where he'd pass up an opportunity of his own to set up a team mate. Maybe passing up a little too many.
"During the middle of the season he was passing up too many opportunities to score himself," said LaFontaine. "He was playing with older players and he just wanted to please them. They got on his case and as coaches we told him it's time to be a little more selfish and he started putting the puck in the net which was great to see."
When asked if it was difficult for Pekar to make that transition into more of a scorer, LaFontaine said that it took a while for him to build up confidence. According to the coach, Pekar knew he was passing up shots, he just didn't have any confidence at all in his shooting ability but he worked at it. "He didn't want to let his linemates down," said the LaFontaine, "so like he's accustomed to doing, he put extra time in the weaknesses of his game, which was finishing, and by the end of the year it began to turn into a strength."
Friday, July 6, 2018
A Sabrecentric recap plus a little food for thought on this Fourth of July
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 7-4-2018
The Buffalo Sabres opted to follow a defense-heavy/Swede-heavy 2018 NHL Draft by jumping into development camp earlier than normal. Sabres D-Camp was usually scheduled after the Fourth of July but this year it was moved up to the last weekend in June, which happened to butt up against the start of free agency. That, along with the trade of Ryan O'Reilly made for a very busy week.
Some things may have been missed in the process so what better time to play a little ketchup today as we munch on our All-American burgers and enjoy fireworks.
A quick recap of the draft had the Sabres and GM Jason Botterill taking five defensemen out of six picks, three of them being from Sweden and one with Swedish heritage. The parade of Swedes was lead by first overall pick D, Rasmus Dahlin followed later by the picks of defensemen Linus Lindstrand Cronholm (4th round) and William Worge Kreu (7th.) Hulking defenseman Mattias Samuelsson (2nd) was born in the U.S. and played in the USHL for the National Development Program. He is the son of former NHL d-man Kjell Samuelsson who was born in Sweden.
The Sabres selected Czech-native Matej Pekar, a center who played in the USHL, with the first pick of the fourth round and with their first pick in the seventh round they took defenseman Miska Kukkonen out of Finland.
Interesting to note that for the second year in a row under Botterill, the Sabres did not select a player from the Canadian Hockey League. Botterill's reasoning was that for later round picks, players attending college or playing overseas allows for more development time. "In a scenario where you have an extended period of four years (as opposed to two years for CHL players,)" he said at the draft, "in most situations for Europeans or college players it allows you more opportunity to develop."
All six of those draft picks were on the ice last week for D-camp.
One thing we were able to see at camp right off the bat was just how great a skater Dahlin is. For those of us who couldn't make it out to HarborCenter, there were tweets galore showing Dahlin almost effortlessly glide through drills. We also had the opportunity to see Dahlin level Pekar with a check after the feisty Czech was said to have delivered a cheap shot to the franchise defenseman.
Here's a quick shot of that hit thanks to Highlight Haven:
Sabres development camp is what the name says it is as it's mainly about teaching young players how to be professionals and getting them acclimated to the work involved at the professional level. Players from five different draft classes with Eric Cornel being the farthest reaching (2014, 44th-overall.) But it isn't all about drills as they do have some competitive fun as the camp closes with the annual French Connection 3-on-3 Tournament.
Four teams with nine players each played a round-robin to determine seeding for the semi-finals with the winner of the semi-final rounds playing for the championship.
The tournament was streamed live via sabres.com.
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 7-4-2018
For the second year in a row, Casey Mittelstadt (2017, 8th) and his Team Martin (White) won the tournament. Mittelstadt must have learned something from the previous year as his team hit the win column until the final round robin game. They dismissed of Team Robert (Gray) in the semi-final and Team Perreault (Navy) in the finals.
Mittelstadt was the star of the show but it wasn't without some peril as Pekar hounded the hell out of him in their round-robin match. It got to the point where sticks were raised between the two and with a lot of in your face intensity. Pekar's focus on Mittelstadt frustrated the talented center but come the semi finals, Pekar laid off (perhaps at the insistence of management) and Mittelstadt was allowed to more fully play his game.
Pekar drew comparisons to Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand who's known as "The little ball of hate" as he's got a gadfly-like intensity that annoys the hell out of people. In addition to that, Pekar did have his moment of revenge against Dahlin in the tournament's first game as he smoked the defenseman with a nifty deek at the right dot and proceeded to send a wicked wrister far-side.
Defenseman Brendan Guhle (2015, 51st) was drafted for his skating and athleticism and was a man amongst boys as he breezed across the ice in a display of skating that was awe-inspiring. His finish wasn't quite there but he showed the type of talents that have him on the cusp of full-time NHL duty.
