Impressions of, and questions concerning--F, Daniel O'Regan

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 6-6-2019

Daniel O'Regan--Forward

DOB:  January 30, 1994 (age, 25)

Draft:  2012 fifth round (138th-overall,) SJS

How acquired:  February 26, 2018 trade with San Jose 

Last contract signed:  July 14, 2018, one-year/two-way, $874,125 base salary

Final year of contract: 2019

2018-19 Stats:  1 game | 0 goals | 0 assists | 0 points | even | 11:56 ATOI

Career NHL Stats: 25 games | 1 goal | 4 assists | 5 points | -4 |  10:14 ATOI

What we wrote preseason:  N/A

What we wrote mid-season:  N/A

Impressions on his play this year:  There's not too much to say about O'Regan's one-game call-up for Buffalo as he did nothing worth noting. The 5'10" 180 lb. forward came over in the Evander Kane trade to the San Jose Sharks and has ties to Buffalo Sabres captain Jack Eichel and forward Evan Rodrigues as fellow BU Terriers alum. That trio of Eichel, Rodrigues and O'Regan combined for 182 points in 2014-15 and led the Terriers to the NCAA championship game.

O'Regan has played well in Rochester since the trade with 26 goals and 37 assists in 88 games for the Amerks so it wouldn't be a bad idea for the Sabres organization to keep him in the fold in that role. O'Regan is Group-6 free agent meaning he's a player at least 25 yrs. old who has completed three or more professional seasons and played in less than 80 NHL games. He's free to sign with any team.

Questions moving forward:  Would he be interested in another one-year/two-way contract? Would the Sabres be interested in that?

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

Jason Botterill checks off two more from his RFA list. (Dan O'Reagan, Nick Baptiste)

Published by hockeybuzz,com, 7-15-2018


Buffalo Sabres GM Jason Botterill is beginning to kick it in gear with his restricted free agents. On Thursday the Sabres and Sean Malone agreed to a one-year, two way deal and it was announced today that Buffalo also came to terms with both Nicholas Baptiste and Danny O'Regan.

The soon to be 23 yr. old Baptiste, who was selected in the third round (69th overall) of the 2013 NHL Draft, was signed to a one-year, two-way contract at his qualifying offer of $787,500. Baptiste has a lot going for him with his size (6'1" 205 lbs.) and his exceptional speed and skills augmented by a very nice repertoire of shots that he can score from anywhere with. However his pro career thus far has been marked by inconsistencies.

Look for Baptiste to have every opportunity to make it with the Sabres in a top-nine role as he is no longer waiver-exempt and it's doubtful that Botterill would send him down and risk losing him to waivers.

O'Regan came to Buffalo via the Evander Kane to San Jose trade. The 5'10" 184 lb. former Boston University standout has excelled at the AHL level but struggle a bit in the NHL and is waivers-exempt. He also signed a one-year, two-way deal which will pay him his qualifying offer of $874, 125 at the NHL level.

Botterill has three more restricted free agents left to sign, Sam Reinhart, C.J. Smith and Justin Bailey from a list that started out at six.

What's in store for Botterill's six qualified RFA's? Today, Danny O'Regan

Late last month Sabres GM Jason Botterill qualified six Buffalo restricted free agents. According to the Buffalo News, these were the players, their salaries last season and their qualifying offers:

--F Justin Bailey $650,000/$715,000
--F Nick Baptiste $750,000/$787,500
--F Sean Malone $750,000/$787,500
--F Danny O’Regan $832,500/$874,125
--F Sam Reinhart $832,500/$874,125
--F C.J. Smith $832,500/$874,125


Today we look at F, Danny O'Regan.


Published by hockeybuzz.com, 7-10-2018


He was part of the Evander Kane trade at the 2018 NHL trade deadline when the Sabres sent Kane to the San Jose Sharks. He was also a team mate of Jack Eichel, Evan Rodrigues and Brandon Hickey at Boston University when the Terriers lost to the Providence Friars in the National Championship game.

A couple quick notes on that, O'Regan put the Terriers up 3-2 with less than nine minutes to go on an assist from Eichel and the Terriers peppered Friars goalie John Gilles with 52 shots, Eichel had six, O'Regan five, Rodrigues one, and Hickey three.

The 24 yr. old O'Regan was drafted in 2012 by the Sharks in the fifth round (138th-overall) and joined the Sharks organization after four years at BU where he scored 154 points (66+88) in 154 games. O'Regan followed his college career with an equally strong 2016-17 AHL season where the  rookie lead the San Jose Barracuda in scoring with 58 points in 61 games, lead all rookies in goals with 23 and was awarded the Dudley "Red" Garrett Award as the AHL's rookie of the year.

O'Regan was on the cusp of making the Sharks roster after camp last season but was sent back to the Barracuda scoring seven goals and adding 18 assists in 31 games as he was shuffled back and fourth between the two pro teams. He appeared in 22 games for the Sharks before being traded to Buffalo. He spent 18 games with the Rochester Americans scoring six goals and adding nine assists and dressed in the Blue and Gold for two games in early March.

O'Regan checks off a lot of boxes for Botterill as the 5'10" 185 lb. forward defies his smaller size with a strong work ethic and excellent skating while proving he can score at every level he's been at thus far. However, the NHL is the big jump and so far his scoring prowess hasn't transferred.

Which leads us to this coming season.

It wouldn't be too surprising to see him with a one or two year, deal with a little more added to his AHL salary. According to CapFreindly, O'Regan's NHL salary was set at $858,750 while making $70,000 in the AHL. He's a pretty big get for the Sabres in that he could really give a big boost to Rochester should he not make the Sabres out of camp. That might boost his AHL salary over six figures and we could see a Casey Nelson-type, two-year contract where the first year is a two-way deal ($650K NHL/$150K AHL) with the second year being a one-way $650,000 deal.

Impressions of, and questions concerning--F, Benoit Pouliot

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 4-25-2018


Forward--Benoit Pouliot
DOB:  September 29, 1986 (Age, 31)
Draft:  2005, 1st round (4th overall) MIN
How acquired:  FA
Last contract signed:  July 1, 2017, 1yr./$1.150 million
Final year of contract:  2017-18

2017-18 Stats:  74 games played | 13 goals | 6 assists | 19 points | -8 | 13:41
Buffalo Career Stats:  74 games | 13 goals | 6 assists | 19 points | -8 | 13:41


What we wrote preseason:  The Buffalo Sabres have a huge hole at left wing in the top-six right now as it's a bit of a mess [and they] didn't do much to fill the hole at left wing this off season.

Since being selected fourth-overall by the Minnesota Wild in the 2005 NHL Draft, Pouliot has had stops in Montreal, Boston, Tampa Bay, in NY with the Rangers and Edmonton where he was bought out after the third year of a 5yr./$20 million contract.

Necessity was a big part of the signing in Buffalo and Pouliot did come in on a reasonable one-year deal with Sabres GM Jason Botterill saying, "If you look at Benoit's history, in situations where he's had a difficult season he's been able to bounce back strong. That's what we're looking for from him coming into Buffalo here."

Going into the 2016-17 season, new coach Phil Housley doesn't have a lot to work with on the left side. Training camp will sort a lot of this out but it wouldn't be too surprising to see Pouliot get a good shot at landing a spot in the top-six.


What we wrote mid-season:  Basically there's been the good Pouliot, which is more reflective of a player picked in the first round (although it's nowhere near No. 4-overall good) and there's the Edmonton, bad version of Pouliot, the one that caused him to get bought out by the Oilers. Pouliot has size, some jump to his step and he can skate very well for a player that's 6'3" 200 lbs. and Housley has moved Pouliot up and down the wing. Lately he's been on Eichel's left side and it hasn't amounted to much but it is good to say that his eight goals in 33 games this season equals the number he posted in 65 games for the Oilers all last season.


Impressions on his play this year:  Extend the above mid-season analysis through the rest of the season with more bad than good. With the start the Sabres had this season, there was little chance Pouliot could hit reasonable numbers and as a complimentary player, there wasn't very much to compliment in October and November. His stints on top-six lines with Jack Eichel and Ryan O'Reilly produced little and later in the seasons, if he wasn't in the bottom six he was up in the press box. Some team might get a decent season from him as he's got skills and can skate very well for a big guy, but it won't be in Buffalo.


