WNY and Buffalo NY Hockey Coverage
January Edition
Jerry Forton (pictured) is impressed with Viktor Neuchev’s ability to drive the play. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
MONTREAL – In Viktor Neuchev, the Buffalo Sabres saw value. They ranked the talented winger as one of the top three Russian prospects in the NHL Draft, said Jerry Forton, the director of amateur scouting.
Many Sabres scouts graded Neuchev as a first- or early second-round pick. Their analytics staff pegged him as a first-round selection.
As the draft approached, general manager Kevyn Adams said the Sabres would evaluate Russians as prospects first. They ... Read the full article
Topias Leinonen is Buffalo’s latest goalie prospect. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
MONTREAL – All along, the Buffalo Sabres planned to select a goalie this year. But there was a problem: the 2022 NHL Draft was light on net prospects.
Still, one youngster, Topias Leinonen, NHL Central Scouting’s top-ranked European goalie, caught their eye.
“We felt this guy had first- (or) second-round value,” Jerry Forton, the Sabres’ director of amateur scouting, said Friday afternoon following the draft inside the Bell Centre. “The question was do we use ... Read the full article
Kevyn Adams has a plan to find a goalie. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
MONTREAL – The assets available in the crowded goalie market keep dwindling every day.
Two more netminders were traded Friday at the NHL Draft, as the St. Louis Blues dealt Ville Husso to the Detroit Red Wings and the Washington Capitals dished Vitek Vanecek to the New Jersey Devils.
The Sabres, who must add another established goalie, have limited options. They tried to acquire Matt Murray from the Ottawa Senators on Thursday, but the two-time ... Read the full article
The Sabres have eight picks today. ©2022, NHL
MONTREAL – The Buffalo Sabres this morning selected Finnish goalie Topias Leinonen in the second round, 41st overall, at the NHL Draft.
The 6-foot-5, 233-pound Leinonen is NHL Central Scouting’s top-ranked European goalie.
Leinonen, 18, spent most of last season with JYP, a junior team, compiling a 9-10-0 record with a 2.28 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage in 21 games. He also played four games with JYP’s pro team in Liiga and made ... Read the full article
Matthew Savoie was all smiles Thursday. ©2022
MONTREAL – Centers are perhaps the most precious commodity in hockey, and the Buffalo Sabres had built up an impressive stockpile of them before they selected Matthew Savoie ninth overall, Noah Ostlund 16th and Jiri Kulich 28th at the NHL Draft on Thursday.
In 18-year-old youngsters, the Sabres picked three of the most talented pivots in the draft and added to perhaps the league’s deepest group.
In the NHL, the Sabres have skilled centers Dylan ... Read the full article
Matt Murray won two Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
MONTREAL – The Buffalo Sabres must keep looking for another goalie.
A potential deal between the Sabres and Ottawa Senators involving Matt Murray was nixed because Buffalo is on the goalie’s 10-team no-trade list, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
The Senators would’ve retained some of Murray’s salary and given the Sabres the seventh overall pick in tonight’s NHL Draft in exchange for the 16th selection, according to TSN’s Darren Dreger.
“The reality is we worked ... Read the full article
©2022, NHL
MONTREAL – The Buffalo Sabres tonight selected Matthew Savoie, a center with the Western Hockey League’s Winnipeg Ice, ninth overall at the NHL Draft.
The 5-foot-9, 170-pound Savoie compiled 35 goals and 90 points in 65 games last season.
“My offensive abilities, my skating ability, I think is what makes me stand out as a player,” Savoie said at the NHL Scouting Combine last month in Buffalo.” I think I have good vision in the ... Read the full article
Kevyn Adams could have a career-defining night. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
MONTREAL – General manager Kevyn Adams’ vision for the Buffalo Sabres has started coming together much faster than most observers expected.
It was barely a year ago that Adams, fresh off the Sabres’ dead-last finish, began tackling a daunting rebuild. In his first months on the job in 2020, he had tried to push an older team into the playoffs by acquiring a few notable veterans.
After that team failed spectacularly, Adams implemented his blue ... Read the full article
Victor Olofsson ended the season on a tear. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
MONTREAL – General manager Kevyn Adams said on Wednesday the Buffalo Sabres have been working on a new contract with winger Victor Olofsson, the team’s most prominent restricted free agent.
“We’re in a good spot here,” Adams said inside the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel, the team’s headquarters ahead of the NHL Draft. “Mark Jakubowski, who does a lot of our lead in the negotiating side, has had some good conversations as of late with ... Read the full article
Jimmy Snuggerud enjoyed a breakout season in 2021-22. ©2022, Rena Laverty, USA Hockey
MONTREAL – Nick Fohr looked down the ice that day early in the 2020-21 season and had no idea who was shooting pucks at the other end.
“I’m like, ‘What is that down there?’” recalled Fohr, then an assistant coach at the U.S. National Team Development Program.
The mechanics – the compact, quick release – looked familiar, just like Auston Matthews, a phenom he had coached years earlier.
