Former Sabres dot the 2020 Stanley Cup semi-finals

Nearly every National Hockey League team can lay claim to former players in the NHL's 'final four," and Buffalo is no different. However, the Sabres have the dubious distinction of trading away a player in center Ryan O'Reilly who ended up being a 2019 Conn Smythe winner for playoff MVP while helping to lead the St. Louis Blues to their first-ever Stanley Cup. O'Reilly also won the Selke Trophy for best two-way forward in 2018-19 while the Sabres were extending their playoff drought to eight seasons.

Egg meat face.

It happened. And there's no sense in re-hashing the details as that horse has been beaten to the point of cremation. Yet, as we move along in the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs, there's another player from former Tim Murray's "young-vet" group of acquisitions that is helping power his team to possibly their first Stanley Cup.

Murray took over as Sabres general manager, made sure the Sabres finished dead last in 2015 (guaranteeing either Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel in the Blue and Gold,) and went for a quick rebuild after gutting the entire organization of talent. The process ended up setting Buffalo back years and the organization still hasn't fully recovered. While the Sabres are stuck in the bottom third of the league, closing in on an NHL playoff drought-tying record, some of the players Murray counted on to speed up the rebuild process have advanced with their teams.

The 2015 NHL Draft was a whirlwind of activity for the Sabres as not only were they planning on drafting Eichel second-overall, but also had Murray working the phones and pulling off trades for O'Reilly from the Colorado Avalanche and goalie Robin Lehner from his former team, the Ottawa Senators. 

Lehner actually kicked off the day for the Sabres as Buffalo traded the 21st-overall pick for a 23 yr. old goalie who was caught up in a three-way battle to man the crease in Ottawa. Murray called Lehner "high-end competitive" and believed he would become "a No. 1 starter...on a good team, on a contending team, on a playoff team."

True words, but not in Buffalo where he went 42-61-22 with a 2.77 goals-against average and .916 save percentage before the Sabres. It was a tumultuous time in Buffalo as not only was Lehner battling inconsistencies in front of him on the ice, but he was also, as we would come to find out after the Sabres let him walk in 2018, battling debilitating demons within. He finally landed with the Vegas Golden Knights after a 2018-19 season with the New York Islanders and a partial 2019-20 season with the Chicago Blackhawks who traded him to Toronto before the Leafs moved him to Vegas. Lehner would win the trust of Golden Knights head coach Peter DeBoer in the playoffs and wrestled the starters job away from three-time Cup-winner, Marc-Andre Fleury and just led Vegas to a Game-7 shutout win over the Vancouver Canucks last night. He heads to the semis with an 8-4-0 playoff record, a 1.99 GAA, .918 sv% and three shutouts.

Was Murray right in trading for O'Reilly and Lehner back in 2015? Yes and no. Right players (albeit a a premium,) bad timing might be the best way to look at it.

Another Murray-trade that turned out poorly was trading defenseman Brayden McNabb (2009, 66th-overall,) along with two second-round picks and F, Jonathan Parker to the L.A. Kings for Nicolas Deslauriers and prospect Hudson Fasching, whom he acquired as "heavies" for the team. Although this wasn't a direct egg-in-the-face trade, embarrassment came later. The Kings left McNabb exposed to the 2018 NHL expansion draft, the Knight's plucked him and McNabb has been a mainstay on their top-pairing displaying definitive chemistry with top Vegas d-man Nate Schmidt.

Another member of Vegas who was once in the Sabres organization is forward William Carrier, whom Buffalo left unprotected at the expansion draft. New GM Jason Botterill made a deal with Vegas GM George McPhee sending a 6th round pick to Vegas to protect goalie Linus Ullmark. McPhee took that pick and Carrier who has now played in 162 regular season and 32 playoff games over three seasons for the Golden Knights.

Carrier and Vegas recently agreed to a 4yr./$5.6 million contract extension.

Staying out west, the veteran laden Dallas Stars will take on Vegas with two former Sabres patrolling the blueline in lesser roles. 

Defenseman Andrej Sekera was a 2004, third-round pick of Buffalo and at 34 yrs. old is doing that journeyman thing. Sekera left Buffalo after the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season and has had stints in Carolina, Toronto, Los Angeles, Edmonton and now Dallas. The Stars have him in a lower-pairing role with heavy penalty killing duties. As a player who was much maligned in Buffalo by a fan-base that over-emphasized his short-comings while de-emphasizing his positive qualities, it would bring this writer some pleasure seeing him skate around the ice with the Cup in his hands.

Taylor Fedun is another former Sabres d-man playing for Dallas. The undrafted free agent initially signed with the Edmonton Oilers out of Princeton University, and played for the San Jose Sharks and Vancouver Canucks before landing in Buffalo in 2016. Botterill traded Fedun to the Stars in November, 2018 where he's been contributing as expected in a reserve role.

The NY Islanders have no former Sabres on their team as they head to the Eastern Conference Championship series but their opponent, the Tampa Bay Lightning do.

Defenseman Zach Bogosian was another young-vet, Murray acquisition and though he wasn't the primary piece received in a blockbuster deal with the Winnipeg Jets in 2015 (winger Evander Kane was the key player,) he was expected to, at the very least, be a top-four defenseman who would be with Buffalo a long time while Murray worked young players through the system.

Bogosian was in Buffalo for a relatively long time, six years, but only played in 243 games for the Sabres due to a rash of injuries that hit like clockwork on a yearly basis. The former first round pick (2008, third-overall) was drafted as a big, gritty defenseman with excellent skating and some real good offensive touch but little of that showed in Buffalo as he was either playing injured, on injured reserve or recovering from injuries. Eventually it came to the point where the Sabres wanted to trade him, but his $5.14 cap-hit made him immovable. 

When he came back from his latest injury, head coach Ralph Krueger gave him a shot and made him a healthy scratch (for the first time in the defenseman's career) prompting Bogosian asked for a trade. With no takers the 29 yr. old was waived, failed to report and was given his unconditional release. Bogosian hooked up with the Lightning on an NHL-minimum salary.

Like O'Reilly before him, Bogosian walked into a situation where the team was set and he had his defined role within that setup and he's performed well with nearly all of his advanced metrics either at the top amongst Tampa Bay defensemen or in top-three.