Questions moving forward:  Where will his next stop be?




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

Welcome to the scoresheet, Danny O'Regan. Plus Amerks and other notes (Dan O'Reagan, Justin Bailey)

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 3-4-2018


He was Jack Eichel's wingman at Boston University on a Terriers team that made it to the 2015 NCAA Men's Championship game in Eichel freshman year, and only year, in college. He was also a team mate of Eichel's other wingman that season, Evan Rodrigues, if three of his four college seasons. Eichel was selected second-overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, Rodrigues was a free agent signee by the Sabres the third member of the line that combined for 159 points (55 goals + 104 assists) in 108 game, Daniel O'Regan, was a 2012 fifth round pick (138th overall) of the San Jose Sharks.

O'Regan was born in Berlin, Germany where, according to his wiki page, he spent parts of his childhood there before his father retired from hockey and returned to the United States. After leaving St. Sebastian Prep School, O'Regan spent a season with the US National Development Program before heading to BU. The smallish forward scored 38 points (16+22) his freshman season and was named to the Hockey East All-Rookie team.

After his final year in college, O'Regan began his professional career with the San Jose Barracuda (SJS) where he proceeded to lead the team in scoring with 25 goals and 58 points in 63 games and won the 2016-17 AHL's Dudley "Red" Garrett Award as the league's Rookie of the Year in the process. Over the course of the past two seasons, the San Jose Sharks called up O'Regan for a total of 22 games where he scored one goal and added four assists.

The general consensus on O'Regan is that he's a highly skilled, versatile forward with a great set of hands for scoring or setting up with the big question mark being his overall smallish stature at  5'10" 185 lbs. Rochester American's head coach Chris Taylor had this to say about O'Regan via the team's website, “I heard he’s really smart and he can score goals, so that helps. But first and foremost, I heard he’s a great person on and off the ice, and that’s what we want. We want good people in our dressing room.”

O'Regan came to the Sabres organization in a February26, 2018 trade deadline deal that sent Buffalo's Evander Kane to the Sharks for O'Regan and a pair of conditional draft picks. The following day he was on the ice for the Rochester's morning skate and played in his first game for the Amerks that night with zero points in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (NYI.)

Last night the Amerks took on the division-leading Toronto Marlies (TOR) and O'Regan scored his first two goals for Rochester in a 4-1 win over their rivals. His second was an empty-netter but his first was described for what it was, "a skill goal" as seen at the 1:40-mark of the Marlies TV video:




The Amerks face off against the Laval Rocket (MTL) today in a 3 pm matinee at Blue Cross Arena.


*****

Rochester has been struggling for a while after challenging for the top spot in the North Division at one time. However, the Amerks haven't fallen off the face of the earth thanks to a stretch where they've gotten points in 17 of their last 23 games. They head into today's game five points behind the second place Syracuse Crunch (TBL) but with one game in hand.

Adding O'Regan could be a big boost for the Amerks but even without him, some Amerks have been picking up the pace lately.

Forward Justin Bailey, who's been dealing with injury all season, has four goals and five points in his last four games. Second-year pro Alexander Nylander has a four-game point-streak (1+3) and goalie Linus Ullmark looks to be regaining his All-Star form. In his last two games Ullmark has stopped 51 of 54 shots (.944 save percentage) and has not allowed more than two goals in four of his last five games.

All three were contributors in last night's win over Toronto.

A couple of quick notes: 

As shown in the video above, Ullmark is really looking solid. While under duress a couple of times he never flopped around and always kept his head up and body square to the action in and around him. The Marlies were knocking on the door twice in the second period with the Amerks up 2-0 but Ullmark shut it tight.

Nylander got his assist last night after starting an around the horn play with Rochester on the powerplay. But earlier in the game he failed to bear down on a puck and allowed two defenders to quickly collapse on him and stifle a scoring opportunity. Its true that Amerks center Sean Malone probably should have taken the shot instead of passing but Nylander didn't show any desire whilst in an upright position on that play.


*****

Casey Mittelstadt (2017, 8th) and his Minnesota Golden Gophers were swept out of the Big-10 Tournament and are in a precarious positon to get an invite to the Men's D-1 Tournament later this month. Mittelstadt score three goals and added two assists in the two losses to Penn State and finishes his freshman season with 30 points (11+19) in 34 games for Minnesota.

I'm going to be a little selfish here, while also veering away from my normal thought process when it comes to prospects, and say that I'd like to see the Sabres organization sign him now. If they can avoid burning a year off of his entry-level deal by signing him to an AHL contract, even better.

Although the numbers aren't eye-popping by any stretch of the imagination, for one, Mittelstadt was on a sub-par Gophers team. One may also want to take into account that he's a freshman playing against players two, three and four years older than him.

Mittelstadt has the skills and at 6'0" 201 lbs has much of the size needed to get started at the pro level so the jump to the AHL may not be as big for him. Plus adding that type of skill to the Amerks will only make that team better.

Much will be determined by the NCAA selection committee, but if the Gophers are out, I'm of the opinion that Sabres GM Jason Botterill should get that kid in Rochester learning the pro game.

Watch Casey Mittelstadt capture a goal and two helpers last night in Minnesota's 6-5 loss at Penn State. Gophers bounced from B1G tourney, now await NCAA brackets on 3/18. Mittelstadt: 34GP 11-19-30 pic.twitter.com/vwk8E1GJyA

&mdash">https://t.co/vwk8E1GJyA">pic.twitter.com/vwk8E1GJyA
— Kris Baker (@SabresProspects) March">https://twitter.com/SabresProspects/status/970297544440975361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2018
*****

The Sabres are on the ice today getting ready for their first matchup of the season against the rival Toronto Maple Leafs tomorrow night.

Yes, you read that right, the Sabres and Leafs will face off tonight in Buffalo's 65th game of the season and will be playing each other four times over the next four weeks.

According to reports at the rink, Marco Scandella is back on the ice after leaving the ice during Buffalo's game at Florida on Friday.

Here's the lines and d-pairings from those at the rink today:

Girgensons-O’Reilly-Reinhart
Wilson-Larsson-Pominville
Pouliot-Griffith-Baptiste
Nolan-Josefson-Okposo

Scandella-Ristolainen
Antipin-Nelson Gorges-
Falk/Beaulieu

One line at a time. (Beniot Pouliot)

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-3-2017


The Buffalo Sabres started out the season with one forward line rolling and the rest non-existent. The line of Jack Eichel centering left wing Evander Kane and right wing Jason Pominville did all the scoring in the first four games. Granted some of the goals were scored on the powerplay, and Kane was a beast with three shorthanded goals, but after four games, Kane and Pominville each had four of the Sabres nine total goals and Eichel had the other while also getting the primary assist on four of those goals.

Zemgus Girgensons would finally break that trend with a goal in the first period at Los Angeles in Buffalo's fifth game of the season yet Eichel would account for the Sabres only other goal that night with assists from, who else, Kane and Pominville.

Is it any wonder the team started the season 0-4-1?

Sabres head coach Phil Housley had a bear of a time trying to figure out how to get his other scorers going. Housley's line juggling included a number of combinations, some of which had Pominville changing lines and Sam Reinhart moving from center back to wing, a position he played most of the past two seasons. In Anaheim, Housley came up with an interesting trio as he moved Reinhart and center Ryan O'Reilly to the wings on either side of Girgensons.

However, call-up Justin Bailey to ignite Buffalo's secondary scoring as he scored his first goal of the season just 1:26 into the game against the Ducks. Bailey took advantage of some extended zone-time created by the Girgensons' line, barreled to the net on a change and buried a rebound near the paint. Reinhart would score his first goal of the season late in the second period and Johan Larsson would add an empty-netter in the third period for his first as well.

It was the first time all season, the Eichel line would be held off the scoresheet and ironically the Sabres got their first win of the season.

It wasn't long after that game that O'Reilly began to turn things around, mostly on the powerplay to start, but after landing only one assist through the first five games, he went on a point streak. Beginning in Anaheim he collected six points (3+3) in four games and after being shut out in the next two, he's was good for four points (1+3) in his last two games. O'Reilly sits fourth on the team in scoring with 11 points.

