WNY and Buffalo NY Hockey Coverage
Offseason Edition
Tim Schaller has looked impressive this training camp. ©2014, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Ted Nolan knew very little about Sabres prospect Tim Schaller prior to training camp. The center hasn’t dazzled the coach, but his play away from the puck has been catching Nolan’s eye.
“I just thought his hockey intelligence was evident to a few of us,” Nolan said this morning inside the First Niagara Center. “He kept doing it day after day after day. We just felt that he deserves an opportunity.”
Schaller, an ... Read the full article
Zemgus Girgensons spent all last season with the Sabres. ©2014, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Some experts are already predicting the Sabres, a team three months removed from the worst NHL season in recent memory, will be legitimate Stanley Cup contenders in a few years.
Why? Their prospect pool might be the deepest in hockey.
Seven first-round picks are participating in the team’s development camp this week. Seven of the 41 prospects played in the NHL last season, including center Zemgus Girgensons, who spent the entire campaign ... Read the full article
Sean Malone was the second local player the Sabres selected in June. ©2014, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
Over the next few days, ace photographer Dan Hickling will be sharing and talking about some of his favorite shots from 2013.
Take it away, Dan …
The Sabres have occasionally selected local players during the NHL Entry Draft, as they did twice — taking both Justin Bailey and Sean Malone — in the 2013 confab held June 30 in Newark, N.J. Here, Malone, a West Seneca native taken in the sixth round (159th overall), is ... Read the full article
Zemgus Girgensons scored twice Sunday. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – With 8:12 left in the second period of Sunday’s preseason opener, Sabres prospect Zemgus Girgensons grabbed Kevin Porter’s pass off the boards at the Montreal blue line and zoomed in down the right wing.
A second later, the Latvian whistled a shot by goalie Zachary Fucale’s glove from the faceoff dot, the second goal of his NHL preseason debut.
“I was pretty happy with myself,” Girgensons said this afternoon inside the First Niagara ... Read the full article
Mikhail Grigorenko played 25 NHL games last season. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Prospect Mikhail Grigorenko is ineligible for the 2013 NHL Prospect Tournament “because of the number of NHL games he was on the Sabres’ roster” last season, the team announced this afternoon, a day before play begins in Traverse City, Mich.
Grigorenko, who made 25 NHL appearances as a rookie in 2012-13, was arguably the biggest name on the 24-man roster the Sabres released for the eight-team tournament last month.
Two other youngsters on ... Read the full article
Justin Bailey fields questions Sunday. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
NEWARK, N.J. – The memory is seared in Justin Bailey’s mind. The Williamsville native vividly remembers watching from his grandparents’ house as Brett Hull’s disputed “No Goal” eliminated his favorite team, the Buffalo Sabres, from the 1999 Stanley Cup final.
“It was crushing for me,” Bailey said Sunday inside the Prudential Center minutes after the Sabres selected him 52nd overall with their third second-round pick in the NHL Entry Draft.
Even as a 3-year-old, ... Read the full article
Justin Bailey grew up loving the Sabres. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
NEWARK, N.J. – The memory is seared in Justin Bailey’s mind. The Williamsville native vividly remembers watching from his grandparents’ house as Brett Hull’s disputed “No Goal” eliminated his favorite team, the Buffalo Sabres, from the 1999 Stanley Cup final.
“It was crushing for me,” Bailey said tonight inside the Prudential Center minutes after the Sabres selected him 52nd overall with their third second-round pick in the NHL Entry Draft.
Even as a 3-year-old, ... Read the full article
Nikita Zadorov talks with the media this afternoon. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
NEWARK, N.J. – How close were the Buffalo Sabres, who owned the eighth and 16th picks in the NHL Entry Draft, to moving up and grabbing the fifth overall pick?
“Pretty close,” Sabres general manager Darcy Regier said this afternoon inside the Prudential Center.
Carolina chose slick Swedish forward Elias Lindholm at No. 5. The Sabres kept their picks and took defensemen Rasmus Ristolainen and Nikita Zadorov.
The Sabres couldn’t have moved up any ... Read the full article
Justin Bailey takes a break from the arduous bike test at the NHL Scouting Combine earlier this month. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – Justin Bailey didn’t mince words. On June 16, the Williamsville native, a possible second-round pick in Sunday’s NHL Entry Draft, tweeted, “Happy Father’s Day to the closest thing I have to a Dad! Thanks for everything.”
The 17-year-old posted two Instagram photos of him beside his grandfather.
Bailey, a slick winger with the Ontario Hockey League’s Kitchener Rangers, has a famous father, former Buffalo Bills linebacker Carlton Bailey. But the ... Read the full article