Odds are that at least one former Sabre will be skating around with a big smile on his face while lofting the Stanley Cup high above his head. Which one will it be?

We shall see.

Sabres lose Carrier, 6th to Vegas, but will the teams hook up today?

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 6-22-2017


The Buffalo Sabres came away from the expansion draft relatively unscathed last night. The Las Vegas Golden Knights stayed away from projected target, goalie Linus Ullmark, and instead plucked 22 yr. old winger William Carrier from Buffalo's roster. Unlike other teams who had more to lose to Vegas, the Sabres only needed to add in a sixth-round pick to get the deal done.

Las Vegas came away with two extra first round picks in this weekend's draft courtesy the Columbus Blue Jackets and NY Islanders plus landed some pretty good players in Marc-Andre Fleury (PIT,) James Neal (NSH,) Jonathan Machesault and Brendan Smith (FLA,) plus veteran d-men Marc Methot (OTT) and Alexie Emelin (MTL) as well as prospects/young players in Calvin Pickard (COL,) Brendan Leipsic (TOR,) Shea Theodore (ANA) and Oscar Lindberg (NYR) among others.

The Sabres weren't on the hook for anything major although Carrier's north/south speed and corner work was very enticing. It took him a while to get rolling in Rochester scoring 23 goals and adding 33 assists in 127 games for the Amerks over three seasons while adding eight points (5+3) in 41 games for the Sabres.

It would have been ideal for the Sabres to unload an undesirable contract on Vegas GM George McPhee but by the looks of it, the price may have been too steep for his Buffalo counterpart, first-year GM Jason Botterill. With that not being feasible, Botterill instead focused upon keeping his slim goaltending depth intact. Right now the Sabres have starter Robin Lehner in net and it looks as if Ullmark will be backing him up in Buffalo this year. The Sabres signed Jonas Johansson to his entry-level deal and if things go as planned, he'll get thrown into the fire as Rochester's No. 1. After that, there's Jason Kasdorf, who was a part of the Tyler Myers/Evander Kane trade three years ago. He'll likely be in net for the Cincinnati Cyclones, Buffalo's new ECHL affiliate.

After that, nothing. Unless Cal Petersen decides he wants to play in Buffalo. The 2013 fifth round pick has opted to leave Notre Dame early and the Sabres retain his rights until the end of this month. Afterwards he becomes a free agent and as it stands now, it's unlikely Petersen signs with Buffalo.

That said, sending Carrier and a sixth-round pick to Vegas to keep what shreds of a goaltending pipeline the have in tact is a small price to pay.


*****

Las Vegas is already moving some of it's bounty from last night. Defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk, whom the Knights drafted from Chicago, was shipped to Carolina along with a seventh round pick for a second rounder. The Knights also traded defenseman Dave Schlemko (SJS) to the Montreal Canadiens for a 2019 fifth round pick.

McPhee loaded up on defenseman at the expansion draft in order to work deals. The d-men that remain are:

Lucas Sbisa (VAN)
John Merrill (NJD)
Brayden McNabb (LAK)
Jason Garrison (TBL)
Deryk Engelland (CGY)
Collin Miller (BOS)
Marc Methot (OTT)
Griffin Reinhart (EDM)
Alexei Emelin (MTL)
Clayton Stoner (ANA)
Nate Schmidt (WAS)

The quantity is there but the quality isn't which means anyone looking for one of their better players will need to ante up.

There are a few d-men on that list that might be of interest to Buffalo. Methot played alongside 2017 Norris Trophy finalist Erik Karlsson who called Methot his rock and Emelin was a pain in the ass for Buffalo whenever they played against the Canadiens. Probably the most intriguing is Schmidt who looked great in a limited role in the playoffs for the Capitals. He's a mobile puck-mover that looks to be a mid-lower pairing d-man.

Other than that, if you're a Sabres fan looking for an impact defenseman headed to Buffalo in a trade, names like the Minnesota Wild's Jonas Brodin and Marco Scandella are still out there.

Presently there's word that the 'Canes, who are flush with defensive talent, may be looking to move one of them for a top-six forward. Although the name Evander Kane might be the first out of a Sabres fan's mouth, methinks a player like Sam Reinhart might be of more interest to Carolina.

Just a thought.

Golden Knights want Will Carrier? Plus Las Vegas picks from all 30 teams

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 6-19-2017


William Carrier was selected 57th overall in 2013 by the St. Louis Blues. In February, 2014 then GM Tim Murray received Carrier as a part of the Ryan Miller to Blues blockbuster trade and since then the 22 yr. old LaSalle, Quebec native has been slowly making his way to the NHL.

After finishing his junior career in 2014 with the Drummondville Voltigeurs of the QMJHL, Carrier spent two seasons in Rochester registering 20 goals and 31 assists in 119 games for the Amerks. He began last season with the AHL club (3+1 in seven games) before being called up to Buffalo in November. In 41 games for the Sabres he had five goals and three assists as he was used up an down the lineup by former head coach Dan Bylsma.

Carrier has tremendous speed for a 6'2" 212 lb. player and he loves to go full-bore into the corner. Unfortunately to this point in his very young career he's been unable to hit the scoresheet with any kind of regularity at the NHL-level but regardless of his stats with the big club last season, he still has upside. He also has that speed and tenacity which is one thing he'll always have going for him, especially with the way the NHL game is played today.

Which is why he'd be a good choice for selection by the Las Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft--Carrier is young, has Western Conference size, can skate, plays a north/south game and has upside.

Buffalo's protected list did not include Carrier or goalie, Linus Ullmark. Instead the Sabres chose to protect forward Tyler Ennis (amongst other forwards like Johan Larsson and Zemgus Girgensons) and starting goalie Robin Lehner. Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News framed the decision like this, "As the theory goes, [Knights GM George] McPhee made it clear he wants to pluck Ullmark, the 23-year-old slated to be Lehner's backup next season. [Sabres GM Jason] Botterill, knowing the organization is thin in goal, told McPhee he didn't want to lose Ullmark. McPhee, as he is doing with every team, simply said it will cost Botterill something.

"That something is likely Carrier."