Housley bounced new Sabre Benoit Pouliot around much of this season after he began the season on the second line with O'Reilly and Okposo. It took him nine games to net his first goal of but after a two-goal performance last night, Pouliot has now four goals (plus an assist) in his last five games.

Perhaps no Buffalo forward has gone through a tougher stretch than Kyle Okposo. It was so bad that at one point for Okposo that Housley benched him for all but one shift in the third period against the Vancouver Canucks. However, Okposo would come back with a very strong game against the Boston Bruins the next night and even though he didn't score a goal, it was widely considered his best game of the year. "Kyle was fantastic," said Housley post-game, "moving his feet, winning a lot of puck battles."

Although still goal-less through his first nine games, that Boston game punched Okposo's ticket back into the top-six, first on the Eichel/Kane line then back to a more familiar position as O'Reilly's right wing. Okposo had an assist against the San Jose' Sharks last Saturday and netted his first goal of the season at Arizona last night as he scored with  0.9 seconds left in the first period to tie the score. Okposo added an assist to finish with two points and was a plus-2. O'Reilly had three assists and was also a plus-2 while the game's first star, Pouliot, had two goals and an assist and was also a plus-

It took a number of games but Buffalo's top-six is back to where they began the season with lines of Eichel-Kane-Pominville and O'Reilly-Pouliot-Okposo. If Housley can keep those lines mostly intact, while getting production from them, perhaps he can turn his attention more to the bottom-six in the hopes that he can get them moving a little more. Reinhart has shown signs of life in his role as a third-line center (although he still might be better off on the wing) and his winger Seth Griffith scored his second goal of the season last night as well.

The Sabres as a whole have been playing much better of late and are beginning to make a dent in the win column. They're 4-3-1 since that five-game losing streak to start the season and it looks as if they've evolved into a two-line team. Although two scoring lines is enough to beat a team like the Coyotes, who have only one win on the season, as the game against a very deep Columbus Blue Jackets club revealed, they'll need much more than that to compete with the better teams in the league.

That said, Buffalo seems to be headed in the proper direction and they look to be getting on track, at least up front, one line at a time.

What to make of the Sabres line shakeups at practice today. (Beniot Pouliot, Seth Griffith)

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 10-1-2017


The Buffalo Sabres finished preseason with a 1-4-1 record. They scored 12 goals and allowed 20 against. Not the greatest numbers even if you factor in that the fact that there's a new coach, new system, some new faces and a huge chunk of players who won't be seeing NHL ice again this year.

Buffalo coach Phil Housley went into training camp trying to find some chemistry and used various forwards playing in different spots on different lines. The only definitives up-front came in the top-six with Ryan O'Reilly once again centering RW, Kyle Okposo, Evander Kane on C, Jack Eichel's left wing and Housley's insistence on forward Sam Reinhart moving back to the middle. Reinhart had spent most of his two-year career playing on Eichel's right wing.

Housley's designs up-front have changed as he tries to find the right chemistry between linemates, some worked real well for a time but fizzled while others didn't seem to mesh much at all. When he placed Zemgus Girgensons on the O'Reilly/Okposo line, they were a force but their play as a line dropped off. Same with Jason Pominville on the Eichel/Kane line.

In the Sabres final preseason game Girgensons and Pominville began the night in those spots but were moved off their respective lines in the third period. Both ended up on the third line with Reinhart as their center. Matt Moulson was given a shot next on O'Reilly's left wing while Seth Griffith joined Eichel and Kane with the latter trio making some serious waves in the third.

Jourdon LaBarber reported from today's practice that Buffalo hs a slightly different top-nine from the way they finished Friday night vs. the NY Islanders:

Benoit Pouliot-O'Reilly-Okposo
Kane-Eichel-Griffith
Girgensons-Reinhart-Pominville

It's a top-nine that makes a lot of sense at this time, especially if Housley is hell bent upon keeping Reinhart at center.

Sabres GM Jason Botterill signed Pouliot in the off season as a reclamation project. The 30 yr. old former first round draft pick (4th-overall, MIN) is coming off a season in Edmonton that was labeled as "horrendous" with his play being called "beyond awful." The Oilers bought out the remainder of his two-year contract at an AAV of $4 million and Botterill brought him aboard.

If these lines hold true for the opener, it represents a golden opportunity for Pouliot to revive his career. Fact is, O'Reilly and Okposo have such great chemistry that all the other winger needs to do is play off of them and/or get them puck and barrel towards the net. "I think he's a guy who can play anywhere in that two, three, four hole," said Botterill of the Pouliot signing. "It's going to be a matter of how he comes in and how he performs. You look at his size and his ability to get on the forecheck, we just think he's a guy that could complement our centers well and be a guy who can sort of get his career back on track.

"If you look at Benoit's history, in situations where he's had a difficult season he's been able to bounce back strong. That's what we're looking for from him coming into Buffalo here."

Girgensons had a shot and looked great in the first couple of games with O'Reilly and Okposo but fizzled out by the final preseason game. "The Latvian Locomotive" still has a lot to give and could be a great forechecking force for Reinhart and Pominville, while the 34 yr. old Pominville will be able to use his veteran savvy to not only find open space, but to also mentor Reinhart on the finer points of playing in the NHL.

If ever there was an opportunity for Griffith to finally transfer the scoring prowess he enjoyed in the AHL to the big leagues, now's the time.

Housley praised Griffith's play on the third line against the Islanders and gave him a shot with Eichel and Kane. The trio, all of whom possess speed, worked the offensive zone as if they'd been together for a while. Although they weren't able to capitalize they hit the zone with speed and did some nice cycling to the point where eventually they'll start producing.

The 24 yr. old Griffith had a 77 point season with the AHL's  Providence Bruins (BOS) in 2015-16 but hasn't been able to do much at the NHL-level. In 58 career games Griffith has only 16 points (6+10.)

With Reinhart occupying the third-line center spot, Johan Larsson got bumped down to the fourth line and with veteran Jacob Josefson looking as if he'll center that line, Larsson's been pushed out to the wing.

Moulson, Larsson, Josefson and recent waiver-claim Jordan Nolan are all looking to land in the opening night lineup.

Buffalo opens up the season on Thursday with a home game vs. the Montreal Canadians.

Building the 2017-18 Buffalo Sabres roster--LW, Benoit Pouliot

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 9-7-2017


Benoit Pouliot
30 yrs. old
6'3" 204 lbs.
Drafted 4th-overall, 2005 (MIN,) signed by Buffalo on July 1, 2017

Career stats:  551 games  |  117 goals  |  127 assists  |  244 points  |  +33


The Buffalo Sabres have a huge hole at left wing in the top-six right now as it's a bit of a mess. The only legit top-six winger for the past two seasons has been Evander Kane who missed 29 games during that span because of injury. Other than that it's been a revolving door.

Former coach Dan Bylsma had used a number of players in the top-six including Tyler Ennis, who had injury problems of his own, Matt Moulson who has skating issues and Zemgus Girgensons, who had issues on offense Rookie William Carrier, was plucked by Vegas in the Expansion Draft, fellow rookies Hudson Fasching and Justin Bailey need more seasoning and at one point Bylsma even lost his mind trying to fill that hole by putting Nicolas Deslauriers up there. Marcus Foligno, who is better suited to a bottom-six role, played the most time at left wing last season, mostly next to Jack Eichel, which was seen as a travesty by many, but a necessity by the coach.

The Sabres didn't do much to fill the hole at left wing this off season and the depth chart is somewhat thin behind a raw but highly skilled 19 yr. old in Alexander Nylander and Evan Rodrigues, who was signed as a winger but was moved to center last season. Fans are clamoring for Nylander to be inserted into the No. 2 left wing spot, but unless he has a killer training camp, odds are that he will at minimum start the season with in Rochester with the Amerks. Part of that has to do with his development and the other part stems from Botterill's time with the Pittsburgh Penguins, an organization that uses a long developmental curve with their players.

