Note: This article is part of a top-10 countdown of the Buffalo Sabres‘ top prospects. In order to be considered a prospect, the player has to be eligible for the Calder Trophy this season, which means they cannot have played more than 25 games in the NHL in any season prior. This removes Corey Tropp, Luke Adam, Jhonas Enroth and Cody Hodgson from contention.
The Buffalo Sabres found themselves in a position they never felt possible at the 2012 NHL Entry Draft: In the position to draft Mikhail Grigorenko.
Grigorenko was slated as a sure thing top-five pick for most of the 2011-12 season, ranking up there with Nail Yakupov, Alex Galchenyuk and Ryan Murray, all of whom went in the top three. An extremely talented pivot with size and obvious hockey IQ, Grigorenko seemed like a slam dunk to go early in the draft. He was even compared to Evgeni Malkin by a number of scouts.
But then came the questions.
There were knocks on his desire to play in the NHL given his obvious KHL connections. There was also a lot of talk on his hustle and even whether or not he was really 20 years old, and not 18.
But his coach in the QMJHL, NHL legend Patrick Roy, never has questioned his hustle or desire to play in the NHL, and he cited mono as the reason for Grigorenko‘s lethargic play in the later part of the season last year.
Despite all the knocks, Grigorenko still finished with 85 points in 59 games, which is extremely impressive for a major junior rookie.
So after being drafted 12th overall, Grigorenko seems to have returned to the QMJHL with a chip on his shoulder.
After being overshadowed in the offseason by the undrafted talent in the league, including 2013’s top-pick candidates Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin, Grigorenko has taken over the league.
In 30 games, Grigorenko has 29 goals and 50 points, good for fourth in the league. His play also has the Quebec Remparts on top of the TELUS East Division with a 22-8-1 record.
When the NHL gets around to playing again, Grigorenko has certainly made a case for his nine-game tryout. The general school of thought is that Grigorenko will have the inside track on the Sabres’ third-line center spot, but that will depend on how well his QMJHL dominance translates to the NHL level.
Grigorenko has the ability to be one of the most talented Sabres ever. Sabres fans certainly hope those Malkin comparisons are accurate.
Here’s a recap of the rest of the countdown:
10. Jake McCabe
9. Connor Knapp
7. TJ Brennan
5. Mark Pysyk
2. Joel Armia
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The Buffalo Sabres’ history is full of blockbuster trades that have included the likes of Pat LaFontaine, Dale Hawerchuk and Danny Gare. Yet the blockbuster trade is not necessarily the one that works out best for a team in the long run.
Sometimes, it’s the marginal trade that ends up building a contender for years to come because sometimes that sixth round pick is Pavel Datsyuk.
A trade in the NHL has the potential to be groundbreaking no matter who or what is going either way, and the Sabres have been able to pull off both the blockbusters and the small trades since their inception in 1970.
Here are the five best trades in Sabres history.
Note: This article is part of a top-ten countdown of the Buffalo Sabres‘ top prospects. In order to be considered a prospect, the player has to be eligible for the Calder Trophy this season, which means they cannot have played more than 25 games in the NHL in any season prior. This removes Corey Tropp, Luke Adam, Jhonas Enroth and Cody Hodgson from contention.
When the Buffalo Sabres entered the 2011 NHL Draft, the lingering taste in their mouths from the seven-game loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs did not sit well. What many blamed for the loss was the lack of top-tier goal scoring talent.
With the 16th pick in the Round 1 of the draft, Sabres general manager Darcy Regier sought to change that goal scoring problem by selecting Joel Armia out of the Finnish pro league. A winger with size and skating ability, Armia has been pegged by many as possibly the best goal scorer in the 2011 draft class.
Despite all of this talent, Armia may be somewhat of an enigma to Sabres fans. Armia has played in the Finnish pro league for Assat Pori since being drafted, meaning, aside from the occasional YouTube highlight, not many in North America have been able to watch him play.
