Granato - Buffalo Hockey Beat

Sabres prospect Noah Ostlund joins Amerks following Swedish season

Buffalo Sabres prospect Noah Ostlund, the 16th overall pick last year, has joined the Rochester Americans to practice and get a feel for the organization.

The Amerks play the fifth and decisive game of their AHL North Division semifinal series tonight on the road against the Syracuse Crunch. Ostlund, however, likely won’t be participating in the Calder Cup Playoffs.

Ostlund, 19, has been battling a foot injury that forced him to miss playoff games ... Read the full article

After season of massive growth, Sabres’ Dylan Cozens can reach higher level

BUFFALO – Sabres center Dylan Cozens scored 31 goals despite missing about three or four opportunities a game to generate more chances, coach Don Granato said.

So consider the potential that Cozens, 22, still possesses coming off a breakout season. Granato told him last month there’s a whole lot more he can do.

“He told me that he doesn’t think I’m anywhere close to the player I can be,” Cozens said April 16 as the ... Read the full article

Sabres’ Tyson Jost hopes he has found home in Buffalo: ‘Really special group’

BUFFALO – Tyson Jost had no idea what to expect here. The center joined the Sabres at their nadir in mid-November, an eight-game losing streak. Having spent his entire career in the Western Conference, he wasn’t familiar with the organization.

Right away, Jost, a waiver claim from the Minnesota Wild, felt at home. The tight-knit group warmly welcomed him. The Sabres ended their skid in his first game and he quickly earned regular duty.

Following ... Read the full article

Sabres’ Peyton Krebs might’ve found niche in checking role

BUFFALO – At times in his first full NHL season, the pressure to perform overwhelmed Sabres center Peyton Krebs and he struggled to reach his own expectations.

In late November, Krebs sat out four contests as a healthy scratch. He scored his first goal in his 20th outing and had a 26-game goal drought before receiving credit for a fluky one in the season finale.

“I had my ups and downs, for sure,” Krebs said ... Read the full article

Under coach Don Granato, Sabres’ Jeff Skinner has matured, added offense

BUFFALO – For most of his career, the hockey world labeled Jeff Skinner as a one-dimensional player: the shifty Sabres winger scored goals and that was about it.

Ex-Sabres coach Ralph Krueger, who nearly destroyed Skinner’s career, once famously said the popular veteran “measured his whole career on goals.”

“When I came in, he was known as a 40-goal scorer and now he’s so much more than that to me,” coach Don Granato, who ... Read the full article

Sabres wanted Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to develop in Buffalo instead of going to Rochester for playoffs

BUFFALO – In his four-year pro career, Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has never played a postseason game.

The COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the AHL Calder Cup Playoffs two straight years. Last year, Luukkonen suffered an injury late in the regular season and missed the Rochester Americans’ 10-game playoff run.

This year, the Sabres did not make Luukkonen, who started the season in Rochester, available to the Amerks, who open the playoffs Friday.

... Read the full article

Despite using Devon Levi late, Sabres high on Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

BUFFALO – In his first days in the NHL, Sabres goalie Devon Levi looked so impressive that coach Don Granato kept riding the neophyte.

Levi, 21, turned heads in his debut March 31, so after starting Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen the next night, Granato utilized the newcomer for five consecutive do-or-die games before the Sabres were eliminated from playoff contention.

The Sabres’ reliance on Levi for a stretch of critical late-season contests raised some eyebrows. The ... Read the full article

Sabres want to re-sign veterans Kyle Okposo, Zemgus Girgensons; Buffalo waiting to hear from Ryan Johnson

BUFFALO – General manager Kevyn Adams wants to give captain Kyle Okposo and alternate captain Zemgus Girgensons, the Sabres’ longest-tenured player, time to decompress following a long season.

When the time is right, Adams plans to talk to the veterans, both of whom can become unrestricted free agents this summer, about returning to the Sabres.

“I want them back,” he said during Wednesday’s end-of-season news conference in KeyBank Center.

Okposo, 35, and Girgensons, 29, helped ... Read the full article

With Devon Levi in Buffalo, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen still sees future with Sabres

BUFFALO – As the Sabres fought furiously for their first playoff berth in 12 years, goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen figured he’d be called upon for a critical late-season game.

Luukkonen, after all, led the team in wins as a rookie this season. He played 33 contests, emerging as the starter following his recall in mid-November. He performed so well the Sabres kept three goalies on the roster for nearly three months.

The Finn won huge games ... Read the full article

Kyle Okposo proud of work with Sabres, quiet on future as contract expires

BUFFALO – Almost seven years ago, captain Kyle Okposo stood at a podium in KeyBank Center and explained he chose the Sabres as a free agent because he believed they possessed all the ingredients to win the Stanley Cup.

Today, with his $42 million contract about to expire, Okposo hasn’t played a single playoff series with the Sabres.

“But if I were to walk away and be done, I think I left here better than ... Read the full article