Benoit Pouliot was taken fourth-overall in the 2005 NHL Draft by the Minnesota Wild. He spent four years in the Wild system (65 games, 9 goals, 9 assists with the big club) before being traded to the Montreal Canadiens in November, 2009. Pouliot would play in 118 games for the Canadiens notching a respectable 28 goals while adding 26 assists before becoming a free agent.

From there he signed a series of one-year contracts beginning in Boston, then on to Tampa Bay and finally in New York with the Rangers. In all he played in 188 regular season games for those three teams scoring 88 points (39+49.) But it was a performance in the 2013-14 NHL playoffs that got him off the revolving one-year-deal wheel and on to a long-term contract.

The Rangers made it through the first two rounds of the 2014 playoffs with their stars struggling. Pouliot was on an unheralded line with Derick Brassard and Mats Zuccarello that, at times, carried the team. During that time, Pouliot's size, speed, skill and most importantly possession numbers came to the fore and in the off season, Edmonton Oilers GM Craig MacTavish signed him to a five-year, $20 million free agent contract.

In Pouliot's case, the numbers really didn't seem to add up to a $4 million AAV contract using common statistics but MacTavish was convinced that they found a gem and much of it stemmed from the analytics community, most notably Tyler Dellow and his MC79 blog.

Dellow was quoted by David Staples of the Edmonton Journal as tweeting this about the signing, “This Pouliot deal features sensible money. He’s a classic Oiler from the ’96-06 period: A ‘bust’ who can play. This is stunning.” Staples went on to write that Dellow "delved into shot metrics to show how the vast majority of Pouliot’s teammates in the previous three seasons had a better shot share when Pouliot was on the ice." Dellow also speculated, according to Staples, "that the Pouliot signing might be Edmonton’s best ever free-agent signing."

The Oilers brought Dellow on board that summer and two years later they did not renew his contract. Pouliot lasted three years before being bought out by Edmonton just prior to the 2017 NHL Draft.

Pouliot's play in Edmonton last year drew some harsh criticism as his tepid production and penchant for brain farts in the offensive zone lead to dumb penalties which drew the ire of Oilers Nation as well as the national media. Staples quoted Oilers Now, commentator Bob Stauffer as saying "Pouliot had a horrendous year," NHL network commentator Mike Johnson as calling Pouliot's play "dreadful," and TSN's Ryan Rishaug as saying, "He’s been awful. Beyond awful.”

So why did Botterill sign Pouliot this off season?

Pouliot came in on a reasonable one-year deal that pays him $1.3 million and he's a vet that can be a placeholder while those in the pipeline, like Nylander, have more time to further their development. It will allow Botterill to get an up-close look at Nylander, Rodrigues and 2017 free agent signee, C.J. Smith as well as the development of Bailey, who was drafted as a right wing powerforward but has been playing the left side.

Botterill told the gathered media of the signing, "If you look at Benoit's history, in situations where he's had a difficult season he's been able to bounce back strong. That's what we're looking for from him coming into Buffalo here.

"I think there's opportunities on our left side right now. I think he's a guy who can play anywhere in that two, three, four hole. It's going to be a matter of how he comes in and how he performs. You look at his size and his ability to get on the forecheck, we just think he's a guy that could complement our centers well and be a guy who can sort of get his career back on track."

As we head towards training camp, the two, three and four spots on the left side are open. What makes me think that Pouliot will get first crack at No. 2?

At 6'3" 204 lbs. he has the size plus he still skates very well and he does have the skill to produce as shown by a shooting percentage that has never dipped below double-digits outside of his first three NHL games in 2006-07. Being on a line with Ryan O'Reilly should be extremely helpful as well as he works well with his line mates and creates space.

Going into the 2016-17 season, new coach Phil Housley doesn't have a lot to work with on the left side. Training camp will sort a lot of this out but it wouldn't be too surprising to see Pouliot get a good shot at landing a spot next in the top-six. What he does with that, however, is up to him.

Sabres should look at fixing the fourth line for now (Cal O'Reilly, David Legwand, Derek Grant)

Published by hockeybuzz.com 1-28-2017


Buffalo head coach Dan Bylsma had himself a bit of a problem when center Johan Larsson crashed into the boards on New Years Eve at the TD Center in Boston. The Sabres had been using Ryan O'Reilly, Jack Eichel, Larsson and Derek Grant down the middle with varying results but having Larsson out, along with O'Reilly, who had an emergency appendectomy on Christmas Day, really complicated matters.

With both O'Reilly and now Larsson out to start the 2017 portion of the season, Bylsma shifted both Sam Reinhart and Zemgus Girgensons back to center for their Jan 3 win over the New York Rangers. O'Reilly would return to the lineup for the following game at Chicago forcing Girgensons back to the wing. That would continue for one more game until Derek Grant was waived and lost to the Dallas Stars prior to a Jan 10 matchup against Philadelphia which put Girgensons was back at center.

After consecutive losses at Tampa and Carolina, and with LW Tyler Ennis returning to the lineup, Reinhart was moved back to the wing, Girgensons was bumped up to third-line center and the Sabres called up Cal O'Reilly to take over fourth-line center duties.

This is the line chart we've seen for the six games since that move minus the second game of Ennis' return when Buffalo was on a back-to-back and chose to keep him out of the lineup:

Ennis-R. O'Reilly-Kyle Okposo
Marcus Foligno-Eichel-Reinhart
Evander Kane-Girgensons-Brian Gionta
Matt Moulson-C. O'Reilly-Will Carrier/Nicolas Deslauriers

The top three lines gelled nicely during that six-game stretch as the team went 4-2, including three consecutive come-from-behind overtime wins, and outscored their opponents by a combined 21-17 score. Were it not for a series of calls that went against them at Dallas in the final game before All-Star break those numbers may have moved slightly more to the positive side.

While the top-nine has been doing their part, the fourth line has been exposed.

Prior to Larsson's injury, Grant's fourth line was on the ice for only one of 46 goals-against during a 15-game span from November 29 when Eichel returned to the lineup until the last game of 2016 when they lost Larsson for the season. In the first six games of 2017, the fourth line was out for one goal against with Girgensons centering and in the last six games Cal O'Reilly's fourth line has been out for two goals-against while he was also on the ice between Okposo and Ennis for a third.

It's not a good trend for the Sabres, especially when they could use every point they can get in the standings.

Cal O'Reilly's a hard-working veteran who, from everything I've read and heard, is a solid all-around person both on and off the ice. He played well for Buffalo last season, but this year it doesn't seem to clicking. After Grant was claimed he was the only call-up option for Buffalo and GM Tim Murray might need inclined to look outside the organization for an upgrade.

With the trade deadline a month away, a lesser move like that might be a one of those under-the-radar moves whose benefits far out weigh the coast. The Sabres, like nearly every team with their eyes on the post season, are in the hunt for an upgrade on defense but it's a seller's market and they probably won't be in the mix. The fourth-line center slot would be an easier fix and much less costly.  A player like New Jersey's Vern Fiddler who's strong on the dot plays on the Devils PK and will be an unrestricted free agent this summer may fit the bill. He was signed as a free agent in the off-season by New Jersey and dependent upon what their plans are, Fiddler might be available for a mid-to-lower round pick or prospect.

It's too bad Buffalo didn't re-sign veteran forward David Legwand. It might sound a little silly pining for a fourth-liner at the very tail-end of his career but last season he was solid in a fourth-line role while playing on the top PK unit. With him in that role the Sabres were ninth in the league on the PK last season and they're presently 29th after spending most of the season last in that department.

Hallelujah, they scored 2 goals (kind of)...and won too (Anders Nilsson, Cal O'Relly, Taylor Fedun, William Carrier)

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-20-2016


Buffalo Sabres forward Cal O'Reilly's stat line for last night's game reads like this:  0 goals, 0 assists 0 points, but the final score reads Buffalo-2, Pittsburgh-1, SO. O'Reilly scored the game-winning goal for the Sabres last night in their victory but the only player to score in regulation or overtime for Buffalo was William Carrier, so technically the Sabres scored only one goal last night for the third time in a row and the sixth time in seven games. Add in the game where they were shut out against Boston and the Sabres have scored one goal or less in seven of eight games.

