Should he stay or should he go?

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 9-30-2019

Preseason ended for the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday with a 3-2 shootout win against the Penguins in Pittsburgh. Yesterday the team had a very early practice so they could be at New Era Field in Orchard Park, NY to watch the Buffalo Bills take on the New England Patriots (which turned out to be a defensive struggle with the Pats coming out on top 16-10.)

Today the powers that be are huddled in Sabres offices trying to figure out who should stay and who should go. Yes, we know Sabreland, if it was up to the most vociferous of the fan base Kyle Okposo and Rasmus Ristolainen would have been traded by now, Vladimir Sobotka bought out, Zemgus Girgensons, Johan Larsson and Scott Wilson all waived with Marco Scandella given a one-way ticket to anywhere in the world and every one of those fans willing to drive him to the airport. 

Ain't gonna happen.

Three more Sabres on arbitration list plus, Ullmark's numbers

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 7-31-2019


Tomorrow will be August 1 which means summer's truly on it's way out, training camps are getting closer and...arbitration hearings will continue.

The Buffalo Sabres have three hearings left with players who filed for arbitration:

--F, Remi Elie (Aug. 1)
--G, Linus Ullmark (Aug. 2)
--D, Jake McCabe (Aug. 4)

All three players have issues heading into the hearings (if they go that far) which could mean the independent arbiter's decision will favor Buffalo in some way.

Elie is up tomorrow and although we're not sure as of yet what he's asking, anything north of $800K (which represents a raise of over $100) might be too much. Although it's hard not to love the determination with which the 24 yr. old plays the game, he just doesn't have the numbers to justify his present status of an AHL/NHL tweener who's best suited to a top-nine/six role with the Rochester Americans.

Girgensons signs, four Sabres RFA's are in a group of 40 to file for arbitration

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 7-6-2019


Restricted free agent forward Zemgus Girgensons and the Buffalo Sabres reached an agreement yesterday on a one-year, $1.6 million deal, the same dollar amount he played for last season. The former first round pick (2012, 14th-overall) is the longest tenured Sabres player on the roster and will be entering his seventh season with the Blue and Gold. During his six years the organization has seen major changes which include the dismantling of owner Terry Pegula's inner circle, the dismissal of two team presidents, a six-month stint for a vice president of hockey operations, two general managers and five head coaches.

Both he and defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen (2013, eighth-overall) have endured a lot of changes since being selected by the Sabres in the NHL Draft yet the full force of fan disenchantment has been directed at these two players. The gist of the consternation,which has also been started by and/or fostered by local media, is that both have a part of a losing culture and that if the team wants to start turning their fortunes around, moving on from either or both would really get the team moving in the right direction.

Such is the life of a whipping boy.

Impressions of, and questions concerning--LW, Remi Elie

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 6-3-2019

Remi Elie--Left Wing

DOB:  April 16, 1995 (age, 24)

Draft:  2013 second round (40th-overall,) DAL

How acquired:  Claimed off of waivers October 2, 2019

Last contract signed:  July 3, 2018;  1yr./$735,000 

Final year of contract: 2018-19 (RFA, w/arbitration rights)

2018-19 Stats:  16 games | 0 goals | 1 assists | 1 points | -3 | 10:21 ATOI

Career Stats:  106 games | 7 goals | 15 assists | 22 points | +7 |  11:11 ATOI

What we wrote preseason:  N/A

What we wrote mid-season:  Picked up off of waivers from the Dallas Stars, Elie has pretty much been a last resort depth forward allowing the Sabres to keep developing their prospects in Rochester, at least for the first half of the season. Elie's a grinder with some good speed who's pretty good on the puck. At present he's the only Buffalo forward without a goal although he's only played in 10 games thus far.

Impressions on his play this year:  There was nothing Elie did on the ice that would warrant a 16 game stint. Yes, like was mentioned mid-season, he was a place holder while the injured recovered and he helped keep the youngins in Rochester, much to the dismay of many in Sabreland who wanted the likes of C.J. Smith and Victor Olofsson up with the big club.

There's really no doubt that Smith, Olofsson, and Alexander Nylander would have produced more, as evidenced by what they were able to do later in the year when they got the call, and the Sabres could have used some scoring especially post-winning streak. Elie was in the lineup when the streak ended in Tampa and played five games in December. Buffalo went 1-3-1 in those games scoring a total of eight goals.

After being sent to Rochester in February, Elie provided a strong presence for the Amerks with 14 points (8+6) in 25 games but he couldn't help them in the playoffs as they were swept out in the first round.

Questions moving forward:  Are the Sabres interested in re-signing him? Would he go for a two-way contract after being on a one-way last season?

Contract info via CapFriendly, stats via sabres.com and hockey reference.com.

Sabres need more than a Elie-waive/Smith recall to get into the wild card spot

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 2-4-2019


Okay. Let's get this out of the way. Winger C.J. Smith will not be Buffalo's savior. Smith, who was called up from Rochester today, will not single-handedly turn around a team that has lost 18 of their last 26 games (8-14-4) nor will he help the goaltending, which has been a sieve as of late (35 goals in their last eight games) nor will he help the d-corps get their collective head out of their butt.

However, what he can do is help the mid-six forward group.

Since head coach Phil Housley put all his scoring eggs of Jack Eichel, Jeff Skinner and Sam Reinhart into one basket, the team has struggled mightily with secondary scoring. While the top line was doing their thing and the bottom line theirs in a defensive vein, the middle six has contributed very little to the cause. It's a giant hole that emerged during the season and it's really not the fault of players or coaches.