Here is what Sabres fans need to know about Armia:
First, checking HockeyDB will not give you an accurate portrayal of Armia‘s abilities. In his third year with Assat Pori, Armia has scored 45 goals in 124 games, which certainly does not scream superstar. However, it is worth noting that Armia is 19 years old and playing with much older players, both in age and in body composition. A few years of NHL-level strength training and competition will do wonders for Armia.
Second, the kid is talented. He was seen as one of the best players, if not the best, on the Finnish World Junior Championship team the past two years, including the tournament held in Buffalo. That team also included Minnesota Wild blue chip prospect Mikael Granlund, so that’s the type of talent he has played with.
Third, he can score. 18 goals may not seem like a lot, but it ranked 11th in 2010-2011 and 16th in 2011-2012 in the league. He also has been compared to Jeff Carter, who was a big part of the Los Angeles Kings winning the Stanley Cup last year.
Look for Armia to be stateside this year, with his requisite military service ending after this season. Where he ends up will likely depend on the health of Corey Tropp and the plan for Patrick Kaleta, but he will certainly have a shot at becoming a part of the Sabres NHL club come next September.
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Earlier in September, Buffalo Sabres fans saw the opening of Alumni Plaza outside of the First Niagara Center with an impressive statue honoring the hallowed French Connection.
It goes without saying that the line of Rick Martin, Gilbert Perreault and Rene Robert was one of the most impressive in NHL history, never mind Sabres history. Each player finished their Sabres career with at least 200 goals and better than a point per game.
Gilbert Perreault was easily the most talented of the three, with his smooth skating and soft hands leading the way for the Sabres for the better part of two decades. Perreault is the franchise leader in both goals (512) and assists (814). Those marks are likely to stand for many years to come.
Perreault was also the first Sabre to have his number retired, with No. 11 raised to the rafters of the Memorial Auditorium in 1990.
Perreault was recognized on the NHL level as well with his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1990. He currently sits 25th on the all-time list for assists, 31st for points and 37th for goals.
Rick Martin, like Perreault, essentially played his entire career with the Sabres, except for four games over two seasons for the Los Angeles Kings. Martin was the Sabres’ first sniper, scoring 40-plus goals in five different seasons and twice scoring 52.
Martin benefited from the vision and skill of Perreault and Robert, but was an excellent player himself. After his death in 2011, the Sabres painted two No. 7’s behind each goal to honor Martin. Martin’s No. 7 was retired by the Sabres in 1995.
Rene Robert was the least tenured Sabre of the three, having played five full seasons for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Colorado Rockies (now the New Jersey Devils) and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Yet his arrival in 1972 sparked the creation of the French Connection and launched one of the most exciting eras in Sabres history.
Robert was more of a playmaker than a goal scorer, but was adept at both, notching a 60-assist season and two 40-goal seasons. Robert is one of only five Sabres to score 100 points in a season, together with Perreault, Pierre Turgeon, Alexander Mogilny and Pat LaFontaine.
So, with the French Connection memorialized in Alumni Plaza, who will be the next group to join them?
While statues will certainly not be the norm, look for nods to Scotty Bowman, Punch Imlach, Pat LaFontaine, Dominik Hasek, Alexander Mogilny, Dale Hawerchuk, Dave Andreychuk and Phil Housley.
Once hockey starts again, Alumni Plaza will be a great place for Sabres fans to honor their greats, before and after the game.
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When the Buffalo Sabres signed defenseman Christian Ehrhoff last summer, expectations were high for both him and the team. However, Ehrhoff and the Sabres failed miserably at living up to those hopes. So should fans expect a bounce-back year from the German blueliner and his teammates?
One thing they should count on is Ehrhoff being in midseason form when play does resume.
He’s been lacing them up for Krefeld in Germany’s premiere Deutsche Eishockey Liga since mid-September. It’s familiar territory for the 30-year-old, as he started his pro career with the same team in 1999.