That's a bit disconcerting as Buffalo is averaging a league-low 1.78 goals per game, but right now, who cares? At this point in time, the Sabres got themselves a desperately needed win by beating the defending Stanley Cup Champion Penguins. For the first time in the last nine games, no less. It was a huge win for a bedraggled group of Sabres that featured no less than five players who began the season with the Rochester Americans in the AHL and in the process they snapped a six-game winless streak.

Also included in the happiness in and around KeyBank Center were a couple of firsts.

Carrier scored his first NHL goal on a nice play where he found open space after a Pittsburgh turnover in their own end. Buffalo defenseman Taylor Fedun, appearing in his second game of the year for the Sabres, sent a shot from the point that Carrier deftly redirected past Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to put the Sabres up 1-0 just over eight minutes into the game.

Both players began the year in Rochester and Carrier told the gathered media that the redirect was something they've worked on at practice. "Me and 'Feds' have been practicing that play in Rochester and we've been practicing it at every morning skate," he said. "It's pretty nice to get that one."

Pretty nice for Sabres bench boss Dan Bylsma to get that win as well. It was the first time in four tries he was able to beat his former team and although he probably was ecstatic he finally beat the team he lead to the 2009 Cup, for him it was simply an important win for the team right now. "It doesn't really matter who it's against," he told the media post-game, "[It was] a win we desperately needed."

Perhaps the team has finally figured out a way to grind out a low-scoring win or perhaps the Sabres finally have the personnel to play and win such a game. Buffalo has been without their top two centers in Jack Eichel and Ryan O'Reilly, two cornerstones for the fast, up-tempo style of play Bylsma would prefer to play. Buffalo is also without two top-four d-men in Zach Bogosian and Dmitry Kulikov both of whom can get up-ice and move the puck well.

With four of their top-10 skaters out of the lineup, Bylsma's been trying to grind out wins. However, he's been trying to do it with young players like Nicolas Baptiste and Justin Bailey plus other, somewhat older players with very little NHL experience like Casey Nelson and Evan Rodrigues. That didn't work out very well as prior to the game last night, the Sabres had lost three in a row by a combined 12-4 score with each opponent scoring four goals against the Sabres.

The parade of call-ups continued on Saturday with 30 yr. old Cal O'Reilly and 28 yr. old Cole Schneider made the trip to Buffalo. O'Reilly has 134 NHL games to his credit and played over 500 total games at the AHL-level. Although Schneider has played in only five NHL games, he's played in over 300 in the AHL.

That duo joined  defensemen Fedun with over 300 pro games (14 in the NHL) and Justin Falk who's played in 176 NHL games plus over 300 AHL games. Both of those players are also 28 yrs. old.

Although none of those four should be considered upper-level NHL'ers, there's a lot to be said for grinding out a hockey career over the course of many years in the AHL. Individually they may only be able to have an impact on a very limited basis, but as a group, they managed to add some stability to the Buffalo lineup, giving Bylsma the low-scoring, grind-it-out game he's been forced to play.

Which was the plan going into the game against the high-flying Penguins.

"The game-plane was keeping the game 0-0, trying to win it 1-0," said Carrier. "They've got a lot of skill over there so we were just trying to keep it 0-0."

"It's kinda how we want to play the game," said Bylsma, "We wanted to play a tight game and we wanted to be comfortable in a tight game.

Keeping it a tight game would have been impossible without the stellar netminding of backup goalie Anders Nilsson. The game's first star stopped 46 of the 47 shots the Penguins threw at him in regulation and overtime plus stopped Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang in the shootout. The Penguins didn't score until the third period and it was the first time since November 14, 2003 that Pittsburgh went into the third period without a goal against the Sabres according to ROOT sports.

Nilsson increased his record in Buffalo to 2-1-2 with a 1.74 GAA and .951 Sv%.

This was a great, hard-fought win for the Sabres but all will be for naught if they cannot keep it going. They finish their four-game home-stand with visits from the Calgary Flames on Monday and the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday. The walking wounded should start returning in the latter part of this month with an expected return by Eichel before December 1.

That said, the Sabres can't rest thinking that Eichel will float down from heaven to relieve them and their fans from all the suffering that's been going on so far this season. They haven't even hit the quarter-pole yet and if they want any chance of making a run at the playoffs it needs to begin now by consistently winning without Eichel and Ryan O'Reilly and Zach Bogosian and Dmitry Kulikov.

Last night was a good start and winning with only one regulation goal is quite the feat. But methinks they'll need to score a little bit more if they want to head into Thanksgiving on a roll.

Cal O'Reilly and Cole Schneider get the call for tonight's game vs. Pittsburgh

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 11-19-2016


The call-up carousel continued this morning as the Sabres announced that forwards Cal O'Reilly and Cole Schneider have been recalled from Rochester. In a departure from what Buffalo had been doing with their many call-ups so far this season, GM Tim Murray and head coach Dan Bylsma may be looking to the two journeymen forwards to help steady a ship that's been trying to stay afloat through some pretty choppy water.

Prior to this recall the Sabres laid NHL opportunities at the feet of a group of youngins who didn't quite have the impact one would have hoped for. Three 21 yr. olds--Justin Bailey, Nicolas Baptiste and William Carrier--combined for 21 total games for Buffalo but managed only two goals, both from Baptiste, and zero assists amongst them. Of the three only Carrier remains.

With injuries putting a crimp the type of speed and skill game Bylsma likes to play, the Sabres have been trying to make the transition to more of a shutdown style. The team skated yesterday and according to media reports focused upon playing well defensively. "We talked today about concentrating on playing the right way, limiting the other team's chances," forward Matt Moulson told the gathered media after practice at KeyBank Center. "It seems like we're giving up a lot of odd-man rushes to some pretty skilled groups the last couple games so I think that's the focus. Playing the right way will lead to offensive chances and scoring chances."

The 30 yr. old O'Reilly (brother of injured Ryan) is a strong defensive forward who should help with that. O' Reilly has 133 NHL games under his belt scoring 16 goals and adding 32 assists while coming in at a pretty solid minus-five rating. Last year he got extensive playing time with Buffalo appearing in 20 games for the Sabres scoring three goals and adding four assists with a minus-1 rating.

Schneider, a Williamsville, NY native, is on his second recall for Buffalo this season. He had an assist in his first NHL game vs. Ottawa on November 9 then was sent back to Rochester after the following game. The 6'1" 200 lb. left wing was atop the AHL scoring leader board with 17 points (7+10) until O'Reilly surpassed him last night with an assist.

The Sabres face a pretty potent Pittsburgh Penguins club tonight featuring a triple threat of Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin and a goaltending duo of Marc-Andre Fleury and 22 yr. old Matt Murray.

Pittsburgh heads to Buffalo for their final game of a three-game road trip that saw them get trounced in Washington 7-1 on Wednesday then travel to Brooklyn to pull out a 3-2 overtime win over the NY Islanders. With Murray playing last night against the Isles, Fluery is almost a certainty in net for Pittsburgh.

The Sabres have had plenty of trouble against Pittsburgh as of late going 1-8-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Penguins. Last season Buffalo was 0-2-1 leaving Bylsma without a victory in his first season against his former team. Pittsburgh outscored Buffalo 12-10 in their three victories with one of those games being won in the shootout.

With the Sabres in a serious goal-scoring funk, Bylsma opted to make some changes. According to Jourdon Labarber of Sabres.com, the lines at this morning's skate were:

Evander Kane-Johan Larsson-Kyle Okposo
Marcus Foligno-Sam Reinhart-Brian Gionta
Zemgus Girgensons-Cal O'Reilly-Matt Moulson
William Carrier-Derek Grant-Cole Schneider

Reinhart gets bumped down to the second line while Larsson takes his spot on the top line. C. O'Reilly takes over at center for Girgensons who moves to left wing on that line. Labarber also notes that O'Reilly took Larsson's place on the second powerplay unit.

Bylsma needed to shake it up as the team has not scored more than two goals since October 30 in Winnipeg, a span of nine games. During that stretch they've scored two goals thrice, one goal five times and were shut out once. Remarkably, Buffalo is 2-5-2 during that span.

Analytics, schmanalytics... (Anders Nilsson, Cole Schneider, Mark Pysyk)

...sometimes you just gotta will your way to a win.