Other notes:
--Goalie Hunter Shepard was a camp invite and wowed the crowd with a spectacular display of goaltending in Team Robert's second game. Although the 6'0' 205 lb. Minnesota-Duluth junior is a bit small by today's goalie standards he impressed to the point where an eye should be kept on him once he finishes his college career.
--Rasmus Asplund was the object of former GM Tim Murray's desire in the second round of the 2016 NHL Draft held in Buffalo. Since selecting him 33rd overall fans in Sabreland have been getting reports about a strong two-way player who's got a great feel for what's happening around him and that's what we saw 3-on-3.
--Winger Victor Olofsson (2014, 181st) was off the radar in Sabreland for three years until his breakout season in Sweden last year. His 29 goals lead the league and we had the opportunity to see his wicked shot during the 3-on-3. It's impressive.
--When the name Max Afinogenov is invoked, one thinks of a fast, dart-like skater who make a lot happen on the ice and that's what we saw with Vasily Glotov (2016, 190th.) Glotov was a wizard with his skating and had some finish, but did a lot of chopping with not a lot of chips flying.
--Undrafted left-winger Pascal Aquin was signed by the Rochester Americans in early May. The 6'1" 185 lb. native of Le Gardeur, Quebec was consistently in the mix throughout as he displayed plenty of speed and moves while also scoring the lone shootout goal in the Championship Game.
There were others who made a strong impression from goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (2017, 54th) to free agent signee Andrew Oglevie (2018, Notre Dame) to fellow free agent Lawrence Pilut (2018, SHL) to, of course Dahlin who simply wowed even without scoring much.
French Connection Tournament Highlights via sabres.com
*****
Botterill and the Sabres have had a busy off season dating back to early June when they relinquished the rights 2016 draft picks Vojtech Budik (130th,) Brandon Hagel (159th) and Buffalo native Austin Osmanski (189th.)
Buffalo signed three players from that 2016 draft class--Alexander Nylander (8th,) Asplund and Cliff Pu (69th)--to their entry-level deals while Casey Fitzgerald (86th) and Brett Murray (99th) are still in college with Philip Nyberg (129th) continuing his development playing in Sweden.
Also signed to his entry-level deal was Luukkonen.
Botterill and company also qualified six restricted free agents: Justin Bailey (2013, 52nd,) Nicholas Baptiste (2013, 69th,) Sean Malone (2013, 159th,) Sam Reinhart (2014, 2nd,) C.J. Smith (2017, FA) and Danny O'Regan (2012, 138th, SJS) who came over from the San Jose Sharks in the Evander Kane deal.
The Sabres did not qualify a trio lead by last year's starting goaltender. Robin Lehner was arbitration-eligible and was allowed to walk, He recently singed with the NY Islanders. Russian free agent Victor Antipin was released and after searching for a home in the NHL, will head back to the KHL. Scott Wilson wasn't qualified but the Sabres signed him to a two-year deal on July 1, the start of free agency.
*****
Speaking of free agency, Botterill went to work filling a few holes in the organization when he signed UFA goalie Carter Hutton to a team friendly three-year deal. Hutton was a starter for the St. Louis Blues last season. They also landed another goalie to take the reigns in Rochester as Scott Wedgewood signed a one-year, two-way deal with Buffalo.
Defenseman Brandon Hickey was signed to his entry-level deal on July 1 as well. Hickey came to Buffalo in a trade with the Arizona Coyotes that saw Hudson Fasching head to the desert.
Hickey was drafted by the Calgary Flames in the 3rd round (64th) of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. The 6'2" 204 lb. puck-mover spent a full four years at Boston University which included playing with present Sabres Jack Eichel, Evan Rodrigues and O'Regan. During that time his rights were traded to Arizona as part of the Mike Smith deal.
The acquisition and signing of Hickey adds more depth to the prospect pool and a quality defenseman for the Rochester Americans.
*****
Botterill did some wheelin' and dealin' in addition to the Fasching/Hickey deal as he continued to mold the Sabres to his liking. Between the draft and the start of free agency, Botterill hooked up with his former team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, to land LW Conor Sheary along with D, Matt Hunwick.
Sheary was traded for to help fill a gaping hole at left wing for the Sabres while Hunwick may end up in Rochester.
But that trades and the moves before were small change compared to the blockbuster O'Reilly trade. Botterill moved O'Reilly, a player that just didn't seem to fit with where he wanted the team to go, to St. Louis for a lottery-protected first rounder, a second rounder, prospect Tage Thompson and veterans Patrick Berglund and Vladimir Sobotka.
The trade, which was consummated on July 1, firmly put Botterill's stamp on his club.