Bad luck was also part of his struggles last year, as he missed 16 games due to injury.
Although his production was down, his impact in the Sabres’ lineup was still huge. They went 3-10-3 without him.
Here we’ll examine four different reasons why Ehrhoff will improve on his disappointing 2011-12 campaign.
It’s safe to say every Buffalo Sabres fan has their own opinion about the contract general manager Darcy Regier gave Ville Leino last offseason.
Whenever you see a six-year, $27 million deal in the NHL, it attracts a lot of attention.
When it comes to dollars and cents (and maybe sense), Leino did not live up to his billing last season. There is no debate about that. Ask him and he’ll probably tell you himself that he was not pleased with how his season went.
His rollercoaster ride can be summed up pretty succinctly. He scored in the Sabres’ first game, then scored a goal and had two assists in the next 21 games. After finding a groove and scoring five points in his next seven outings, he injured his ankle and missed the next 11 games. He was held scoreless in his first seven games back from injury, and then was steady from that point on.
There were many quasi-excuses made for Leino over the course of the season, with the main one being he was not comfortable making the transition to center and couldn’t pick up coach Lindy Ruff’s system as a result.
We’ll come back to that notion in a minute, but on a high level it looks like Regier got robbed on the side of the highway by Leino.
It’s a given that Leino, per his performance last season, is not worth the $4.5 million per year price tag. But the other related question is whether or not he is a positive force on the ice for the Sabres.
That’s where you need to look a bit closer; where appearances on a score sheet do not necessarily tell the entire story.
Leino is all about puck possession. If you talk to a sample of NHL general managers and coaches, his name would certainly be one of the first to come up if the conversation turned to the best puck-possessing forwards in the game.
One of the biggest issues Leino had in his first few months as a Sabre was getting used to a role that was not suited for his possessing style. Centers in Lindy Ruff’s system are not given many opportunities to possess the puck low in the offensive zone, Leino‘s strong suit. Instead, Ruff likes his centers to be in the slot and to rotate down when necessary.
This obviously impacted Leino in the sense that he was taken out of his comfort zone. But, as many Sabres fans have argued, when you’re paid $4.5 million a year, the expectation is that you are a good enough hockey player to adapt to a new system.
That thought is completely true, but it should also be pointed out that when Leino was eventually given the same system he had in Philadelphia, he started playing some really good hockey. His shallow zone turnovers disappeared. He created ice for Jason Pominville and Derek Roy. His defensive zone coverage was superb.
So, yes, Leino did not perform to his contract last season, no one can argue he did, and he may never be a true $4.5 million guy. But the reality is that if he plays like he did down the stretch last season, he may be an extremely valuable piece to the Sabres moving forward.
Moving forward, Leino would be an excellent linemate for Mikhail Grigorenko, who continues to dazzle in the QMJHL. Despite the Sabres’ scouting director Kevin Devine’s recent comments that it will be “difficult” for Grigorenko to make the team, anything can happen. Leino‘s style of play would be a perfect complement to Grigorenko‘s, with their other linemate possibly being the newly-acquired Steve Ott.
Look for a bounce-back year from Leino. Any expectations of 60-plus points may be a pipe dream, but strong two-way play and a ferocious forecheck should be expected in a second or third-line role.
No, it’s not a $4.5 million role, but eventually Sabres fans are going to have to look past that aspect and concentrate on the positives he brings to the ice.
Read more Buffalo Sabres news on BleacherReport.com
Note: This article is part of a top-ten countdown of the Buffalo Sabres‘ top prospects. In order to be considered a prospect, the player has to be eligible for the Calder Trophy this season, which means they cannot have played more than 25 games in the NHL in any season prior. This removes Corey Tropp, Luke Adam, Jhonas Enroth and Cody Hodgson from contention.