Which is very sound reasoning.

Buffalo could've chosen to expose Ennis and his $4.6 million cap-hit over the next two seasons and/or Lehner, who's a restricted free agent. The duo would have been added to three bloated contracts in Zach Bogosian ($5.14M/three years remaining,) Matt Moulson ($5M/two years) and Josh Gorges ($3.9M/one year) and an exposed list of marginal players that included Nicolas Deslauriers, Brian Gionta, Derek Grant, Justin Kea, Cal O'Reilly, Cole Schneider, Brady Austin, Matt Bodie, Cody Franson, Dmitry Kulikov and Anders Nilsson.

In that scenario the Golden Knights may have selected Lehner, which would have put the Sabres in a bind, but he still would be the (probable) second choice amongst starting goalies behind Pittsburgh's Marc-Andre Fleury, the likely starter in Vegas next season. Washington's Philipp Grubauer, who many feel is a lock to be plucked by the Golden Knights as well, would also likely make for a better understudy to MAF than Lehner, so Lehner to Vegas would only seem to work in a draft and trade scenario. Without Lehner in the mix, Buffalo would be offering Vegas a choice between vets with a bloated contracts, younger players with limited (or no) upside, or free agents who may be available July 1 anyway. Unless both McPhee and Botterill had a strong interest in Ennis.

If Carrier is the preferred choice of McPhee, having Botterill expose the young forward put the teams on a two-way street giving the Vegas GM something to work with as well. And if the Sabres hope to further bolster their blueline via the expansion draft, there's still a possibility for them to do so, which may also be a possible reason for them to leave Carrier available to Vegas. McPhee will be able to trade drafted players to other teams and it looks as if there might be some decent defensemen for Buffalo to take a run at.

The Golden Knights will be selecting one player from every team and they must take a minimum of 14 forwards, nine defensemen and three goalies from the lists of unprotected players. Since defensemen are of the utmost importance they may choose to select two or there extra d-man for trade purposes. Here's my list of two players from each team that Las Vegas may strongly be considering, plus a goalie where applicable with and the bolded name of who the Golden Knights might choose. Of note, some teams are rumored to have deals in place, so I'll try to work around that.

--Anaheim (rumored deal to keep D, Josh Manson and D, Sami Vatanen:  F, Emerson Etem, RW, Nick Sorensen
--Arizona:  C, Alexander Burmistrov;  F, Teemu Pulkkinen
--Boston:  D, Adam McQuaid;  D, Linus Arnesson
--Buffalo (rumored Vegas will take):  LW, Will Carrier
--Calgary:  RW, Kris Versteeg;  D, Matt Barkowski
--Carolina:  RW, Lee Stempniak;  D, Klaus Dahlbeck
--Chicago (rumored deal with Las Vegas):  C, Marcus Kruger;  D, Trevor van Riemsdyk
--Colorado:  F, Mikhail Grigorenko;  D, Mark Barberio;  G, Calvin Pickard
--Columbus (rumored deal to protect core):  F, William Karlsson;  F, Matt Calvert; 
--Dallas:  C, Cody Eakin;  D, Dan Hamhuis
--Detroit:  C, Riley Sheahan;  D, Xavier Ouellet;  G, Petr Mrazek
--Edmonton:  D, Kris Russell;  D, Griffin Reinhart
--Florida:  C, Jonathan Marchessault;  D, Jason Demers
--Los Angeles:  D, Matt Greene;  D, Brayden McNabb
--Minnesota:  C, Eric Staal;  D, Matt Dumba
--Montreal:  C, Tomas Plekanec;  D, Alexei Emelin
--Nashville:  LW, Pontus Aberg;  LW, James Neal
--New Jersey:  RW, Beau Bennett;  D, Ben Lovejoy
--NY Islanders:  C, Ryan Strome;  D, Calvin de Haan
--NY Rangers:  RW, Michael Grabner;  C, Oscar Lindberg
--Ottawa:  RW, Bobby Ryan;  D, Mark Methot
--Philadelphia:  LW, Michal Raffl;  RW, Matt Read
--Pittsburgh:  F, Carl Hagelin;  D, Ian Cole;  G, Marc-Andre Fleury
--San Jose':  C, Joe Thornton;  LW, Mikkel Boedker
--St. Louis:  LW, David Perron;  RW, Dmitrij Jaskin
--Tampa Bay:  D, Jake Dotchin;  D, Slater Koekkoek
--Toronto:  LW, Kerby Rychel;  LW, Brendan Leipsic
--Vancouver:  C, Brendan Gaunce;  D, Luca Sbisa
--Washington:  RW, TJ Oshie;  D, Karl Alzner;  G, Phillip Grubauer
--Winnipeg:  F, Marco Dano;  D, Toby Enstrom

Las Vegas has an exclusive window now through 10 a.m. on Wednesday, June 20 to sign free agents and make trades with other teams. That night their roster will be revealed at the NHL Awards ceremony.

George McPhee's potential top-three unprotected Buffalo Sabres

Published by hockeybuzz.com 6-4-2017


Las Vegas GM George McPhee was in Buffalo for the annual NHL Scouting Combine getting a good look at over 100 prospects who were in town for interviews and testing. It was a lot to take in for the expansion Golden Knights GM but as he walked about downtown discussions with other GM's invariably were directed towards potential deals. "It seemed the other day we go down to lunch, and I ran into a few GMs and the conversations started," McPhee said, via TSN. "It's been a busy week, but certainly productive."

Productive in the sense that he's already "far enough along with a few teams that my plan is to sit on the phone all day Monday, Tuesday to see what we can accomplish," according to the TSN piece.

With Buffalo as the host city, of course McPhee would hook up with new Sabres GM Jason Botterill to exchange wants. McPhee was quoted as saying that their first and only discussion went very well and that they would be talking soon.

The Sabres are in good shape when it comes to potential exposure to the draft. Names like Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, Justin Bailey and Nick Baptiste did not meet the requirements to be exposed and of the ones that do, only a couple would represent a loss to a degree. The key for Botterill will be to entice McPhee into taking on a bloated contract. There are four on the books ranging from $3.9-$5.1 million ranging from one to three years. McPhee intimated that teams looking to either keep their roster intact or ditch a hefty contract will pay a price.

