WNY and Buffalo NY Hockey Coverage
Happy New Year
Alex Lyon spent the last two seasons in Detroit. ©2025, Micheline Veluvolu
What exactly will goalie Alex Lyon’s role be with the Buffalo Sabres?
Right now, Lyon, their most significant signing on Tuesday, the first day of free agency, is likely penciled in as Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s backup.
But what if Luukkonen, 26, struggles like he did last season? Late in the year, veteran James Reimer took over, keeping the Finn on the bench as he enjoyed a career-best stretch.
The Sabres are under enormous pressure to win ... Read the full article
Sam Lafferty played 60 games for Buffalo. ©2025, Micheline Veluvolu
The Buffalo Sabres today traded forward Sam Lafferty to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for a sixth-round pick in 2026.
Lafferty, 30, struggled last season after signing a two-year, $4 million contract as a free agent, registering four goals, seven points and a minus-15 rating in 60 games.
The Sabres inked the speedy Lafferty, who had just enjoyed a career year with the Vancouver Canucks, when they overhauled their fourth line.... Read the full article
Josh Dunne is one of Rochester’s young veterans. ©2025, Micheline Veluvolu, Rochester Americans
To veteran winger Brett Murray, reaching the do-or-die Game 5 against the Laval Rocket illustrates what a special group the Rochester Americans had this season.
The Amerks, whose 5-0 road loss Sunday afternoon ended a season with championship hopes, faced the daunting task of having to win two out of three games against the AHL’s top team in Place Bell, a hostile rink for visitors, to advance in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
After losing Game ... Read the full article
Lukas Rousek celebrates his game-tying goal Friday with Isak Rosen. ©2025, Micheline Veluvolu, Rochester Americans
ROCHESTER – In what could be his final game here, Americans winger Lukas Rousek displayed the talent and smarts that helped him play 17 contests for the Buffalo Sabres and earn a one-way NHL contract.
To wit: in Friday’s 5-3 come-from-behind win in Game 2 of the AHL North Division final, Rousek, 26, scored the tying goal late in the second period before his slick pass created center Jiri Kulich’s go-ahead power-play goal in the ... Read the full article
Jiri Kulich recently returned to Rochester. ©2025, Micheline Veluvolu, Rochester Americans
ROCHESTER – It felt like only a matter of time before Jiri Kulich put his mark on the Americans’ hotly contested second-round series against the Laval Rocket. The center, after all, is now an NHL player, having spent nearly all season with the Buffalo Sabres.
Kulich, however, has returned to the AHL for one final run with the Amerks during the Calder Cup Playoffs. Having just about outgrown the minors, he’s expected to be a ... Read the full article
Brendan Warren talks to teammate Michael Houser on March 30. ©2025, Micheline Veluvolu, Rochester Americans
ROCHESTER – Brendan Warren had nothing going on in his hockey career. The Americans winger couldn’t even find a place to skate.
Two NHL teams that had held his rights passed on signing him. After finishing an underwhelming tenure at the University of Michigan, he briefly latched on with the Indy Fuel, an ECHL team.
At the end of training camp in 2019, the Fuel cut him.
So Warren, a third-round pick by the Arizona ... Read the full article
Rochester’s Noah Ostlund tries to bring the puck in front of Laval goalie Cayden Primeau on Wednesday. ©2025, Micheline Veluvolu, Rochester Americans
ROCHESTER – The Laval Rocket has won seven of its nine meetings with the Americans this season, including Wednesday’s opener in the AHL North Division final.
The Amerks, of course, have ranked among the AHL’s heavyweights all season, boasting a deep and skilled lineup. However, Laval, having finished first overall, is the class of the AHL, which it proved again in Game 1 of the best-of-five series in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
The Rocket erased ... Read the full article
Devon Levi posted back-to-back shutouts to help Rochester advance in the Calder Cup Playoffs. ©2025, Micheline Veluvolu, Rochester Americans
ROCHESTER – Buffalo Sabres prospect Devon Levi can’t tell you how many shutouts he has recorded this season or the gaudy save percentage he registered during the Americans’ first-round sweep that leads the Calder Cup Playoffs.
“I don’t know my shutouts,” Levi told the Times Herald following Friday’s practice in Blue Cross Arena. “I don’t know my save percentage, either.”
For the record, the goalie has compiled nine shutouts, including an AHL-best seven during the ... Read the full article
Konsta Helenius registered three points in Rochester’s first-round playoff series. ©2025, Micheline Veluvolu
ROCHESTER – In the not-so-distant past, Buffalo Sabres prospect Konsta Helenius would’ve been anywhere but in front of the net battling an opponent.
“First half of the year … he would be somewhere in the corner, hiding in the second or third row, hiding in the weeds, you know?” Americans assistant coach Vinny Prospal told the Times Herald following Friday’s practice in Blue Cross Arena.
But Helenius, who turns 19 on Sunday, has matured throughout ... Read the full article
James Reimer got hot down the stretch. ©2025, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – James Reimer’s superb goaltending down the stretch for the Sabres showed he possesses the talent to return for his 16th season.
Even at 37, an advanced age, he ranked among the NHL’s hottest netminders, compiling a gaudy 8-2-0 record from March 23 until the season ended, including a career-long seven-game winning streak. His win total during that torrid stretch was tied for first in the league with Los Angeles Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper, ... Read the full article