WNY and Buffalo NY Hockey Coverage
October Edition
Taylor Hall could be traded soon. ©2021, Micheline Veluvolu
Buffalo Sabres winger Taylor Hall, who will likely be traded before Monday’s deadline, will be held out of tonight’s road game against the New Jersey Devils, interim coach Don Granato said.
The move makes sense. Why risk an asset to injury?
Hall, 29, can become an unrestricted free agent following the season. He has a no-movement clause in the one-year, $8 million contract he signed with the Sabres.... Read the full article
Casey Mittelstadt has moved up the depth chart this season. ©2021, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – Shifting Casey Mittelstadt to center wasn’t simply a result of the hapless Sabres trading Eric Staal or Jack Eichel suffering a lower-body injury.
Yes, injuries and Staal’s departure have decimated the Sabres at center. The four who practiced Tuesday inside KeyBank Center – Mittelstadt, Cody Eakin, Curtis Lazar and Riley Sheahan – have combined to score 10 goals and 25 points this season.
Interim coach Don Granato, whose Sabres host the Philadelphia ... Read the full article
Tage Thompson has often been a healthy scratch this season. ©2021, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – After morphing from a first-liner into a healthy scratch earlier this season, Tage Thompson could enjoy regular duty under interim coach Don Granato.
Thompson needs consistent action to buoy his development. The 6-foot-7, 219-pound winger has played only 17 NHL games in a more than two-year stretch.
Monday’s 4-3 overtime loss to Philadelphia Flyers at KeyBank Center was the Sabres’ 18th straight defeat. They have nothing to lose by playing him.
“It’s ... Read the full article
Jack Eichel has missed the last 10 games. ©2021, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – Sabres captain Jack Eichel, who has missed the last 10 games recovering from an upper-body injury, could play again this season, interim coach Don Granato said.
Granato said he spoke to Eichel late last week.
“He said he felt good, he was feeling better,” Granato said on a Zoom call this morning. “I don’t think it would be season-ending. So I know we’re all working to get him back. (I) do not ... Read the full article
Eric Staal spent less than one season in Buffalo. ©2021, Micheline Veluvolu
Eric Staal was hardly interested in revisiting his rough 32-game tenure in Buffalo and explaining the hapless Sabres’ struggles.
Staal, 36, left the NHL’s laughingstock on Friday in the midst of a stunning 17-game winless skid and a personal 23-game goal drought.
So can you blame the veteran center, one of the league’s most decorated players, for wanting to forget about a tumultuous two months and concentrate on his new opportunity with the Montreal Canadiens?... Read the full article
Eric Staal can become an unrestricted free agent following the season. ©2021, Micheline Veluvolu
Winger Kyle Okposo knows center Eric Staal was likely only the first of several veteran teammates who will be leaving the hapless Buffalo Sabres over the next few weeks.
The Sabres, having lost 16 straight entering this afternoon’s road game against the Boston Bruins, are broken and on pace to be historically bad. The NHL’s laughingstock needs a massive overhaul, so anyone could be in play before the April 12 trade deadline.
“I mean, nobody’s ... Read the full article
Taylor Hall signed a one-year, $8 million contract with Buffalo. ©2021, Micheline Veluvolu
Nothing at this point, 32 games into perhaps the most miserable season in the franchise’s 51-year history, would surprise the Buffalo Sabres.
So when they learned interim coach Don Granato and assistant Matt Ellis had entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol just hours before Thursday’s game, it wasn’t a big deal.
“In a season of unfortunate and terrible events, we’re just ready for it,” winger Taylor Hall said on a Zoom call following the Sabres’ 4-0 ... Read the full article
Don Granato has coached the Sabres three games. ©2021, Micheline Veluvolu
Ninety minutes before his NHL head coaching debut, Kevyn Adams was more focused on stepping behind the bench than trying to process the chaos that has transpired in his first season as Buffalo Sabres general manager.
“I can’t even really get into all that,” Adams said on a Zoom call prior to the Sabres’ 16th consecutive loss, a 4-0 setback to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Can you blame Adams? The season from hell refuses to let ... Read the full article
Rasmus Ristolainen doesn’t think the Sabres play smart hockey. ©2021, Micheline Veluvolu
The hapless Buffalo Sabres kept hanging around Wednesday, trailing by one goal late in the second period despite being outshot by nearly a two-to-one margin.
No one, of course, expected the Sabres would win. But right now, they’re so bad a one-goal deficit is noteworthy.
That narrow margin did not last. The Pittsburgh Penguins pulled ahead late in the second period, capitalizing on two miscues from struggling winger Taylor Hall to take a commanding lead ... Read the full article
Victor Olofsson has scored just one goal in the last 14 games. ©2021, Micheline Veluvolu
Interim Sabres coach Don Granato keeps learning how badly struggling winger Victor Olofsson wants to break out of his season-long funk.
Whether it’s the Swede’s behavior as he prepares for practice or his attentiveness during a conversation or a meeting, Granato said he sees a player “searching for the answer, searching for the direction within himself.”
“Which is great,” Granato said on a Zoom call Tuesday. “And he’ll get there, there’s no doubt in my ... Read the full article