One should expect a deal to be made between Buffalo and Vegas. The Golden Knights have a prospect pool to fill and are looking for as many draft picks as they can get their hands on. Buffalo will be heading into the NHL Draft on June 23, a mere two days after the announcement of  Vegas' roster, with one extra second and one extra third rounder. Would one of those be enough of an enticement to take on one of those four contracts?

We'll see. But in lieu of that using CapFriendly's mock expansion draft tool to come up with the top-three players left exposed by Buffalo that McPhee might be interested in.

1. LW, William Carrier

Carrier's speed and quickness are tailor-made for the way the NHL is played these days. He also has size (6'2" 212 lbs.) and a some good scoring instincts. Although he didn't dazzle when he played in Buffalo last season with eight points (3+5) in 41 games, the 22 yr. old second round pick has upside and might just be of interest to McPhee.

It looks as if Botterill and Co. might have a decision on their hands between exposing Carrier and F, Zemgus Girgensons, who's a year older and is more versatile up-front in that he could play every position.

2. G, Linus Ullmark

If former Sabres GM Tim Murray was still at the helm, it would be a slam dunk that Ullmark would be exposed. Murray's the one that traded the 21st overall pick to Ottawa for Murray and there's no way he'd expose Buffalo's starter last season. But even though he's gone, Botterill still may opt to expose Ullmark over Murray.

The Knights will have some pretty good goalies to pick from at the expansion draft which will probably names like veterans Marc-Andre Fleury (PIT) and Jimmy Howard (DET) for the starters role. But they'll have three other slots to fill in the organization. Washington's Philipp Grubauer tops the list of good young goalies who will be on the Knights' radar and Ullmark, who's waivers-exempt, could easily fill in one of the two remaining spots for Vegas.

3. D, Taylor Fedun

Normally an unrestricted free agent like Fedun would still be under contract with the Sabres until July 1. For expansion draft purposes, the Knights will have an exclusive window during the weekend of the expansion draft to negotiate with UFA's. However, if they do sign a team's UFA, that will count as that team's player selected in the expansion draft.

The 29 yr. old Fedun has been wallowing away in the minors for the better part of five year professional career. Last season injuries in Buffalo gave him the opportunity to showcase his talents for an extended period. He played a career-high 27 games for the Sabres registering seven assists and a plus-3 rating. As a puck-mover with offensive acumen and the ability to man the point on the powerplay, Fedun fits right into how the game is geared towards more mobile defensemen.

Injuries equal tough sledding, a change of style and opportunity

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-15-2016


The Buffalo Sabres have three games on tap in the next five days--at the St. Louis Blues tonight, vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday and vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins on Satrurday. All three teams have a better record than the Sabres and all represent a pretty big challenge for an injury-depleted Buffalo roster.

The injury list for the Sabres for tonight's game:

C-Jack Eichel--out all season
D-Zach Bogosian--out tonight (seventh consecutive)--nine games played
F-Tyler Ennis--out tonight (fourth consecutive)--12 games played
D-Dmitry Kulikov--out tonight (third consecutive)--12 games played
C- Ryan O'Reilly--out tonight--13 games played

Add it all up and the Sabres head into Scottrade Center tonight missing their top-two centers, two two-four defensemen and a top-nine forward. We might want to add in that Buffalo is 2-7-1 in their last 10 vs. the Blues, 1-5-4 in St. Louis and that Buffalo is winless in their last four (0-2-2) and are 2-3-2 so far in the month of November.

Kinda makes for a pretty tall order.

Buffalo head coach Dan Bylsma was on WGR550 this morning and after telling the hosts about having to basically keep O'Reilly from playing so that a lingering injury can properly heal, host Howard Simon asked just how much of an adjustment it is to play without Eichel and O'Reilly. "It's a big adjustment," said Bylsma, "to have those types of guys out of our lineup. They do so much, they provide so much.

"You can't ask the players--the Derek Grant's of the world and the [Johan] Larsson's of the world--to play differently and be different. They can't be Jack, they can't be Ryan so we're going to have to play like a third and fourth-line team to grind out plays to have success and grind out victories."

Simply put, without Eichel and O'Reilly, the Sabres don't have the horses to play the style of game Bylsma has geared his system to.

For those watching the games this month, Buffalo has scored nine goals and given up 15 in seven November games. No wonder fans are filing out of the KeyBank Center early. It's classic, grind-it-out defensive hockey similar to what former Ted Nolan once did, but without the supreme on-ice motivation the former coach provided.

Although nobody in the organization will make excuses, missing four of your top-10 skaters does bring down the talent-level and although some teams have made do without players of that ilk, the young Sabres (third-youngest team in the league according to nhlnumbers.com,) have a good chunk of their skilled-players still in developmental leagues.

That said, those injured players must be replaced somebody and Amerks players have a golden opportunity in front of them to make an impression.

Forward William Carrier has done that. The 21 yr. old rookie got the call five games ago and worked his way up the ladder to the point where he may be skating on the top line tonight with Sam Reinhart at center and Kyle Okposo at right wing. Carrier was originally drafted by the Blues in the second round (57th-overall) in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft and was a part of the Ryan Miller to St. Louis trade February 28, 2014.

Although Carrier has yet to hit the score sheet, Bylsma had nothing but great things to say about him. "Will has played extremely, extremely well, been really effective," he said to the gathered media. "Speed, he's been really physical, and he has gotten in the mix on offensive chances … Whether he plays on a line with Sam and Kyle or he's playing on the fourth line or playing on the third line, which he did for two of the games, he needs to continue to play that way."

Another 2013 draft pick is winger Nicolas Baptiste. The 21 yr. old was drafted 69th overall that year by the Sabres and will be appearing in his 11th game for the club this season. Baptiste is another speedy winger who has good size but he also has definitive sniping abilities. After being returned to Rochester following a back-to-back for Buffalo against the New Jersey Devils, Baptiste played a third game in a row on Sunday at Springfield, MA and recorded two goals and an assist against the Thunderbirds (FLA.) He is on his third recall for the Sabres and has scored two goals so far for Buffalo in 10 previous games.