When the Buffalo Sabres took Brayden McNabb in the third-round of the 2009 draft, they seemed to be following a pattern.
After the selection of 6’8″ Tyler Myers in 2008, the selection of 6’4″ McNabb seemed to show the Sabres wanted to get bigger on the back end. But, like Myers, McNabb’s size certainly has not held him back offensively.
In his four seasons with the Kootenay Ice of the WHL, McNabb scored 50 goals and had 175 total points in 258 games, including a 72-point season in 2010-11. McNabb was also the Ice’s captain during his final season.
That success carried over to the AHL with the Rochester Americans, where McNabb posted 30 points in 45 games during his rookie campaign. His production earned him a prolonged stint with the Sabres in December, where he scored 8 points in 25 games.
More important than his point production was his comfort level in his own zone and his physical play, something that the Sabres sorely needed at that time.
With the lockout dragging on, McNabb has started this season with the Amerks in the AHL, where he has impressed with six points in 10 games and a plus-minus rating of plus-four.
McNabb has a bright future with the Sabres, with the dream of having him and Myers on the same defensive pairing could cause opposing forwards to have nightmares.
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The Buffalo Sabres were considered serious contenders in the East coming into last season. But after finishing ninth and missing the playoffs for the third time in five years, they ended up being the biggest disappointment in the NHL. So does that mean there’s serious pressure on Lindy Ruff and Darcy Regier this year?
Few would deny both men will find themselves on the hot seat if their team has a repeat performance of 2011-12.
This is a new era in the history of this team. The Sabres are no longer a franchise bound by a self-imposed budget.
Terry Pegula has brought hope and a whole lot of money to western New York. He shouted from the rooftops that he would do anything to bring a Stanley Cup to Buffalo.
Surprisingly enough, he left the incumbent coach and general manager in charge of that mission.
It’s rare in today’s sports world to see new ownership come in and not clean house. However, it’s also just as strange to see a team that’s had the same coach and GM tandem for 14 years.
Especially when that tandem has never won a championship.
Ruff and Regier have had different periods in their tenure together where they’ve enjoyed immense success. All of it was accomplished under ownership that was more concerned with the bottom line than the product on the ice. And for that they should be commended.
Yet, none of that changes what happened last year.
After trading for Robyn Regehr, then signing Christian Ehrhoff and Ville Leino, Sabres fans saw right away Mr. Pegula wasn’t afraid to open his wallet. The problem with that, though, is the risk you take in overpaying the wrong player.
With that being said, it’s hard to write off Leino as a bust after only one season. In fact, some of his struggles rest squarely on the shoulders of Ruff.
He labored to find a home for Leino throughout the year, and rarely kept him with the same linemates for more than a few games. It’s hard to develop any continuity if the players around you are constantly changing.
Is there any excuse for scoring 25 points while making $4.5 million?
Of course not. But Ruff did little to put Leino in a position to succeed, which is a fundamental responsibility of coaching.
And regardless of what you thought of Derek Roy, the former Sabre rightfully spoke out against Ruff’s propensity for calling out his players in the media when spoke to told John Vogl of The Buffalo News:
To be pointing fingers now is obviously tough. Behind closed doors, I think it’s fine. You can be hard. It’s not fun, but it’s good to be hard on your players behind closed doors, on the bench to get them pumped up. I’m not a coach, but I don’t think it’s the right thing to be saying it to the media.
He’s right. That’s another prime example of an ineffective strategy Lindy’s employed that does nothing but antagonize and irritate his team. Ruff should take a step back this season and think about keeping his most poignant criticisms inside the room.
The development (or lack thereof) of Cody Hodgson should go a long way this year in determining whether Ruff’s message is getting through or whether it’s stale and tired.
As for Regier, he’s as responsible as anyone for the success of the Sabres because he assembled this roster.
Since coming back from the last lockout, the biggest knock on Darcy has been his tendency to fall in love with his players. Roy forced his hand by taking his issues with Ruff public.