Have a Happy and Safe Fourth of July celebration.
The Buffalo Sabres opted to follow a defense-heavy/Swede-heavy 2018 NHL Draft by jumping into development camp earlier than normal. Sabres D-Camp was usually scheduled after the Fourth of July but this year it was moved up to the last weekend in June, which happened to butt up against the start of free agency. That, along with the trade of Ryan O'Reilly made for a very busy week.
Some things may have been missed in the process so what better time to play a little ketchup today as we munch on our All-American burgers and enjoy fireworks.
A quick recap of the draft had the Sabres and GM Jason Botterill taking five defensemen out of six picks, three of them being from Sweden and one with Swedish heritage. The parade of Swedes was lead by first overall pick D, Rasmus Dahlin followed later by the picks of defensemen Linus Lindstrand Cronholm (4th round) and William Worge Kreu (7th.) Hulking defenseman Mattias Samuelsson (2nd) was born in the U.S. and played in the USHL for the National Development Program. He is the son of former NHL d-man Kjell Samuelsson who was born in Sweden.
The Sabres selected Czech-native Matej Pekar, a center who played in the USHL, with the first pick of the fourth round and with their first pick in the seventh round they took defenseman Miska Kukkonen out of Finland.
Interesting to note that for the second year in a row under Botterill, the Sabres did not select a player from the Canadian Hockey League. Botterill's reasoning was that for later round picks, players attending college or playing overseas allows for more development time. "In a scenario where you have an extended period of four years (as opposed to two years for CHL players,)" he said at the draft, "in most situations for Europeans or college players it allows you more opportunity to develop."
All six of those draft picks were on the ice last week for D-camp.
One thing we were able to see at camp right off the bat was just how great a skater Dahlin is. For those of us who couldn't make it out to HarborCenter, there were tweets galore showing Dahlin almost effortlessly glide through drills. We also had the opportunity to see Dahlin level Pekar with a check after the feisty Czech was said to have delivered a cheap shot to the franchise defenseman.
Here's a quick shot of that hit thanks to Highlight Haven:
Sabres development camp is what the name says it is as it's mainly about teaching young players how to be professionals and getting them acclimated to the work involved at the professional level. Players from five different draft classes with Eric Cornel being the farthest reaching (2014, 44th-overall.) But it isn't all about drills as they do have some competitive fun as the camp closes with the annual French Connection 3-on-3 Tournament.
Four teams with nine players each played a round-robin to determine seeding for the semi-finals with the winner of the semi-final rounds playing for the championship.
The tournament was streamed live via sabres.com.
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 7-4-2018
For the second year in a row, Casey Mittelstadt (2017, 8th) and his Team Martin (White) won the tournament. Mittelstadt must have learned something from the previous year as his team hit the win column until the final round robin game. They dismissed of Team Robert (Gray) in the semi-final and Team Perreault (Navy) in the finals.
Mittelstadt was the star of the show but it wasn't without some peril as Pekar hounded the hell out of him in their round-robin match. It got to the point where sticks were raised between the two and with a lot of in your face intensity. Pekar's focus on Mittelstadt frustrated the talented center but come the semi finals, Pekar laid off (perhaps at the insistence of management) and Mittelstadt was allowed to more fully play his game.
Pekar drew comparisons to Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand who's known as "The little ball of hate" as he's got a gadfly-like intensity that annoys the hell out of people. In addition to that, Pekar did have his moment of revenge against Dahlin in the tournament's first game as he smoked the defenseman with a nifty deek at the right dot and proceeded to send a wicked wrister far-side.
Defenseman Brendan Guhle (2015, 51st) was drafted for his skating and athleticism and was a man amongst boys as he breezed across the ice in a display of skating that was awe-inspiring. His finish wasn't quite there but he showed the type of talents that have him on the cusp of full-time NHL duty.
Other notes:
--Goalie Hunter Shepard was a camp invite and wowed the crowd with a spectacular display of goaltending in Team Robert's second game. Although the 6'0' 205 lb. Minnesota-Duluth junior is a bit small by today's goalie standards he impressed to the point where an eye should be kept on him once he finishes his college career.
--Rasmus Asplund was the object of former GM Tim Murray's desire in the second round of the 2016 NHL Draft held in Buffalo. Since selecting him 33rd overall fans in Sabreland have been getting reports about a strong two-way player who's got a great feel for what's happening around him and that's what we saw 3-on-3.
--Winger Victor Olofsson (2014, 181st) was off the radar in Sabreland for three years until his breakout season in Sweden last year. His 29 goals lead the league and we had the opportunity to see his wicked shot during the 3-on-3. It's impressive.