Journeyman defenseman Justin Falk got the call from Buffalo as well to replace the injured Kulikov. Falk has plenty of NHL experience and his gritty, defensive style of play seems to fit well with the grinding style of play Bylsma wants his team to play.

Forward Evan Rodrigues was also called up for the St. Louis game. It's his first recall of the season, second of his career. Late last season Rodrigues got a shot and had a goal and an assist in two games for Buffalo while finishing a plus-2 in those games. Rodrigues finished strong in Rochester late last season and is off to a solid start for the Amerks so far this season with three goals and five assists in 13 games.

According to WGR's Paul Hamilton, the Sabres first powerplay unit at the morning skate had Matt Moulson (tied for second in the league with five PP goals,) Reinhart, Okposo, Rasmus Ristolainen and Jake McCabe while the second unit had captain Brian Gionta, Johan Larsson (with Baptiste working in,) Evander Kane, Cody Franson and rookie Casey Nelson.



Game time is 8 p.m. ET tonight.

Poking a wobbly bear--Buffalo aims to keep Boston off-kilter.

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-7-2016


Although the Boston Bruins have not lost two top-six players long-term like the Buffalo Sabres have, their wobbly start can be attributed to a line-up bitten hard by the injury bug. The B's lost forward Frank Vatrano three months prior to opening night, they lost NHL defensemen Adam McQuaid and Kevan Millar for a stint and also started out the season with Patrice Bergeron on the shelf for the first three games. David Backes, who was signed away from the St. Louis Blues in the off season, returned to the ice on Saturday after undergoing elbow surgery to remove a bursa sac on October 24. The Bruins went 3-3 in his absence.

The injuries have left the Bruins searching for chemistry amongst their forward group. Outside of a stout and dangerous line that has Bergeron (8 games, 2 goals, 2 assists) centering Sabres nemesis Brad Marchand (11, 4+9) and David Pastrnak (9, 7+3) the Spoked-B has been off-kilter up front. It's a situation that's also sent their powerplay to 29th in the league converting on only 7.9% of their opportunities. To make matters worse, the B's gave up consecutive short-handed goals to turn a tie game into a 3-1 deficit. Boston ended up losing to the NY Rangers 5-2 Saturday night..

Needless to say they won't be in a very good mood tonight when the Sabres come to town. Not only do the Bruins have that foul taste in their mouth from that loss, they have a pretty hectic schedule ahead. At the conclusion of tonight's game they head to Montreal to take on the division leading Canadiens and after a day off will conclude a six game in nine night stretch playing three games in four night that concludes with back-to-back road games at Arizona and Colorado.

The Buffalo Sabres have been on a bit of a roll lately despite and seemingly have finally adjusted to life without Jack Eichel and Evander Kane. After struggling through a rough start the Sabres have won four of five that could easily have been a five-game winning streak were it not for the other-worldly goaltending of Toronto goalie Frederik Andersen. Buffalo pumped 70 shots at the Maple Leafs net with 43 of them landing on goal. Andersen stopped all but one, including three highlight reel-type saves, in a 2-1 Leafs win.

Rather than feel sorry for themselves, the Sabres headed up to Ottawa in an emotional Hockey Fights Cancer game that featured another Anderson, Craig, in net as his wife was undergoing cancer treatment. The Senators were on fire having given up only one goal in the previous three games--all played just after the announcement that Nicholle Anderson had an unknown form of cancer--and went into the third period with a 1-0 lead. But Buffalo went hard at Ottawa and came away with the 2-1 victory on goals by Kyle Okposo and Sam Reinhart and a 32-save performance by goalie Robin Lehner.

Lehner was up to the task throwing in some highlight-reel save himself which included a full-stretch stick save on the Sens Jean-Gabriel Pageau that is already being considered for save of the year. He also kicked out the left leg to stone Ottawa's Mark Stone who had slipped behind the defense on a 2-on-1.

Although Lehner's saves were incredible and also showcased his off season work on speed and flexibility in the crease, the fact that his heroics were needed on many occasions exposed a weakened Sabres defense-corps. Buffalo has been without top-four defenseman Zach Bogosian the last two games and his absence has left some kinks in the armor and had Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma juggling his pairings to provide a veteran presence on each pair. It didn't work to perfection against Ottawa, but with the stellar play of Lehner, it worked just enough.

For as bad and/or inconsistent as the Sabres have been the past two seasons, they've managed to hold their own against Boston. Buffalo 3-3-4 against the Bruins in their last 10 meetings, 4-3-3 at TD Garden. The Sabres have played exceptional hockey on the road thus far in this young season going 4-1-2 and have outscored their opponents by a combined 12-14. Of note, Buffalo blew third period leads twice before losing in the extra sessions.


The Defense-corps

With Bogosian sidelined for the last two games, Bylsma has kept his top-pairing of Rasmus Ristolainen and Josh Gorges intact while moving defenseman Jake McCabe to the third-pairing with Cody Franson. In the middle is rookie Casey Nelson with Dmitry Kulikov.

Those pairings, however, have changed a bit in-game as Bylsma has used Kulikov on the top pair with Ristolainen in a showcase of what eventually might be the Sabres shutdown pairing somewhere down the road. Both Ristolainen and Kulikov are big, mobile defensemen who are pretty sound in their own end and Bylsma has slowly been increasing Kulikov's as the d-man's comfort-level increases. Kulikov missed the most of training camp and the season opener because of the World Cup of Hockey and due to injury.

Regardless of who's paired with whom, the defense-corps needs to break through with a goal. In 11 games thus far Buffalo's defensemen have registered zero goals and one of the reasons their goalless is that their shots just aren't getting through on a consistent basis. McCabe managed to get one through against Ottawa and it bounced off of Okposo to tie the score. It was McCabe's third assists of the year. Only he, Ristolainen (8 assists) and Kulikov (3) have hit the score sheet for the Sabres so far this year.

Speaking of McCabe, it would seem as if the drop down has done little to affect his confidence. He's an extremely mobile d-man who's quick to the puck and relishes the opportunity to stand a player up at the line. McCabe is still young (22 yrs. old) and is in only his second NHL season so he'll have his fair share of mistakes, but as has been mentioned often times, he recovers from them rather quickly. He's always had a penchant for getting a shot through and his play from the point, which includes pinching in, should have gained the attention of his coaches.