But if Buffalo struggles coming out of the gate again, will he pull the trigger on a deal to shake things up? Would he send Drew Stafford packing if the winger underachieves for a second straight season?
After the nosedive the Sabres took following the Milan Lucic incident, this team was begging for a change. Players looked disinterested and the effort on the ice was subpar.
Yet, Regier failed to make a move early enough to make a difference. He had a perfect opportunity to show he was going to be more aggressive under Pegula, and he dropped the ball. Buffalo ultimately played themselves into a hole they could never climb out of.
Harrison Mooney of Yahoo.com also thinks this is a make-or-break season for Ruff and Regier:
With Terry Pegula desperate for a winner, one has to wonder if the other end of their leash might actually be tied to something now. Ruff especially has to consider himself on the hot seat. Buffalo won’t have success unless Ryan Miller is on his game, and tweaking his system to give Miller a bit more support couldn’t hurt. If he doesn’t, the Sabres might have to find someone who will.
When you factor in the new ownership, the Sabres’ performance last season and their failure to win a Cup in 14 years together, it’s clear Lindy Ruff and Darcy Regier both have enormous pressure on them this year.
It seems unlikely management would fire one and not the other. Both men need to break out of the bad habits they’ve developed over time if they want to keep their jobs.
Otherwise, we’ll be talking about their replacements next offseason.
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On February 23, 2011 Terry Pegula stood in the lobby of the First Niagara Center and introduced himself to the fans of the Buffalo Sabres. In that press conference, Pegula stated that above anything, he was a fan of the Sabres and wanted to compete for a Stanley Cup.
In the full season since he took charge, Pegula‘s Sabres have not shown they are ready for the Stanley Cup.
Ryan Miller was not himself for the first half of last season, the defense struggled due to injuries, the offense struggled to score at times and the powerplay and penalty kill were not nearly as reliable as they had been in seasons past.
So has Pegula failed?
Not even close.
Yes, the team has not been the most successful since Pegula‘s arrival, but he has been in charge for only one full season. Beyond that, if anyone believes that the Sabres are in a worse position than they were two years ago, there are a number of things they have missed.
First, Pegula has completely changed the culture and landscape of what it means to come play hockey in Buffalo. One of the biggest complaints from fans about the Sabres is that “no one wants to come play in Buffalo,” and before Pegula, there was an excellent argument to be made for that assertion.
But things have changed in a big way.
One can say that the team’s performance, coach and front office make the decision for the player, and while that is certainly true to some extent, the city needs to sell itself to a player as well.
Buffalo is probably one of the better cities for an NHL player for a number of reasons.
It is extremely cheap, both in terms of cost of living and real estate, it is close to Canada and Southern Ontario, where a lot of NHLers are from, it is hockey rabid so the team is one of the city’s prized possessions and you have built-in rivalries with Toronto, Montreal and Boston.
The downside of Buffalo?
It has not been the most economically fortunate city in the US for some time and it was reflected in a lot of ways, but most notably a mass exodus from the downtown area.
Now that’s all changing thanks to Pegula.
He recently won a bid to build the Harbor Center across the street from the First Niagara Center—a $125 million project that will include a two-pad ice rink, retail shops, a luxury hotel, among other things. He donated a few million dollars this summer to landscape the Commercial Slip area of the Erie Canal.
And many say he’s not even close to being done.
With a revitalized downtown area, the city can sell itself to the players, making the front office’s job a heck of a lot easier.
Second, Pegula has completely revamped the scouting department for the team. Prior to his arrival, the scouting was primarily done through film, especially for the WHL and NCAA, whose teams are pretty removed from Buffalo geographically.
Now the scouting is all in-person, and seeing someone play in person versus on film makes a world of difference.
On film you have one perspective that has been given to you. In-person scouting allows for many perspectives, as well as the ability to notice smaller things like how much they talk on the ice, what their bench demeanor is, their locker room roles, etc.