--When the name Max Afinogenov is invoked, one thinks of a fast, dart-like skater who make a lot happen on the ice and that's what we saw with Vasily Glotov (2016, 190th.) Glotov was a wizard with his skating and had some finish, but did a lot of chopping with not a lot of chips flying.
--Undrafted left-winger Pascal Aquin was signed by the Rochester Americans in early May. The 6'1" 185 lb. native of Le Gardeur, Quebec was consistently in the mix throughout as he displayed plenty of speed and moves while also scoring the lone shootout goal in the Championship Game.
There were others who made a strong impression from goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (2017, 54th) to free agent signee Andrew Oglevie (2018, Notre Dame) to fellow free agent Lawrence Pilut (2018, SHL) to, of course Dahlin who simply wowed even without scoring much.
French Connection Tournament Highlights via sabres.com
*****
Botterill and the Sabres have had a busy off season dating back to early June when they relinquished the rights 2016 draft picks Vojtech Budik (130th,) Brandon Hagel (159th) and Buffalo native Austin Osmanski (189th.)
Buffalo signed three players from that 2016 draft class--Alexander Nylander (8th,) Asplund and Cliff Pu (69th)--to their entry-level deals while Casey Fitzgerald (86th) and Brett Murray (99th) are still in college with Philip Nyberg (129th) continuing his development playing in Sweden.
Also signed to his entry-level deal was Luukkonen.
Botterill and company also qualified six restricted free agents: Justin Bailey (2013, 52nd,) Nicholas Baptiste (2013, 69th,) Sean Malone (2013, 159th,) Sam Reinhart (2014, 2nd,) C.J. Smith (2017, FA) and Danny O'Regan (2012, 138th, SJS) who came over from the San Jose Sharks in the Evander Kane deal.
The Sabres did not qualify a trio lead by last year's starting goaltender. Robin Lehner was arbitration-eligible and was allowed to walk, He recently singed with the NY Islanders. Russian free agent Victor Antipin was released and after searching for a home in the NHL, will head back to the KHL. Scott Wilson wasn't qualified but the Sabres signed him to a two-year deal on July 1, the start of free agency.
*****
Speaking of free agency, Botterill went to work filling a few holes in the organization when he signed UFA goalie Carter Hutton to a team friendly three-year deal. Hutton was a starter for the St. Louis Blues last season. They also landed another goalie to take the reigns in Rochester as Scott Wedgewood signed a one-year, two-way deal with Buffalo.
Defenseman Brandon Hickey was signed to his entry-level deal on July 1 as well. Hickey came to Buffalo in a trade with the Arizona Coyotes that saw Hudson Fasching head to the desert.
Hickey was drafted by the Calgary Flames in the 3rd round (64th) of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. The 6'2" 204 lb. puck-mover spent a full four years at Boston University which included playing with present Sabres Jack Eichel, Evan Rodrigues and O'Regan. During that time his rights were traded to Arizona as part of the Mike Smith deal.
The acquisition and signing of Hickey adds more depth to the prospect pool and a quality defenseman for the Rochester Americans.
*****
Botterill did some wheelin' and dealin' in addition to the Fasching/Hickey deal as he continued to mold the Sabres to his liking. Between the draft and the start of free agency, Botterill hooked up with his former team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, to land LW Conor Sheary along with D, Matt Hunwick.
Sheary was traded for to help fill a gaping hole at left wing for the Sabres while Hunwick may end up in Rochester.
But that trades and the moves before were small change compared to the blockbuster O'Reilly trade. Botterill moved O'Reilly, a player that just didn't seem to fit with where he wanted the team to go, to St. Louis for a lottery-protected first rounder, a second rounder, prospect Tage Thompson and veterans Patrick Berglund and Vladimir Sobotka.
The trade, which was consummated on July 1, firmly put Botterill's stamp on his club.
Have a Happy and Safe Fourth of July celebration.
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Day-2 of 2018 NHL Draft was a quirky one for the Buffalo Sabres.
Published by hockeybuzz.com, 6-24-2018
After the Buffalo Sabres added four more defensemen to the stable in the second day of the 2018 NHL Draft, the post-draft from the media scrum was not so much on the players picked as it was on how they got there.
Swedish defenseman Rasmus Dahlin was selected first overall, as expected, but as we headed into Day-2 of the draft no one was sure where the Sabres would go. The first round had finished up with a group of players having first-round ratings falling to the second round and Buffalo ended up selecting one of them in Mattias Samuelsson, son of former NHL'er Kjell Samuelsson.
Samuelsson was a familiar name at the draft and as the Sabres moved down the rounds the names became more obscure eventually, even for draftniks. Buffalo was without a third round pick and with the first pick in the fourth round they selected USHL Rookie of the Year, center Matej Pekar, who would be the only forward taken by the Sabres in the draft this year.