Published by hockeybuzz.com, 10-30-2016

It wasn’t a thing of beauty, but it would have made former head coach Ted Nolan proud. Nolan, who twice had stints asd the Buffalo Sabres head coach was never aan X’s and O’s kinda guy, he just got his players to believe that if you worked hard and kept at it things would eventually go your way. Often times he was right, then again, he wasn’t right enough to remain coaching in an ever-evolving NHL. Yesterday was one of those games for the Sabres where it went right as they came away with a hard-earned, 3-0 shutout win against the Florida Panthers at KeyBank Center.

For the time being, possession is the trend d’jour in the NHL and the Panthers went heavily in that direction this off season. After making the playoffs for the first time in three years with a good, young mix of talented young players that look to be on the rise, management made the decision to upgrade the blueline with analytics darlings like former NY Ranger Keith Yandel and former Sabre, Mark Pysyk. In the process they traded away gritty, Nolanesque type d-men in Eric Gudbranson, who went to Vancouver and Dmitry Kulikov, who was part of the Pysyk trade.

End of a road trip, start of a busy schedule, plus some moves (Anders Nilsson, Dmitry Kulikov)

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 10-25-2016


It's been a good while since the Buffalo Sabres came back from their three-game, western Canada swing and they had so much time between road games (four days) that the team was able to come back to Buffalo to practice before heading to Philadelphia for tonight's bout against the Flyers.

All that time away from the ice is about to end as the team begins a four-game in six-night block of games that ends with back-to-back games afternoon games vs Florida on Saturday and at Winnipeg on Sunday. The Sabres stay in the mid-west to kick off November with a game against Minnesota on the first. From then it's six games in 10 nights, two days off, then six games in 11 nights playing every other day.

Buffalo is still without forwards Jack Eichel and Evander Kane who are out long-term with injuries. An update on Eichel still had him in a walking boot nearly two weeks after suffering a high-ankle sprain while Kane is just beginning to get some movement after suffering three cracked ribs after crashing hard into the boards in the season opener. Two day, two top-six players gone for weeks.

In their absence the Buffalo has gone 1-2-1 with all their points coming on the road during the first three games of this road trip. With the Sabres scoring six of their 11 goals in one game, head coach Dan Bylsma has scoring concerns and he's trying to address them by moving forward Sam Reinhart to center between speedy jitterbug Tyler Ennis and a hard-driving Zemgus Girgensons.

After Sunday's practice Bylsma mentioned the need for Reinhart to get his feet moving more and the 20 yr. old concurred after practice yesterday. "I think when I'm playing my best I'm moving my feet and I'm taking away time and space on the forecheck from their defenders," Reinhart told the gathered media yesterday. "I think at times when I move to center it helps me do that and if I ever get a chance to go back to wing it I think it benefits my game that much more."

A shift back to the wing may very well be in Reinhart's future but for the present he's spent the last two days at practice with Ennis and Girgensons. The combined stat-line for the three coming into the game tonight is one goal and three assists.

Bylsma did more tinkering the past two days as he moved defenseman Dmitry Kulikov to the second pairing alongside Zach Bogosian in an effort to get him more ice-time. Kulikov ranks third amongst Buffalo d-men behind Rasmus Ristolainen (24:53) and Jake McCabe (20:20.) Most of Kulikov's 20:07 ATOI has come five-on-five (17:45) but he's been getting work with the powerplay units over the last couple of day.

Kulikov went to the ice writhing in pain after a check sent him and his tailbone smashing into the corner of an open bench door.

The big news for Buffalo is back up goaltender Anders Nilsson getting his first start in a Sabres uniform. Starter Robin Lehner is out with an illness so Nilsson gets the call.  Fans in Buffalo (and possibly around the league) were scratching their collective heads at GM Tim Murray's trade for Nilsson. Murray sent a 2017 fifth-rounder to the St. Louis Blues for Nilsson and his career 3.09 goals against average, .900 save percentage and overall 19-22-4 NHL record. However, Nilsson did have a strong training camp.

Goalie Linus Ullmark got the call from Rochester to be Nilsson's back up. Ullmark has been rounding into form for the Amerks after a rough start. In four games he's 3-1-0 with a 2.75 gaa and a .926 sv%. He started out 1-1 giving up four goals in each game on a combined 73 shots (.890 sv%) but since has gone 2-0 allowing only three goals even though he continued to get shelled in net to the tune of 75 shots (.960 sv%.)

Buffalo also recalled forward Hudson Fasching and defenseman Casey Nelson from Rochester after the Amerks 3-1 win at Binghamton against the Senators (OTT) Saturday night.

The game tonight is on NBCSN at 7:30 p.m., just a half-hour before Game-1 of an intriguing World Series between the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs. Buffalo fans know all about droughts but this one features a Cleveland franchise that hasn't won a World Series since 1948 and Cubs franchise that hasn't done so since 1908. The last Cubs appearance in the fall classic was in 1945.

Sabres begin back-to-back against Toronto tonight, plus other notes (Anders Nilsson, Nick Baptiste)

Published by hockeybuzz.com--9-29-2016


It's been just over three years, and a whole lot of losing in between, since the infamous John Scott/Phil Kessel incident at Air Canada Center in Toronto. After Toronto's Jamie Devane pummeled Buffalo's Corey Tropp in a scrap, the two teams lined up for a faceoff at center ice and the 6'8" Scott found himself next to 6' Kessel with the Sabres in retribution-mode. Words were exchanged, the puck was dropped, Scott went after Kessel and Kessel started hacking at Scott's ankles with his stick.

Since then Kessel was traded by Toronto to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2015 and won the Stanley Cup with his new team a year later. Scott bounced from the Sabres to the San Jose Sharks, to the Arizona Coyotes. Scott won the NHL All-Star fan vote and seemingly at the behest of the league was shipped by the 'Yotes to the Montreal Canadiens where they sent him to the minors so he couldn't be a part of the All-Star Game. Scott would not only play in the game but was named MVP and had the pleasure of receiving a check from the league (to it's embarrassment.) He went home with a new Honda Pilot, $90,000 as being part of the winning team and was with his wife when she gave birth to twins less than a week later.

As for the teams, the Sabres were a mess during that 2013-14 season and plummeted to the bottom of the league two years running for a complete rebuild. The Leafs would follow suit two years later punctuated by the trade of Kessel. Now both teams are armed with a bevy of youngsters and are about to make their climb up the standings.

Have you recovered from the Evander Kane/Tyler Myers trade yet? (Brendan Lemieux, Jhonas Enroth, Joel Armia)

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


Lost in the whirlwind trade that included one often talked about d-man long-rumored to be on the move plus a volcanic eruption of speculation in a 23 yr. old left-winger described as a misfit are a couple pieces that were largely ignored in the blockbuster deal between the Winnipeg Jets and the Buffalo Sabres.

But before we get to that, the earthquake that was the Kane/Myers trade was swallowed up another move by Sabres GM Tim Murray done later in the day. He sent soon to be unrestricted free agent goalie Jhonas Enroth to the Dallas Stars for a struggling back-up goalie in Anders Lindback and a conditional 2016 3rd round pick. According to TSN's Bob McKenzie the pick could be a 2nd-rounder should Enroth wins four playoff games for the Stars.

At this point in time, Dallas is five points behind Calgary with one game in hand and there are two other teams ahead of them in the chase--Minnesota  and Los Angeles. The Stars have been struggling all season with their goaltending and as a team sit 28th in the league in goals-against average at 3.20. Only the Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo are worse. In addition to that, Dallas moved on from a goalie with one of the worst gaa in the league at 3.71 and one of the worst sv% at .875 to Enroth who has a respectable line of 3.27 gaa and .903 sv%. Enroth also won 13 games for the worst team in the league and rocked the shootout this season with a 5-0 record and a .953 sv%.

A tale of two teams (Akim Aliu,Tyler Ennis, Tyler Myers)

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


Before we get to hockey, for the first time since 1960, the Buffalo Bills will officially have a new owner at kickoff.

Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula and his wife Kim were approved as owners of the Bills on Wednesday and will be in the owner's box today as the Bills take on archrival New England for first place in the division.

