Bill Hoppe - Buffalo Hockey Beat

Sabres release 2025 preseason schedule

The Buffalo Sabres will play six preseason games next season, including three at KeyBank Center, the team announced Tuesday.

Broadcast and ticket information will be released at a later date.

The schedule is below. Home games are in bold.... Read the full article

Offseason likely to feature trades about to kick into high gear for Sabres

In winger JJ Peterka and defenseman Bowen Byram, the Buffalo Sabres possess two budding stars under 25.

Peterka, 23, is coming off a career-high 68-point season and has recorded 28 and 27 goals, respectively, in each of the last two campaigns.

Meanwhile, in his first full season in Buffalo, Byram, 24, enjoyed a breakout year, scoring 38 points while averaging nearly 23 minutes of ice time per outing.

The youngsters, both of whom are due ... Read the full article

Skill and maturity helped Michael Misa develop into elite NHL Draft prospect

BUFFALO – The human element often gets lost in the excitement generated by teenage hockey phenoms. It can easily be forgotten they’re still kids.

Michael Misa is so talented the Canadian Hockey League granted him exceptional status in 2022, allowing him to play full time for the Saginaw Spirit as a 15-year-old. Over the next three seasons, the slick center lived up to the enormous hype, winning a championship and a scoring title.

Next Friday, ... Read the full article

Sabres to hold 2025 development camp for prospects starting June 30

The Buffalo Sabres will hold a summer development camp for prospects from June 30 to July 3 at LECOM Harborcenter, the team announced Wednesday.

The on-ice session sessions are free and open to the public.

A camp roster will be released at a later date. Draft picks the Sabres make next week will attend.... Read the full article

Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin named to Team Sweden’s Olympic roster

Buffalo Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin will be representing Team Sweden at the Olympics in February.

The defenseman on Monday was named to a preliminary roster for the Milano Cortina Games.

Each of the 12 countries participating released their first six selections. Dahlin, 25, is the only Sabres player who earned an early spot.... Read the full article

Strong rookie season with Rochester earns Sabres pick Konsta Helenius spot on AHL’s Top Prospects Team

A strong rookie season in which forward Konsta Helenius scored 14 goals and 35 points in 65 games for the Rochester Americans has earned the Finn spot on the AHL’s 2024-25 Top Prospects Team.

Despite being the AHL’s youngest regular player, Helenius, who turned 19 on May 11, ranked fifth on the Amerks in goals and eighth in points. He made an impact in the Calder Cup Playoffs, scoring three goals and six points in ... Read the full article

Sabres might be hoping Anton Frondell or Victor Eklund last until ninth pick at NHL Draft

BUFFALO – In their first weeks as teammates with Djurgardens, a second-division pro team in Sweden, NHL Draft prospects Anton Frondell and Victor Eklund skated on separate lines.

The ultra-talent forwards wanted that to change. So they kept asking – actually, badgering might be a more appropriate term – their coach, Robert Kimby, if they could play together.

Eklund said he went to Kimby 10 times.... Read the full article

Scott Metcalfe, Amerks Hall of Famer who played for Sabres, dies at 58

Scott Metcalfe, a popular and gritty forward who played nine seasons for the Rochester Americans over two stints and 17 games with the Buffalo Sabres, died Friday morning, the AHL team announced. He was 58.

Metcalfe played for Rochester’s last Calder Cup championship team in 1996 and was inducted into the Amerks Hall of Fame in 2006.

Following his retirement from pro hockey in 2001-02, he lived and worked in Rochester, becoming a visible member ... Read the full article

Sabres relinquish rights to draft pick Ethan Miedema, two others

The Buffalo Sabres have relinquished the rights to three draft picks, including winger Ethan Miedema, a fourth-round selection in 2023.

In addition to Miedema, the Sabres did not sign forwards Viljami Marjala and William von Barnekow to contracts before Sunday’s deadline.

They selected Marjala, a Finn, in the fifth round in 2021, and von Barnekow, a Swede, in the sixth round that year.... Read the full article

Sabres add to front office by naming Jarmo Kekalainen senior advisor to GM Kevyn Adams

In hiring Jarmo Kekalainen on Friday as a senior advisor to general manager Kevyn Adams, the Buffalo Sabres added a respected hockey lifer whose decades in the game can provide critical guidance to a team trying to end an NHL-record 14-year playoff drought.

When the Sabres must make a difficult decision, you can bet Kekalainen, who spent 11 years as general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets, will speak up and explain what he did ... Read the full article