Buffalo used their second fourth-rounder (from Minnesota) to select LHD, Linus Lindstrand Cronholm who's name, like last year's pick of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (UPL) is being shortened with the acronym (LLC.) In the fifth round Buffalo stayed in Scandinavia to select Finnish RHD Miska Kukkonen and they ended their day with seventh round pick, LHD William Worge Kreu, their third Swede of the draft.
There's a lot to digest with Buffalo's selections which includes why GM Jason Botterill traded away the first pick in the sixth round this year to Toronto for their sixth-rounder in 2019. It was a move that left many scratching their head and added another area of intrigue in a Buffalo draft that was anything but conventional, especially when you consider that Botterill, a native of Canada, didn't select a player from the CHL for the second year in a row.
In trying to figure out what transpired yesterday, a good place to start would be with the team Botterill put together and how he allows them to do what they were hired to do. Last year the first time GM had to wing it with a staff from the previous regime as a May hire didn't allow any time to build his own. Botterill brought in Randy Sexton last season as assistant general manager and point-man for an amateur scouting staff directed by Ryan Jankowski.
At the conclusion of the draft Botterill told the gathered media, "there was an awkwardness last year," he said explaining that he was trying to get a feel for the people he had plus the uneasiness of the unknown with a new GM in charge. Botterill brought in Sexton, someone he'd worked with for seven years in Pittsburgh and Jankowski who, ironically in terms of this draft, was head scout then director of player personnel for Hockey Canada.
This year with his guys in place, he let them do their thing. "[As GM] you're part of amateur scouting, I follow it throughout the year, but it is a situation where you have to trust those people in those roles," he said. "If you dabble in it a little bit you almost mess it up a lot of times."
As point-man, Sexton took center stage at the post-draft media scrum and after being asked lightheartedly, "How's your Swedish," delved into some of the Sabres philosophy when it come to the draft.
"We don't draft by region. We don't draft by country," he said. "We scour the world for the best players that we can find that play a style that we want to play like going forward and then we work very diligently to learn as much as we can about them as human beings so that they map to our character criteria. We put them in the order that makes most sense based upon the highest probability to become a Sabre and we layer over a little bit of list management so that we can manage our list in a way that gets us the highest number of prospects at the highest part of the list we can get.
"This year it happened to fall that there were a lot of Swedes."
Dahlin was the first of six Swedes taken by NHL teams in the first round and there were 28 taken overall which equaled record highs set in 2009 and 2014. In those two years, defenseman Victor Hedman (TBL,) who just won the Norris Trophy and LW, Gabriel Landeskog (COL,) respectively, were taken with the second-overall pick. Dahlin was taken first overall following Mats Sundin (1989, TOR) as the only two Swedes to be selected with the top pick in the draft.
In all, NHL teams took 247 Swedes during the last 10 drafts with the nation of just over 10 million people (as of 2018 census) pumping out the most players, by far, of any other European country. For Botterill it's not a surprise.
"You look around at the success they've had at the international game, and in the NHL," he said. "So many Swedish defensemen have stepped in and played extremely well. They've done an outstanding job as a country from the development process, especially on the back end [with] the mobility [and] how a lot of NHL teams are now. Swedish players played [that style] growing up."
"We have the SHL and we put the young guys in the senior hockey league pretty quickly," said the 18 yr. old Dahlin, who's been competing against men for nearly two full seasons. "You learn to play against men. That's probably one of the things that helped me so much. I needed to compete every single shift in all situations out there because I was not the strong guy everyone else was, so it helped me out a lot."
Dahlin was the top pick and there were 18 other Swedes selected before the draft reached the top of the fourth round and Buffalo at pick No. 94. The Sabres selected Pekar, a USHL product who will be attending Miami (OH) University, before heading back to Scandinavia for their final three selections. With Samuelsson also heading to college (Western Michigan University) and the three picks from overseas, for the second year in a row the Sabres, even with Jankowski on board, did not select a player from Canadian Junior.
Strange? Maybe. Until we get to the reasoning behind it.
As laid out, the Sabres had their list. Samuelsson for them was the definitive pick at No. 32 and it's hard to argue with the fourth round selection of Pekar, who was named the 2017-18 USHL Rookie of the Year with 54 points (14+40) in 56 games.
After that it almost looked as if the CHL was shunned by Buffalo. But that wasn't the case. When asked if it was a coincidence or whether or not it's something they shy away from, Botterill stated that when it comes to mid-latter round picks, "the fact that you control [CHL] rights for only two years, you have to make a quicker decision on that.