William Carrier

Carrier made his NHL debut against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday and after getting acclimated to the NHL game showcased the speed and tenacity that defines his heavy, north/south game. After he began with fourth-line duties, Bylsma gave Carrier an opportunity to play on a line with Reinhart and Zemgus Girgensons and it paid dividends on their very first shift together. Although he didn't hit the score sheet on Rienhart's game-winner against Ottawa, Carrier found Ristolainen in open ice in the slot after beating a check on the boards. Risto got the puck to Girgensons who shot it on net where Reinhart was there to eventually poke it home.

With Tyler Ennis having a maintenance day at yesterday's practice Bylsma, according to Chris Ryndak of Sabres.com, had Carrier skating with Reinhart and Girgensons.


The Atlantic Division

There's quite the jumbling of teams behind the division-leading Montreal Canadiens who are 10-1-1. Most had Montreal in the mix for the division title this season along with 2016 Eastern Conference finalist, the Tampa Bay Lightning (who are second right  now) and odds are that when all's said and done, both of those teams will occupy the top two spots in the division.

However, what's taking place beneath that probability is rather interesting as there are six very different teams who cold all have a shot at third in the division. As of today just three points separates third place Ottawa from eighth place Florida and all are very different teams on differing timelines.

Ottawa is a young team who kicked off the season with five new faces and first-year head coach, Guy Boucher. The young, upstart Maple Leafs, who are in the first year of their build, are one point behind the Senators tied with an aging Detroit team still trying to muddle it's way through the losses of head coach Mike Babcock prior to last season and Pavel Datsyuk who no longer plays in North America. Buffalo, who's in year-two of their build is tied with Boston a team that's retooling on the fly while last place Florida is off to a tough start after making the playoffs well into their rebuild.

Outside of Montreal and Tampa Bay the rest of the division, and especially a coveted third place spot, is up for grabs. It would seem as if the Atlantic Division is weaker than the Metropolitan meaning there's a good possibility that both wild card teams will come from the Metro.

In the off season Bylsma mentioned the he had a 95-point team, which if true, should make the playoffs. As if right now, at 5-4-2 the Sabres are on pace for an 89-point season, which wouldn't be good enough. Although they're well ahead of last year's 4-7-0 team through 11 games, points are crucial. For instance, they blew two third period leads against Calgary and Philadelphia. Just gaining that one point would have them on a 96-point pace at this juncture.

Emotions will be running high as Buffalo visits Ottawa tonight

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-05-2016


The Buffalo Sabres travel to Canada’s capital tonight to take on an Atlantic Division foe in the Ottawa Senators. Outside of the event on the ice, the night will have special meaning as Hockey Fights Cancer comes to Ottawa. The initiative by the National Hockey League and the NHL Players Association was founded in 1998 to raise awareness and money "to support the cancer programs of national and local cancer research institutions, children's hospitals, player charities and local charities," according to the NHL's website

Cancer has hit the Ottawa organization hard with the latest bout being waged by Nicholle Anderson, wife of Senators goalie Craig Anderson. "‘I fight for: Nicholle’ will be a popular placard held high by fans and members of the Senators organization at the Canadian Tire Centre as the Buffalo Sabres visit Saturday," wrote the Ottawa Sun's, Wayne Scanlan of Hockey Fights Cancer night in Ottawa.

Mrs. Anderson, according to Scanlan, was diagnosed with a "still undisclosed form of cancer" over a week ago and began chemotherapy treatments on Thursday. After the diagnosis, and with the team in need, she encouraged her husband to join the team in Edmonton on Sunday while she made her way back to Ottawa from Philadelphia. The Anderson stopped all 37 shots he faced as the Senators responded with a 2-0 shoutout of the red-hot Oilers. Ottawa came through once again two nights later with Anderson leading the team to a 2-1 overtime win over the Carolina Hurricanes and his wife in attendance. With his Nicholle now undergoing treatment, Anderson was granted a leave from the team and with newly acquired Mike Condon in net, Ottawa blanked the Vancouver Canucks 1-0 on Thursday.

In his piece, Scalan gives a brief history of just how close to home cancer has hit. "Thirteen years ago, Senators assistant coach Roger Neilson died of two forms of cancer," he wrote. "In April of 2015, the club lost assistant coach Mark Reeds. A year earlier, Reeds had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer and then-general manager Bryan Murray with cancer of the bowel. In 2011, former Senators assistant E.J. McGuire died of Leiomyoscarcoma, a rare and deadly form of cancer.

"On it goes."

Sabres GM Tim Murray has a direct link to that brief history as Bryan Murray is his uncle. In November, 2014, not even a year after the younger Murray left the Senators to take his position with the Sabres, Bryan Murray disclosed that he had Stage-4 colon cancer. Tim had been under Bryan's wing in Ottawa and having a family member and mentor hit him really hard. Tim Murray told TSN radio just after Uncle Bryan disclosed the disease that had he known about it earlier then he "wouldn’t have been very anxious to be out the door. I would have been quite content to know I was there as his assistant for as long as he wanted.”

He clarified his statement to Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News, "I don’t know how it came across," he told Harrington, "but what I was trying to say if I didn’t say it well was if I had known he had Stage 4 cancer when I left, when I was offered this job, I probably would not have taken this job.

“Now, he might have made me take the job anyway, but I would have told him, ‘I’m not leaving.’"

Neilson also had Buffalo connections as he was head coach of the Sabres under GM Scotty Bowman for the 1980-81 season.

As for the hockey portion of the program tonight, the Senators are riding a three-game winning streak and have won four of their last five. Ottawa is second in the division with a 7-3-0 record, four points ahead of the Sabres who are eighth in the division. Although Buffalo defeated Ottawa in their last meeting, the Sabres are 3-6-1 in their last 10 vs. the Sens, 2-7-1 in Ottawa.


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On the brighter side, forward Nick Baptiste will be making his hometown debut tonight. The Ottawa native has been up with the Sabres for five games so far this season and has registered his first NHL goal at Vancouver against the Canucks.