The question asked often is what will the Pegula's do with the management structure and coaching staff? Will they keep them or will they clean house and bring in "their own people."

About the only thing we can hope for is that the Pegula's are intent upon having the best minds possible to run the team. If the best minds happen to be President and CEO Russ Brandon, GM Doug Whaley and head coach Doug Marrone, so be it. I happen to like Whaley and Marrone, but I'm pretty sure that the Pegula's investment of $1.4B to purchase the Bills might just trump this bloggers opinion.

2 hours, 15 minutes (Andre Jeszaros, Cody McCormick)

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


When Sabres GM Tim Murray mentioned that he was surprised at how much interest there was in the Buffalo Sabres, it was hard to gauge just how much.

Talk is talk but putting signatures to a contract is another matter.

And when Murray mentioned that the interest in Buffalo came from legitimate NHL players, we weren't really sure just how legit.

For Buffalo Sabres fans, the start to free agent yesterday was a somewhat of a shocker.

In a good way.

Murray inked five legitimate NHL'ers who, he said, "wanted to come to here."

Buffalo/Toronto line brawl brings old-time hockey back. And it's only preseason. (Corey Tropp, John Scott)

The photo at your left is not photoshopped.

It is an actual photo of the Sabres Ryan Miller and the Leaves Jonathan Bernier getting ready to square off in a preseason game in Toronto.

Miller had never been in an NHL fight (nor has Bernier.)

Although Miller lost the fight, he took all in stride and even took pride in going at it for the first time especially in Toronto, "I thought [Bernier] was just doing a little flair-for-the-crowd thing. Just kind of say, ‘Hey, Do you want to go?’ I wanted to just get my reps in. I’m not a fighter. I think Bernier even has me in weight,” Miller said.

“But you can’t pass up a fight in Toronto in Maple Leaf Gardens. Back off from that one and, you know, what kind of hockey player are you? So I figure might as well give it a shot. I thought I did OK. He got loose a little bit on me there but towards the end, kind of got back into it.

You gotta do what you gotta do. I thought it was actually kind of fun. Might as well have a fight on your resume in Maple Leaf Gardens.”

The bout was an addendum to the melee that ensued prior.

At 10:01 of the third period, the Sabres and Maple Leaves had themselves a good, old fashioned donnybrook with over 200 minutes in penalties, 11 misconducts, a 10-minute match penalty for the Leaves Phil Kessel, a 10-minute leaving the bench penalty for the Toronto's David Clarkson and three game misconducts.

Jonas Siegel of tsn.ca sets the scene:

"The story begins with a goal.

A third round selection of the Sabres in 2007, Corey Tropp had redirected an effort from the point by Jamie McBain, one that beat Jonathan Bernier and cut the Toronto lead to one midway through the third period. Lining up at centre ice seconds after his first marker of the preseason, Tropp takes a tug at the sweater of Jamie Devane, a player looming high above weight class. The pair exchange a series of awkward fisticuffs, capped by Tropp losing his bucket, his head landing square on the ice with an alarming thud.

Blood is chipped off the ice during the television timeout and order is seemingly restored. Lingering near the Toronto bench though at left wing for Buffalo is [John] Scott, he of 63 career fights, the 30-year-old with plans on redeeming his fallen teammate."

Toronto coach Randy Carlyle, who has the last change as the home team, sends out a scoring line featuring Kessel, Carter Ashton and Tyler Bozak.

The Sabres John Scott is at the bottom
of this pile with only the top of his head and
hands visible.

Kessel was next to Scott on the faceoff and according to Kessel, “[Scott] said he was going to jump me.”

Sure enough, Scott went after Kessel and Kessel did his best lumberjack impersonation swinging his stick wildly at Scott.

From there the fun began.

Ashton and former Sabre TJ Brennan as well as a linesman jump Scott. Burying him beneath a pile of bodies.

The Sabres Drew Bagnall jumps in to help. He gets double-teamed as Clarkson joins the fray from the bench and Ashton belts him with a sucker-punch.

Sabres d-man Chad Ruhwedel ends up ragdolling Bozak. Kessel ends up bloodying Flynn. Scott ends up dancing with Clarkson, a linesman clinging to his arm, and challenges the Leaves bench as they waltz on by.



Maybe what pissed off the Sabres is how it looked as if Devane purposely rammed Tropp's head into the ice with his forearm while the two were going down.

Or how just prior to Tropp's goal in the game, Marcus Foligno was boarded by Brennan, a play that should have been a penalty.

Said Flynn, "“It was obviously the shift before that. There’s a lot going on out there,” Flynn said. “That’s why we have John [Scott]. John handles those situations and their whole team jumped in, so we jumped in." Scott, by the way, had the primary assist on Nikita Zadorov's late first period goal.

The Leaves were an ornery bunch the night before as well. Ashton and the Sabres Steve Ott went at it while Dion Phaneuf harassed the Sabres' Patrick Kaleta trying to get him to drop the gloves late in the game.

Troy Bodie immediately followed Phaneuf's lead, goading Kaleta into dropping the gloves. The 6'5" Bodie got the worst of the fight with the 6'1" Kaleta.

And this was just preseason.

Can't wait for November 15th when the Leaves visit Buffalo. Or for a possible Round-3 when the Sabres head to Toronto the following night.

The Sabres add three forwards in the second-round of the 2013 draft (Andrej Sekera, Connor Hurley, J.T. Compher, Justin Bailey)

After going with defensemen Rasmus Ristolainen and Nikita Zadorov in the first-round, the Sabres turned their attention to forwards in the second. Whether defense or offense, there was a theme that ran through their first five picks--two-way players.

Even though Ristolainen and Zadarov are big, defensively responsible players, both have some offense to their games and consider themselves two-way players.

In the second-round we would see more of that theme with all three picks. "Three" being the operative word as the Sabres added a pick.

Having three picks in the second round was, in essence, defined by selection of Ristolainen.


The trade that wasn't and the trade that was

Picking a defensemen like Ristolainen who they considered to be "NHL-ready" allowed the Sabres to move veteran puck-moving rear-guard Andrej Sekera at the draft.

Sekera had been in the organization since he was drafted in the third round (#71) of the 2004 NHL Draft and he was also a key component for Carolina in a potential trade-back from the 5th pick with the Sabres. The potential deal went like this:  Carolina trades No. 5 along with defensemen Jamie McBain to Buffalo for No. 8 and Sekera.

The Sabres balked.

When the second round came around, Assistant General Manager/Head Amateur Scout Kevin Devine said that the Sabres were ready to use both their second-rounders (#38 and #52) to move up to land a player they coveted.

"We were actually trying to move up to possibly get him," said Devine, "when our phone rang with the offer from Carolina. To be able to keep [our picks] was nice."

Sekera went to the 'Canes and in return the Sabres got McBain and Carolina's second-round pick (#35) in the deal.


The picks

With that pick the Sabres started a run of forwards by drafting C JT Compher, the player Devine and Co. wanted.

"We thought Compher would be gone by the 38th pick," continued Devine. "We looked at moving up to the first round, but there were no takers there.We would have lost both 38 and 52, so it worked out pretty good."

Compher is known for his hard-working, two-way game and it would seem as if they went after a player comparable to Horvat, albeit with a little less on the skill side.

And although the team went away from the "bigger, faster, stronger" mantra with the pick with the 5'10" 185 lb Compher, they stuck with owner Terry Pegula's stated desire for hard-working players.

What he lacks in size Compher, it's said, makes up for in compete. He's said to be relentless in all areas, especially on the back-check, an area severely lacking during "the core" days.

The two second round picks that Devine saved by not having to trade up to get Compher were used on a couple of forwards who also have strong two-way games.

With the 38th pick in the draft the Sabres went with the youngest player in the draft Edina (MN) High School forward Connor Hurley.

An obvious project, Hurley has enough skill that if he were born just a day later, he'd have been projected as a first-rounder in the 2014 Draft. Instead he'll be in the Sabres organization playing in the USHL next year then headed to Notre Dame the following year.