"In a scenario where you have an extended period of four years, in most situations for Europeans or college players," he continued, "it allows you more opportunity to develop."
Sexton said simply that, having worked with Botterill seven years, "there was never a strong desire either way to select CHL players or not select them.
"It's just the luck of the draw."
A case in point for the extended development period can be seen in 2014 seventh round pick (181st,) Victor Olofsson. The smaller 5'11" 172 lb. winger took three years to find his game amongst pros before breaking out last season and winning the Borje Salming Trophy for most goals (27) in the league. The Sabres signed him to his entry-level deal in April.
Center Sean Malone is another example. The West Seneca, NY native was taken in the sixth round (159th) of the 2013 draft and spent four seasons at Harvard. He signed with the club last year, had a real strong rookie campaign in Rochester to the point where he is being looked at as a possibility for Buffalo's opening night roster this coming season.
Most in the hockey world will say that the training and coaching players receive from the time they're young until their draft eligible and beyond puts many on a fairly equal footing, pure talent not withstanding. Drive and desire are huge aspects for the Sabres (in addition to talent) as is the overall makeup of prospects as human beings.
Buffalo's Swedish scout Jan-Axel Alavaara has been with the club for two years (although he'll be moving on to take a position with Germany's Alder-Mannaheim.) In an interview with an overseas website concerning Dahlin, Alavaara delved into his work as a scout. " We have met and discussed 120 players. That's how scouting goes," he said using Google translate. "Everyone has different opinions and you will come up with who you want to bet [on]. Rasmus is a high profile guy, but there are some out there in the world who are great hockey players."
"We assess the entire package," continued Alavaara. "You talk to parents, with friends, with coaches, with everyone. As hockey looks like today, you really do not have any weaknesses at all as players. You have to keep an eye on everything around."
That would include a player like Samuelsson, the son of a NHL player, who was graded in the mid-lower first round of the draft but was still there at No. 32 to start Day-2.
According to Sexton, the Sabres had "lots of calls about trading that pick" but decided to go with the big (6'4" 218 lb.) left-handed defenseman from the USHL. "He was a player that we clearly had a high desired to have in Buffalo," said Sexton of Samuelsson, "and as a result there was no interest in trading away that opportunity."
Bloodlines played a role in the desire to keep pick No. 32 to select Samuelsson, according to Sexton. "The biggest [part] bloodlines can play besides natural talent is the true and deep understanding of what it takes to play at the NHL level," he said. "And I don't mean that lightly
"It's very difficult to play in our league," he continued, "and I've always believed that player who grew up in a hockey family, who's had a family member that has played and has gone through the difficult path it takes to get [to] and stay in the NHL, has a competitive advantage over some of the other players.
"In Mattias' case, he does have a clear understanding. In getting to know him through the interview process, we were struck by his maturity, we were struck by his strength of character, we were struck by his leadership and we were clearly struck by his true understanding of what it takes, and the commitment it takes to not only get to the NHL-level, but to stay and excel at he NHL-level."
And they'll have four years to determine if/how he fits into their plans.
This is year-two of the Botterill regime in Buffalo and it's his first draft with his scouting department in place. The 2018 NHL Draft for Buffalo will go down as a somewhat quirky one, especially with the rarely, if ever, seen trading of a top pick in the sixth round for a blind sixth-rounder the following year. To set the record straight on that, Botterill said that the team felt as if the player(s) they wanted at that spot would still be there at the top of the seventh round and therefore opted to land another pick in next year's draft.
Sabres development camp starts this coming week so most, if not all the players selected by Buffalo will be in attendance. Perhaps there will be more questions surrounding this quirky draft and how they came to find and select LLC, Kukkonen and Worge Kreu.
The Sabres went heavy with defensemen yet still have glaring holes in the pipeline in goal and on the wings which should be addressed, at least somewhat, during free agency. Buffalo selected four defensemen, also signd defenseman Lawrence Pilut out of the SHL and traded for soon to be UFA Brandon Hickey, who just completed his fourth and final season at Boston University and was a team mate of Jack Eichel's for a year.
One could assume that the prospect pool on defense is well stocked right now but we still might be left to wonder what would happen next year if the highest rated players on their board at the time of their selection happened to be defensemen?
Jason Botterill via Sabres.com
After the Buffalo Sabres added four more defensemen to the stable in the second day of the 2018 NHL Draft, the post-draft from the media scrum was not so much on the players picked as it was on how they got there.
Swedish defenseman Rasmus Dahlin was selected first overall, as expected, but as we headed into Day-2 of the draft no one was sure where the Sabres would go. The first round had finished up with a group of players having first-round ratings falling to the second round and Buffalo ended up selecting one of them in Mattias Samuelsson, son of former NHL'er Kjell Samuelsson.
