WNY and Buffalo NY Hockey Coverage
Spring Edition
Victor Olofsson scored 28 goals last season. ©2023, Micheline Veluvolu
NASHVILLE – In the case of Sabres winger Victor Olofsson, both sides are willing to accept blame for his disappointing season.
Despite scoring a career-high 28 goals, Olofsson sat out seven late-season games as a healthy scratch, including five critical contests down the stretch.
“He knows he could’ve maybe performed at certain times,” Adams said Tuesday in the Renaissance Nashville Hotel.
On the other hand, Adams said “maybe we need to make sure that we’re ... Read the full article
Lawrence Pilut high-fives Rochester captain Michael Mersch following Friday’s game. ©2023, Micheline Veluvolu, Rochester Americans
For the second time in three years, defenseman Lawrence Pilut has left the Buffalo Sabres organization.
This time, however, it might be for good.
Pilut, who could’ve become an unrestricted free agent July 1, has signed a two-year contract with Lausanne HC in the Swiss National League, the team announced Tuesday.... Read the full article
Vsevolod Komarov’s season is still going. ©2023, Micheline Veluvolu
The Buffalo Sabres on Thursday signed Russian defenseman Vsevolod Komarov, a fifth-round pick in 2022, 134th overall, to a three-year, entry-level contract.
Komarov, 19, registered 12 goals, 39 points and 60 penalty minutes in 62 regular-season games with the Quebec Remparts this season. He recently scored one goal and seven points in 17 playoff games as the Remparts captured the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League championship.
The Remparts begin play tonight in the Memorial ... Read the full article
Kevyn Adams said last month Buffalo wanted to sign some of its Russian prospects. ©2023, Micheline Veluvolu
The Buffalo Sabres on Friday signed Russian defenseman Nikita Novikov, a sixth-round pick in 2021, 188th overall, to a three-year, entry-level contract.
Novikov, 19, spent the 2022-23 season in the Kontinental Hockey League, registering two goals, five points and 14 penalty minutes in 62 games for Moscow Dynamo.
The 6-foot-3, 196-pound Novikov has compiled three goals, nine points and 20 penalty minutes in 94 career KHL appearances. Only three KHL defenseman have played more ... Read the full article
Kevyn Adams said last month Buffalo wants to sign some of its Russian draft picks. ©2023, Micheline Veluvolu
The Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday signed Russian forward Viktor Neuchev, a third-round pick in 2022, 74th overall, to a three-year, entry-level contract.
Neuchev, 19, spent the 2022-23 season in the Kontinental Hockey League, registering four goals, 12 points and 17 penalty minutes in 57 games for Yekaterinburg Automobilist.
The Sabres drafted the 6-foot-2, 165-pound Neuchev after a standout year in which the 40 goals and 67 points he compiled in 61 games led Yekaterinburg’s ... Read the full article
Zemgus Girgensons can become an unrestricted free agent this summer. ©2023, Micheline Veluvolu
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
Kevyn Adams is excited for his third NHL Draft as general manager. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – A year ago, the Sabres saw value in Russian prospects, so they drafted four of them, including three straight in the second and third rounds.
Taking a single Russian would’ve been notable; the Sabres hadn’t selected one in five years. Grabbing so many, especially early, indicated general manager Kevyn Adams would operate differently than his predecessors.
The world, of course, has changed a lot over the past year. Russia’s invasion of the ... Read the full article
Kevyn Adams drafted four Russians last year. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
The Buffalo Sabres have signed winger Aleksandr Kisakov, a second-round pick in 2021, 53rd overall, to a three-year, entry-level contract, the team announced Wednesday.
Kisakov, 19, led Dynamo Moskva, a junior MHL team in his native Russia, with 56 points and ranked second with 26 goals in 2021-22. He had a team-high seven points, all assists, in six playoff contests.
The 5-foot-10, 150-pound Kisakov also earned a four-game recall to Dynamo’s parent club in the ... Read the full article
Jerry Forton ran his first NHL Draft as Buffalo’s director of amateur scouting. ©2021, Micheline Veluvolu
BUFFALO – You had to go back five years and 34 picks to find the last time the Sabres drafted a Russian.
Before they selected winger Prokhor Poltapov 33rd overall Saturday, they hadn’t drafted a Russian since winger Vasily Glotov in the seventh round in 2016.
Poltapov’s selection was harbinger. The Sabres used three straight picks on Russians and took four overall Saturday.
Later in the second round, the Sabres drafted winger Aleksandr Kisakov with ... Read the full article
The Sabres have nine picks today. ©2021, NHL
BUFFALO – The Sabres drafted Russian winger Prokhor Poltapov with the first pick of the second round, 33rd overall, this morning at the NHL Draft.
The 5-foot-11, 174-pound Poltapov, 18, recorded 25 goals and 52 points in 61 games last season with Krasnaya Armiya Moskva, a junior team in the MHL. Poltapov also registered two goals and seven points in seven contests for Team Russia at the World Under-18 Hockey Championship.
He also played one ... Read the full article