And, should recently recalled forward William Carrier hit the ice for the Sabres tonight, he'll be skating in his first NHL game. According to Sabres PR, Carrier played for the Ottawa Senators Minor Midget AAA team (OEMMHL) from 2009-2011. It's the first recall of his career.


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Goalie Robin Lehner will be making his third start in Ottawa against his former team. In his first game against the Sens, Lehner stopped 34 of 36 shots as the Sabres came away with a 3-2 win on January 26. Lehner even assisted on Jack Eichel's powerplay goal that tied the game at two in the second period.

In his second game against the Sens at Canadian Tire Center, Lehner and the Sabres dropped a 2-1 decision in the shootout. He allowed one goal on 26 shots in regulation and two goals on two shots in the shootout.

Lehner was drafted by the Senators 46th-overall in the 2009 NHL Draft by then Ottawa AGM, Tim Murray. As Buffalo GM, Murray sent the 21st pick in the 2015 draft to Ottawa for Lehner and forward David Legwand.

2016 Development Camp in the books. Notes plus Murray on Vesey

Published by hockeybuzz.com 7-13-2016


Sabres LW, William Carrier came to Buffalo in the Ryan Miller trade with the St. Louis Blues on February 28, 2014. It was Tim Murray's first trade as the Sabres new GM and his focus seemed to be on "bigger, faster, stronger" players with skill and the pugnacity to go to the dirty areas of the ice to score. Carrier was originally touted as a late first-round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft because of his size, skating and hands as well as an all-in mentality. An injury caused him to miss half the season his draft year and he dropped to the second round where the Blues took him with the 57th selection.

Carrier's first two seasons as a pro began with struggles and an injury. Mid-way through last season, however, he was ready to break out. In a stretch beginning in January, Carrier posted a line of nine goals and 11 assists in 24 games before an injury sidelined him for the final 12 games of the season. Not only did the injury derail a strong finish to his second Amerks season, it also kept him off the First Niagara Center ice as he surely was ticketed to make his NHL debut for the Sabres last season.

With that done, Carrier came into Sabres Development Camp this season and was by and large considered the best player on the ice. Although he didn't register a point during the Blue and Gold Scrimmage on Saturday, he was noticeable for his physicality and his edge while being strong on the puck. He continued with that theme during the annual French Connection 3-on-3 Tournament, which closes out D-Camp, as his team took home the trophy.

As he enters the final year of his entry-level contract, Carrier moved himself up the prospect depth-chart to a spot where he could get the call to Buffalo sometime in the first half of the year. But, like Kris Baker of sabresprospects.com/sabres.com stated after the scrimmage, "if he can stay healthy."


**********

LW, Brandon Hagel was a 6th round pick of the Sabres in the draft this year. He came into camp as an unknown and left a huge impression. Not bad for a 17 yr. old who was the youngest player on the ice.

As noted after the Blue and Gold Scrimmage, the 6'0" 160 lb. Hagel played big in that came as a tenacious contributor to the best line on the ice. He's a long shot to make it to the NHL, but you know what they say about first impression. WGR 550's Paul Hamilton quoted Murray as saying about 159th pick in the draft, "he was almost transparent, he’s competitive, he’s got better instincts than I was led to believe, so he’s got skill, he’s got good instincts for the game, he’s highly competitive, I liked his game.”

The development curve for Hagel will be a long one, which is fine for both player and team but being an intense puck-hound with skill and "good instincts for the game" should keep him on the Sabres radar for the next few years.


**********

Buffalo had a number of lower-round picks like Hagel at D-Camp who looked like they could be quality contributors in the future. Having assets like that will allow the team to move towards the Chicago Blackhawks model for sustainable contention. The Hawks have an extremely talented core locked up for big dollars long-term but are able to maintain a championship-caliber team through a farm system that keeps them stocked with quality.

With their core of Jonathan Towes, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Duncan Keith and Keith Seabrook taking up a huge chunk of their cap-space (a total cap-hit of $36.65M or just over 50% of the salary cap this year,) it's inevitable that quality players will be squeezed out in a cap-crunch. Yet they manage to fill those roles with players in the system, Calder Trophy winner Artemi Panarin being the exception.

Obviously the Sabres aren't anywhere near the Hawks, but as they build for the future with 38 players drafted over the course of the last five years who are still with the club, picks outside the first round become extremely important not only to nearer-term success, but sustainable success down the road.

Players to keep an eye on:

D, Jake McCabe (2012, 44th-overall)--solid NHL'er with No. 2/3 upside
G, Linus Ullmark (2012, 163rd)--has the size and showed well as a rookie last year No. 1 potential
C, Judd Peterson (2012, 204th)--in a quality NCAA program on a long curve, got noticed at camp
C, Connor Hurley (2013, 38th)--highly-skilled play-maker, top-nine potential, gaining confidence
RW, Justin Bailey (2013, 52nd)--powerforward w/speed ready to make the jump to the NHL
RW, Nicolas Baptiste (2013, 69th)--looks to be a solid bottom-six NHL'er with more seasoning
G, Cal Petersen (2013, 159th)--tops Sabres goalie prospects
D, Anthony Florentino (2013, 143rd)--could make for a very solid depth defenseman with bite
F, Eric Cornel (2014, 44th)--two-way acumen places him in bottom-six/top-nine role
RW, Victor Oloffson (2014, 181st)--just gets better every year, top-six skills and potential
D, Brendan Guhle (2015, 51st)--top-four NHL d-man, question is, when?
D, William Borgen, (2015, 92nd)--quietly learning his trade, lower-pairing NHL'er might be his floor
C, Giorgo Estephan (2015, 152nd)--his NHL-caliber skills are starting to shine through
C, Rasmus Asplund (2016, 33rd)--Johan Larsson with much more to offer on offense

There are a few others (like Hudson Fasching who was traded for and has top-nine potential) and undoubtedly there will be surprises along the way but this is a group that the Sabres will be tapping into over the course of the next three or four years for sustainable contention. Whether it's contending for a playoff spot, conference supremacy or a Stanley Cup is to be determined, but this is what the scouting staff brought in and what the coaches will develop for the Blue and Gold.