A 5-game point streak is now a 3-game winless streak after OTT loss

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-2-2018


It was Jason Pominville's 1,000th game last night and even the hometown Ottawa Senators acknowledged that with a little video commemorating his milestone. Which was very classy, especially when you consider Pominville's most famous goal knocked the Senators out of the playoffs in that very same building back in 2006.

As the Ottawa Sun put it, Pominville "returned to the scene of the crime" last night for his milestone and then he even proceeded to score a goal for the Buffalo Sabres, but it wasn't quite enough as they lost to the Sens 4-2.

The Sabres team that hit the ice last night couldn't have looked more different than the '06 Buffalo team that advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals on Pominville's shorthanded, overtime winner. In fact they've only played three good periods the last three games an were lucky to come away with two loser points. Prior to the game last night, some leaned towards the thought process that the very fact that the Sabres were able to get points while not playing their best was a sign of progress as opposed to years past when they folded.

However, a team just can't continue doing what Buffalo has been doing the last three games and hope to consistently win or even get a point. The Sabres pulled into Columbus last Saturday night on a three-game winning streak and looked like they found their game leaving the first period with a 2-1 lead over the Blue Jackets. But old habits die hard. They succumbed to an aggressive Columbus team and gave up three unanswered goals in the second period before coming back to tie the game in the third period. Buffalo quickly lost in overtime and the overriding theme afterward was that the Sabres showed some gumption in coming back in the third to tie it.

Fair enough. But what transpired in the next game was cause for concern as they were dominated by the Calgary Flames who were at the tail-end of an eight-game, 14-day crisscross between their Mountain Time Zone and the Eastern Time Zone. Buffalo was their last destination and they allowed only one Sabres goal before tying it late in the third period and winning it in overtime.

Sabres cancel practice, moves made, final roster due at 5 pm

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 10-2-2018


The Buffalo Sabres had a pretty hectic final preseason schedule featuring five games in eight nights with three of them on the road. Head coach Phil Housley noted the busy schedule last week and kept a pretty full roster because of it. The Sabres also opted to skip practice today while they finalize their 23-man roster by 5 pm EST.

Buffalo made a number of moves over the weekend which included waiving wingers Justin Bailey and Nicholas Baptiste on Saturday. The duo had been with the organization for a few years and ended up clearing waivers on Sunday. Baptiste was traded to the Nashville Predators on Monday for 22 yr. old defenseman Jack Dougherty, who has spent his pro career in the minors with the Milwaukee Admirals.

Yesterday the Sabres sent three players to Rochester--winger Alexander Nylander along with defensemen Brandon Hickey and Brendan Guhle.

While Hickey was almost guaranteed to be sent down and Guhle was highly probable, the Nylander demotion was a bit of a surprise. Nylander came into camp with something to prove, and looked like he did, but seems to have lost out to winger Tage Thompson for a spot in Buffalo's top-nine forward group. It should be interesting to note that when Thompson was acquired from the St. Louis Blues in the Ryan O'Reilly trade, Sabres GM Jason Botterill said that the big winger would get a shot in Buffalo's top-six. Botterill remained true to his word, at the expense of Nylander.

A spot did open up on the Sabres fourth line, however, as winger Scott Wilson got tangled up late at practice on Sunday and broke his ankle. He'll be out 8-10 weeks and rather than put a scorer in a grinder's role, Buffalo opted to hit the waiver wire and pick up winger Remi Elie from the Dallas Stars.

Elie was a 2103 second round pick (40th overall) who scored just over a point/game in the OHL prior to being traded to the Erie Otters. While in Erie riding shotgun on Connor McDavid's line, the big left-winger upped his per-game totals and had particularly strong run in the playoffs scoring 24 points, second only to McDavid.

As his pro career progressed 6'1" 210 lb. Elie went from a potential top-six powerforward to a bottom-six grinder who could pitch in offensively. In two seasons with the Texas Stars, Dallas' AHL affiliate, Elie managed 15 goals and 45 points in 117 games. He played all of last season with Dallas scoring 14 points (6+8) in 72 games.

Elie got caught up in a bit of a numbers crunch at the Stars' training camp this year and was the odd man out. Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News quoted Stars GM Jim Nill as saying about the decision to waive Elie. "In the end, maybe a little bit of the flexibility of the position," Nill said. "We got some guys that can play different positions which helps. Remi probably doesn't have that quite as much. In the end, the other guys based off of the camp, just earned it ahead of him. That's part of the competition."

There's no need for Elie to be versatile in Buffalo as they have a glut of centers, nor will he be looked at as anything but a fourth-line grinder as the Sabres have some scoring on the left side. Buffalo GM Jason Botterill had a hole on the fourth line after Wilson went down and filled it with Elie and one would think, barring other injuries he'll be waived or in the press box once Wilson returns.

These are the line Housley rolled out yesterday at practice:

Jeff Skinner -Jack Eichel -Sam Reinhart
Conor Sheary -Patrik Berglund -Tage Thompson
Vladimir Sobotka -Casey Mittelstadt -Kyle Okposo
Zemgus Girgensons -Evan Rodrigues -Jason Pominville

Sunday's practice had the same lineup with Wilson/Girgensons at left wing on the fourth line so if we sub Elie for Wilson, this looks like what the Sabres will be opening up on Thursday with one of the two in the press box.