This will certainly be something the team feels the impact of in the long-run, but it will certainly make the team much stronger, especially if the team starts having success and needs to be able to make a solid pick later in rounds.
Lastly, and the most short-term difference, is his willingness to spend money now.
Say what you want about last offseason, but the additions of Ville Leino, Christian Ehrhoff and Robyn Regehr showed, at the very least, that the Sabres now had an owner that was more interested in the product on the ice than his bottom line.
Yes, as many have learned and many more will learn in the future, throwing money at free agents is not the answer all of the time.
Leino started slow, Regehr struggled when playing with Andrej Sekera and Ehrhoff had injury issues, but there is no way having them on the team makes the Sabres worse. More needs to be done, but it was telling that Pegula was willing to spend that kind of money to make the team better.
Now, don’t expect spending sprees like that every season, because they usually don’t turn a team from playoff contender to Stanley Cup contender overnight.
A team needs a solid prospect pool and drafts to go with the diligent free-agent pick ups to be truly successful, but they also need the guy at the top that is willing to make the moves necessary to make the team better (ignoring any Darcy Regier opinions).
So, despite a tough season last year, there is no plausible argument that Pegula has made the team worse.
One could possibly argue that the additions of Leino, Regehr and Ehrhoff have not made the team better, and after last season it’s possible, but not only should they not be judged on a single season, but all three played well at the end of the season.
But the reality is that with the new additions of Steve Ott, plus the three from last year, plus this year’s draft class that includes Mikhail Grigorenko (who is making a mockery of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League), Zemgus Girgensons and Jake McCabe, the team is certainly going to be better moving forward.
Pegula has not delivered the Cup yet, but don’t be surprised if he does sooner than you think.
Read more Buffalo Sabres news on BleacherReport.com
Note: This article is part of a top-ten countdown of the Buffalo Sabres‘ top prospects. In order to be considered a prospect, the player has to be eligible for the Calder Trophy this season, which means they cannot have played more than 25 games in the NHL in any season prior. This removes Corey Tropp, Luke Adam, Jhonas Enroth and Cody Hodgson from contention.
Marcus Foligno has made quite the impression on Buffalo Sabres fans.
There was a largely mixed reaction when Sabres general manager Darcy Regier traded the physical Zack Kassian to the Vancouver Canucks for the smaller, more offensively gifted Cody Hodgson, with most detractors pointing to the Sabres’ loss of grit as the biggest negative. Yet, once Foligno was called upon in the beginning of March, fans saw that Darcy might have had a plan after all.
After struggling in a one-game call-up right before Christmas, Foligno saw his second chance come during a series of Sabre injuries in March. Placed on a line with Tyler Ennis and Drew Stafford, Foligno immediately made his presence felt.
Despite not being known as an overly offensive talent, Foligno scored 13 points in his 13-game call-up, proving that he is not only a physical presence.
An excellent skater and one who is not shy to use his size, Foligno is, at least on paper, a less offensively skilled Kassian. Kassian was never expected to score 75 points, and neither will Foligno.
Foligno’s best game came on April 3 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Within the first ten seconds of the game, Foligno crushed Carl Gunnarsson, who was unable to return to the game. He then “fought” Matt Frattin, who decided to stand up for a teammate against the wrong guy and promptly lost, big time. Foligno then added two assists in the Sabres’ most exciting win of the year.
This is exactly the type of play the Sabres need and want out of Foligno, especially when he is playing with such a playmaker as Ennis. Foligno will open ice for the shifty center, making for more opportunities for himself and his linemates Foligno and Stafford.
Foligno is currently playing for the Rochester Americans of the AHL as the lockout drags on. In his first three games, he scored two goals and made one assist.
Foligno will certainly be on the opening day roster for the Sabres when the first puck drops (hopefully on Nov. 2).
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