**********

Murray addressed the Jimmy Vesey question at the end of camp this week and seems to be tired of talking about it. "I’ve talked about this literally less than anybody else in Buffalo," Murray told the gathered media. "I hear the guys on the radio and people are mad and this is like top end news and I’m like, it is what it is."

It's not only the guys on the radio, but in print as well and us bloggers too.

Murray has always understood the media and it's role and has always been accommodating. Oft-times he'll qualify a statement by saying something like "I know you guys have a job to do," before offering what information he can and setting the record as straight as he can set it. It should be a very endearing quality to not only those whose livelihood is directly tied to the team he runs, but to us fans who are left with a sense of sincerity coming from his matter-of-fact approach.

The whole Vesey saga makes for a lot of hypotheses and plenty of speculation, but the simple fact of the matter is, said Murray, "we traded one of our four 3rd round picks to be able to talk to him. If he doesn't [sign with Buffalo], it's going to be obviously not the decision we want and you guys will call me a dummy for trading away a third-round pick. I've got all the scenarios and I'm ready for it all but it's up to him. It's his time."

Vesey's time indeed. He finished his four years of college and opted to become a free agent on August 15th as per NHL rules. The Sabres feel as if they have a very compelling situation for Vesey to fit into and presented it as such when they met with him last week. It's assumed that they did so in a very matter-of-fact way as well, leaving the bells and whistles to another organization in the hope of landing Vesey.

"We went down there. We spoke to him," said Murray. "I told him he doesn't owe anybody anything. He went to school for four years and he became a free agent so now he's got to make the right decision for him. There's no timetable.

"If he wants to come in here or he wants to reach out to us and have another meeting then we're there. But for me, this is in his court."

I'm still of the opinion that it's 65/35 he lands in Buffalo. Although I highly doubt they offered him an iron-clad guarantee he'd be in the top-six for the Sabres, I'm pretty sure offered him the opportunity to play on Ryan O'Reilly's or Jack Eichel's wing and what he does with that opportunity is up to him. He'll be surrounded by a core group of players very close to his own age on an up-and-coming team with at least one superstar (Eichel) in the mix.

"I don't sit at home and speculate about this," Murray said. "He's either going to sign here or he's not.

End of story...for now.

Buffalo Sabres top-three prospects by position--Left Wing

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


The Buffalo Sabres have five left-wingers on the roster as listed by their website. One of them, Johan Larsson, has played a ton of center in the system dating back to when he was with the Rochester Americans, was their third-line center for the better part of the season last year and there's no reason to think that he'll be moving to the wing in the near future either. The left side of the Buffalo lineup includes one top-six/top-line LW in Evander Kane, a bottom-six left-winger in Marcus Foligno, energy winger Nicolas Deslauriers who is clinging to a fourth-line role and an enigma on the left side in Matt Moulson.

In light of the poor year that Moulson had, the drop-off on the depth chart from Kane to Foligno is significant with center Zemgus Girgensons placed in a top-six role but producing very little. Yett the consensus at the foot of Washington St. seems to be that the Sabres will fill the wings with converted centers while they take time to find and develop natural wingers in the system. It's a sound philosophy that will be used even more should Buffalo be able to land center Steven Stamkos via free agency as there will be even more center-to-wing shuffling.

In looking at the system as it stands right now, the high water mark for left wingers consists of one bottom-six projection and a bunch of question marks. Good thing Buffalo has centers who can convert to the wing.

Ramp-up to the 2015 NHL Draft Pt. 4--Size, grit and knuckles at LW

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


Unlike the right wingers in the system where there's plenty of talent and depth in the pipeline, the Buffalo Sabres are very thin at left wing in the talent department, at least near-future. There's size and grit, edginess and some speed, but overall the left side pale's in comparison to their counterparts on the right.

That being said, going into next season the Sabres have themselves a bonafide top-line LW in Evander Kane which is something they don't have on the right side. The former Atlanta Thrasher/Winnipeg Jet under contract for three more seasons. Buffalo also has a top six left-winger in three-time, 30-goal scorer Matt Moulson who signed to a five-year, free agent contract with the club in July, 2014. Those two sit atop the depth chart on the left side followed and are followed by 23 yr. old Marcus Foligno (2009, 104th-overall) and Nicolas Deslauriers, a converted defenseman who came to Buffalo in the Brayden McNabb to LA Kings swap.

When you add in centers who can play the left side, like Zemgus Girgensons, Johan Larsson and others, they're solid at left wing on the big club, but the depth and talent-level in the pipeline is another story. It's an area that should get some attention come draft time.

Catching up with Don Stevens and the Rochester Americans

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


Plenty on the docket tonight for Sabres fans to watch as three contests are of relevance to the organization.

The Sabres are at home for their fifth back-to-back of the season as the Edmonton Oilers come to town. Edmonton is one point ahead of the Sabres in the league standings thus far and may be the most disappointing team in the league.

The Oilers are a team that had three consecutive first overall picks (2010-12) including claiming victory in the "Fail For Nail" campaign of 2012, yet it looks as if they're gunning for this year's prize prospect, Connor McDavid. If the Oilers continue to plummet to the bottom of the league (which wouldn't be tanking, would it?) they'll have a good shot at McDavid or the next two top-prospects, C, Jack Eichel and D, Noah Hanifin. Both are considered top-notch prospects who would be at or near the top of any draft year.

And for those interested in seeing them in action, the collegians face off against each other tonight as Eichel's Boston University Terriers face off against Hanifin and his Boston College Eagles in a battle of #5 vs. #3 in the college ranks. Game time is 8pm on NBCSN.

Murray adds depth on the wing. A look at his three new forward additions

The Buffalo Sabres acquired three big wingers leading up to and at the 2014 trade deadline--William Carrier, Hudson Fasching and Nicolas Deslauriers.

All three are power forwards at least 6' tall and weigh in at about 200 lbs. or more.

Hockey's future slots Carrier and Deslauriers as the Nos. 2 and 3 LW behind 5'10" 180 lb. Daniel Catenacci (2011, #77.)

Fasching, the youngest of the three, has the most upside. He's #4 on the right side behind Joel Armia (2011, #16,) who just came over from Finland and has been with Rochester this season, Justin Bailey (2013, #52) and Nicolas Baptiste (2013, #69.)