Samuelsson was a familiar name at the draft and as the Sabres moved down the rounds the names became more obscure eventually, even for draftniks. Buffalo was without a third round pick and with the first pick in the fourth round they selected USHL Rookie of the Year, center Matej Pekar, who would be the only forward taken by the Sabres in the draft this year.
Buffalo used their second fourth-rounder (from Minnesota) to select LHD, Linus Lindstrand Cronholm who's name, like last year's pick of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (UPL) is being shortened with the acronym (LLC.) In the fifth round Buffalo stayed in Scandinavia to select Finnish RHD Miska Kukkonen and they ended their day with seventh round pick, LHD William Worge Kreu, their third Swede of the draft.
There's a lot to digest with Buffalo's selections which includes why GM Jason Botterill traded away the first pick in the sixth round this year to Toronto for their sixth-rounder in 2019. It was a move that left many scratching their head and added another area of intrigue in a Buffalo draft that was anything but conventional, especially when you consider that Botterill, a native of Canada, didn't select a player from the CHL for the second year in a row.
In trying to figure out what transpired yesterday, a good place to start would be with the team Botterill put together and how he allows them to do what they were hired to do. Last year the first time GM had to wing it with a staff from the previous regime as a May hire didn't allow any time to build his own. Botterill brought in Randy Sexton last season as assistant general manager and point-man for an amateur scouting staff directed by Ryan Jankowski.
At the conclusion of the draft Botterill told the gathered media, "there was an awkwardness last year," he said explaining that he was trying to get a feel for the people he had plus the uneasiness of the unknown with a new GM in charge. Botterill brought in Sexton, someone he'd worked with for seven years in Pittsburgh and Jankowski who, ironically in terms of this draft, was head scout then director of player personnel for Hockey Canada.
This year with his guys in place, he let them do their thing. "[As GM] you're part of amateur scouting, I follow it throughout the year, but it is a situation where you have to trust those people in those roles," he said. "If you dabble in it a little bit you almost mess it up a lot of times."
As point-man, Sexton took center stage at the post-draft media scrum and after being asked lightheartedly, "How's your Swedish," delved into some of the Sabres philosophy when it come to the draft.
"We don't draft by region. We don't draft by country," he said. "We scour the world for the best players that we can find that play a style that we want to play like going forward and then we work very diligently to learn as much as we can about them as human beings so that they map to our character criteria. We put them in the order that makes most sense based upon the highest probability to become a Sabre and we layer over a little bit of list management so that we can manage our list in a way that gets us the highest number of prospects at the highest part of the list we can get.
"This year it happened to fall that there were a lot of Swedes."
Dahlin was the first of six Swedes taken by NHL teams in the first round and there were 28 taken overall which equaled record highs set in 2009 and 2014. In those two years, defenseman Victor Hedman (TBL,) who just won the Norris Trophy and LW, Gabriel Landeskog (COL,) respectively, were taken with the second-overall pick. Dahlin was taken first overall following Mats Sundin (1989, TOR) as the only two Swedes to be selected with the top pick in the draft.
In all, NHL teams took 247 Swedes during the last 10 drafts with the nation of just over 10 million people (as of 2018 census) pumping out the most players, by far, of any other European country. For Botterill it's not a surprise.
"You look around at the success they've had at the international game, and in the NHL," he said. "So many Swedish defensemen have stepped in and played extremely well. They've done an outstanding job as a country from the development process, especially on the back end [with] the mobility [and] how a lot of NHL teams are now. Swedish players played [that style] growing up."
"We have the SHL and we put the young guys in the senior hockey league pretty quickly," said the 18 yr. old Dahlin, who's been competing against men for nearly two full seasons. "You learn to play against men. That's probably one of the things that helped me so much. I needed to compete every single shift in all situations out there because I was not the strong guy everyone else was, so it helped me out a lot."
Dahlin was the top pick and there were 18 other Swedes selected before the draft reached the top of the fourth round and Buffalo at pick No. 94. The Sabres selected Pekar, a USHL product who will be attending Miami (OH) University, before heading back to Scandinavia for their final three selections. With Samuelsson also heading to college (Western Michigan University) and the three picks from overseas, for the second year in a row the Sabres, even with Jankowski on board, did not select a player from Canadian Junior.
Strange? Maybe. Until we get to the reasoning behind it.
As laid out, the Sabres had their list. Samuelsson for them was the definitive pick at No. 32 and it's hard to argue with the fourth round selection of Pekar, who was named the 2017-18 USHL Rookie of the Year with 54 points (14+40) in 56 games.