This pick is all about upside for Hurley. Not two or three years, but maybe four or even five years down the road. If he ends up making an impact in the NHL, it will be a tribute to the projections of the Sabres' scouting staff. If he bombs, he'll get lost in the number of overall picks the Sabres had in the first two rounds of the draft.

Many had thought that Williamsville, NY native Justin Bailey would be the Sabres pick at 38, but Buffalo was lucky to be able to land him at No. 52 with the third of their three second-round picks.

Bailey is a 6'3" LW who will have time to bulk up from his 183 lbs. He plays a two-way game and has all the makings of an NHL power forward, but will need to work on his strength and consistency. Right now he skates well, can weave through traffic and can finish, which makes for great skill-side building blocks.

He seems to be a high-character guy as well. One would also believe that the motivation to make the home team proud should propel his work-ethic and desire to move up the prospect ranks.

We know everyone in Buffalo will be rooting for him.


The skinny

With three second-round picks in what's said to be a deep draft, the Sabres fortified their prospect pool with the addition of three forwards.

Work-ethic and two-way acumen seem to be desirable cornerstones with which the Sabres want to rebuild and all three second-round selections have that.

Gone are the days of picking that purse-carrying skilled player.

The Sekera trade added a interesting twist to the second round, and one would think that the Sabres were thrilled to not only get their man in Compher, but also to be able to keep their selections and add to the talent pool.

Bailey is a very good pick and has all the makings of a power forward a few years down the road, but the most intriguing pick may be Hurley.

In effect, one could look at Hurley as a 2014 first-round pick whom the Sabres were able to draft a year early. He seems to have a helluva skill-set and that work-ethic/two-way acumen. But the best part of that pick for the organization might just be time. Hurley will have plenty of time to hone his skills while the Sabres can be extremely patient in the process.

All in all the first two rounds were solid. Maybe not as flashy as most had hoped, but rock solid none-the-less.

The rebuild is on, and if there was a question as to the types of players the Sabres are rebuilding with, the first two rounds of this draft certainly provides a strong indication as to where they're headed.

They've added two towering, gritty d-men on the back-end and traded a puck mover to make some room. They continued to build up-front with two-way acumen being the desired trait. They added tons of compete and plenty of upside plus gained some size on the wing.

These are the types of players that have been lacking for a number of years, maybe dating back to 2007/08 when the NHL was transitioning away from the "new-NHL" to a more old-school grind it out style.

The players selected in this draft, along with the likes of Steve Ott represent players who should be able to play in any style NHL.

And that's a helluva foundation with which to build upon.




For more detailed information on the players selected by the Buffalo Sabres and an overview of rounds three-seven, visit our good friend Kris Baker at sabresprospects.com.

You can't teach old dogs new tricks, or... (Andrej Sekera, Cody Hodgson, Drew Stafford, Jochen Hecht)

which "core" veterans will be retained?

I like interim head coach Ron Rolston.

I like his attention to detail, I like what he's stressed defensively and I like he work he's done with the players he's been given.

In a very short time he's managed to stabilize a very ugly situation. The team is still blowing leads, still laying an egg from time to time and still playing inconsistent hockey, but there seems to be more of a concerted effort, especially in the defensive zone.

There are still some concerns, like the ability to bury a scoring chance. It's something that's been going on for years. Two nights ago at Winnipeg, forward Thomas Vanek admitted that he could've had at least three, maybe four goals instead of none.

Other areas of concern are poor passing, a tendency to play "too cute," and an anemic powerplay. All of which are intertwined and were at one point getting better. Unfortunately it's gone south.

Rolston walked into a huge headache and he's done admirably thus far. The Sabres have a 10-8-5 record since he took over. Whether or not he'll get another shot next year is up in the air, but one thing we know; the organization is continuing to part ways with the "old dogs" of the team; read GM Darcy Regier's "core" or, as President Ted Black calls them, the "Rochester Guys."

There are only three Sabres left who go back to the first post-lockout season--Vanek, Ryan Miller and Jochen Hecht. Two others, Drew Stafford and Andrej Sekera made their debuts in the 2006/07 season.

How are these "old dogs" doing in the 23 games with Rolston at the helm?

Vanek--14 games played:  4 goals, 4 assists, -2
Hecht--22 GP (one healthy scratch):  3g, 4a, +5
Stafford--21 GP (two healthy scratches):  4g, 2a, -11
Sekera--17 GP:  1g, 7a, +2

Miller--20 GP (one in relief late in the third):  8 wins, 8 losses, 4 OT/SO losses (including the relief appearance) On Feb 21, he had a 2.94 GAA and a .915 Sv%. As of today he has a 2.78 GAA and a .914 Sv.%.

Come June and beyond, it would seem as if more big changes are on the way with the above five players being the focus.

Two of them, Vanek and Miller, have hefty cap-hits for the 2013/14 season,Vanek-$7.1M and Miller $6.25M, and both will be on the last year of those contracts.  Both are core players in the middle of their prime and both have said that they're really not looking forward to a long rebuilding process.

About the only difference between the two heading into next season is Miller having a limited no-trade contract. Vanek has not.

One or both may be gone in the off-season, be it an organizational decision or the individual players decision.

Stafford is signed for $4M over the next two seasons. Sekera has a $2.75M cap-hit for two more seasons, but is only due $3.5M in salary over those two seasons.

Hecht will be an unrestricted free agent at seasons' end.

Stafford has had a horrendous season and his name was linked to trade rumors for a month leading up to the April 3 trade deadline. He could find his way to another team for "fresh start."

Sekera is somewhat of a wizard. Some of his plays are so atrocious--like a direct responsibility for both Boston goals in a 2-0 loss, that you want him shipped to the KHL. Yet, he manages to play a good "puckmover" type of game, and the next thing you know he has goals, assists and is in the plus-column.

As for Hecht. As long as Rolston or any other coach uses him in a 4th-line/bottom-six role, his game has worth. Plus he doesn't carry a hefty price-tag anymore.

In addition to the future of interim coach Rolston, question marks abound with the Sabres organization going forward. And that includes the GM position where one could speculate as to whether or not Regier will be in charge of the rebuild. In the past month he has amassed a bevy of picks by trading Jordan Leopold (2013 2nd-rounder) and Robyn Regehr (2014 2nd and 2015 2nd).

He also received a 2013 1st and 2014 2nd from Minnesota for Jason Pominville at the trade deadline. In addition to those two picks he received two mid-upper level prospects:  forward Johan Larsson and goalie Matt Hackett.

Senior Advisor Ken Sawyer, owner Terry Pegula's right-hand man, has called Regier a "hockey genius." Based upon the work Regier has done between the 2012 and 2013 trade deadlines, it would be a very accurate statement...at least when it comes to acquiring draft picks and prospects.

But Regier has not made any moves for roster players since Steve Ott came over from Dallas for Derek Roy, which may lead one to believe that Pegula's unsure as to Regier's choice of roster players.

Circling back to the "old dogs" learning Rolston's new tricks, the stat-line for the recently traded Pominville--the captain of "the core"--under Rolston:  20 GP, 3g, 7a, +3.

By comparison, Vanek and Pominville's center through most of the season has been Cody Hodgson. Under Rolston:  22 GP, 6g, 9a, +4.

Hodgson, it should be noted, played 19 games in Rochester with Rolston as head coach. He had 5g, 14a, and was a minus-3.

Which of the veterans will be around at the beginning of next season?

Maybe the first question should be, what kind of player does Pegula want?

Methinks this quote from Pegula's initial presser is the one that should come to the forefront:

"I want not only statistically good players, but winners, gritty players."

Legendary Hall of Fame coach Al Arbour, revered the same qualities in his players as well. When asked by Mark Malinkowski of the Hockey News the people/personality qualities he most admired, Arbour said, "Honesty. The grit. The people who never quit."

It's almost time for a look at who will be a part of the Pegula Rewards Program, 2013.


Addendum

Regier receives a vote of confidence from Black this morning:

“My opinion of Darcy is based on my work history with him, which is two years,” Black said. “That’s how I judge him. I think the opportunities that he’s had, whether it be through free agency to the trade deadlines and the draft, I think he has done well in each of those instances.


“That doesn’t mean that I think Darcy has built a championship team right now since we’ve bought the team. I think he has used those opportunities to improve us.”