After that it almost looked as if the CHL was shunned by Buffalo. But that wasn't the case. When asked if it was a coincidence or whether or not it's something they shy away from, Botterill stated that when it comes to mid-latter round picks, "the fact that you control [CHL] rights for only two years, you have to make a quicker decision on that.
"In a scenario where you have an extended period of four years, in most situations for Europeans or college players," he continued, "it allows you more opportunity to develop."
Sexton said simply that, having worked with Botterill seven years, "there was never a strong desire either way to select CHL players or not select them.
"It's just the luck of the draw."
A case in point for the extended development period can be seen in 2014 seventh round pick (181st,) Victor Olofsson. The smaller 5'11" 172 lb. winger took three years to find his game amongst pros before breaking out last season and winning the Borje Salming Trophy for most goals (27) in the league. The Sabres signed him to his entry-level deal in April.
Center Sean Malone is another example. The West Seneca, NY native was taken in the sixth round (159th) of the 2013 draft and spent four seasons at Harvard. He signed with the club last year, had a real strong rookie campaign in Rochester to the point where he is being looked at as a possibility for Buffalo's opening night roster this coming season.
Most in the hockey world will say that the training and coaching players receive from the time they're young until their draft eligible and beyond puts many on a fairly equal footing, pure talent not withstanding. Drive and desire are huge aspects for the Sabres (in addition to talent) as is the overall makeup of prospects as human beings.
Buffalo's Swedish scout Jan-Axel Alavaara has been with the club for two years (although he'll be moving on to take a position with Germany's Alder-Mannaheim.) In an interview with an overseas website concerning Dahlin, Alavaara delved into his work as a scout. " We have met and discussed 120 players. That's how scouting goes," he said using Google translate. "Everyone has different opinions and you will come up with who you want to bet [on]. Rasmus is a high profile guy, but there are some out there in the world who are great hockey players."
"We assess the entire package," continued Alavaara. "You talk to parents, with friends, with coaches, with everyone. As hockey looks like today, you really do not have any weaknesses at all as players. You have to keep an eye on everything around."
That would include a player like Samuelsson, the son of a NHL player, who was graded in the mid-lower first round of the draft but was still there at No. 32 to start Day-2.
According to Sexton, the Sabres had "lots of calls about trading that pick" but decided to go with the big (6'4" 218 lb.) left-handed defenseman from the USHL. "He was a player that we clearly had a high desired to have in Buffalo," said Sexton of Samuelsson, "and as a result there was no interest in trading away that opportunity."
Bloodlines played a role in the desire to keep pick No. 32 to select Samuelsson, according to Sexton. "The biggest [part] bloodlines can play besides natural talent is the true and deep understanding of what it takes to play at the NHL level," he said. "And I don't mean that lightly
"It's very difficult to play in our league," he continued, "and I've always believed that player who grew up in a hockey family, who's had a family member that has played and has gone through the difficult path it takes to get [to] and stay in the NHL, has a competitive advantage over some of the other players.
"In Mattias' case, he does have a clear understanding. In getting to know him through the interview process, we were struck by his maturity, we were struck by his strength of character, we were struck by his leadership and we were clearly struck by his true understanding of what it takes, and the commitment it takes to not only get to the NHL-level, but to stay and excel at he NHL-level."
And they'll have four years to determine if/how he fits into their plans.
This is year-two of the Botterill regime in Buffalo and it's his first draft with his scouting department in place. The 2018 NHL Draft for Buffalo will go down as a somewhat quirky one, especially with the rarely, if ever, seen trading of a top pick in the sixth round for a blind sixth-rounder the following year. To set the record straight on that, Botterill said that the team felt as if the player(s) they wanted at that spot would still be there at the top of the seventh round and therefore opted to land another pick in next year's draft.
Sabres development camp starts this coming week so most, if not all the players selected by Buffalo will be in attendance. Perhaps there will be more questions surrounding this quirky draft and how they came to find and select LLC, Kukkonen and Worge Kreu.
The Sabres went heavy with defensemen yet still have glaring holes in the pipeline in goal and on the wings which should be addressed, at least somewhat, during free agency. Buffalo selected four defensemen, also signd defenseman Lawrence Pilut out of the SHL and traded for soon to be UFA Brandon Hickey, who just completed his fourth and final season at Boston University and was a team mate of Jack Eichel's for a year.
One could assume that the prospect pool on defense is well stocked right now but we still might be left to wonder what would happen next year if the highest rated players on their board at the time of their selection happened to be defensemen?
Jason Botterill via Sabres.com
Randy Sexton via Sabres.com
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