O'Reilly - Buffalo Hockey Beat

Sabres brimming with optimism

BUFFALO – In Denver, a city with almost 400,000 more people and four major league teams, Ryan O’Reilly blended in. Fans rarely recognized the new Sabres center on the street.

“I guess the market wasn’t the same as it is here, the excitement around,” O’Reilly said Thursday inside the First Niagara Center after the Sabres reported to training camp for physicals.

In hockey-mad Buffalo, O’Reilly, a June 26 acquisition from the Colorado Avalanche, keeps getting ... Read the full article

Sabres see progress, feel excitement for new season

BUFFALO – In Denver, a city with almost 400,000 more people and four major league teams, Ryan O’Reilly blended in. Fans rarely recognized the new Sabres center on the street.

“I guess the market wasn’t the same as it is here, the excitement around,” O’Reilly said this morning inside the First Niagara Center after the Sabres reported to training camp for physicals.

In hockey-mad Buffalo, O’Reilly, a June 26 acquisition, keeps getting stopped by fans.... Read the full article

Even with roster mostly set, Sabres training camp has intriguing storylines

BUFFALO – For a team that just endured a brutal 54-point season and might have nine new faces in the lineup opening night, the Sabres should enjoy a remarkably quiet training camp, their first under new coach Dan Bylsma.

There are, of course, still some intriguing storylines to follow. Second overall pick Jack Eichel’s first days in the NHL promise to be exciting. Sam Reinhart, the franchise’s other top prospect, will be fighting for a ... Read the full article

Cody Franson happy long summer ends with Sabres contract

BUFFALO – After signing three straight one-year contracts, Cody Franson figured he could finally ink a multi-year deal in free agency this summer and enjoy some job security. After all, the Sabres defenseman has quietly scored 97 points in the last three years, including a career-high 36 last season.

Franson, 28, talked to some teams at the NHL Draft and again early when the market opened July 1. But within days, teams stopped calling. Over ... Read the full article

Sabres newcomer Jamie McGinn wants to prove his worth

BUFFALO – Amid all the commotion surrounding one of the busiest and perhaps most pivotal days in the Sabres’ 45-year history, winger Jamie McGinn’s name got lost.

That happened because McGinn arrived in a blockbuster trade from the Colorado Avalanche with star center Ryan O’Reilly moments after the Sabres drafted phenom Jack Eichel and hours after they acquired starting goalie Robin Lehner in another big deal.

So McGinn, 27, a seven-year veteran, quickly became an ... Read the full article

Report: Sabres’ Ryan O’Reilly’s court date pushed back to Sept. 10

Buffalo Sabres center Ryan O’Reilly’s court date today in London, Ont., to face an impaired driving charge has been pushed back until Sept. 10, according to CFPL-AM.

O’Reilly’s lawyer appeared on his behalf, according to the radio station.

The 24-year-old O’Reilly was arrested July 9 and charged with impaired driving and leaving the scene of an accident after his pickup truck allegedly hit a Tim Hortons in Lucan, Ont.

O’Reilly signed the biggest contract ... Read the full article

Randy Cunneyworth happy to be back coaching Amerks

ROCHESTER – For three years, wherever Randy Cunneyworth went, he was asked the same question.

“I don’t think there was a person I came across that didn’t mention, ‘Are you going to get back into coaching or not?’” Cunneyworth recalled Wednesday after being introduced as the Rochester Americans’ new coach inside the Blue Cross War Memorial.

Cunneyworth enjoyed his player development job with the Buffalo Sabres – “I’m into whatever I’m doing,” he said – ... Read the full article

Strong words already haunting Sabres’ Ryan O’Reilly

In Ryan O’Reilly’s first comments after the Sabres acquired him, the center discussed his desire to assume a leadership role in Buffalo.

Those words – “With the Sabres I have to be a more vocal guy, be that more off-ice leader and on-ice as well,” he said June 29 – are already haunting the 24-year-old.

Ten days after speaking and just six days after signing a seven-year, $52.5 million contract, O’Reilly was arrested and ... Read the full article

Sabres’ Ryan O’Reilly charged with impaired driving, leaving scene of accident

Just days after signing a seven-year, $52.5 million contract extension, Buffalo Sabres center Ryan O’Reilly was arrested Thursday and charged with impaired driving and leaving the scene of an accident after his pickup truck allegedly hit a Tim Hortons in Lucan, Ont.

The incident, which occurred at 4:05 a.m., was announced by the Ontario Provincial Police’s Middlesex County unit Monday night. CFPL-AM first reported the news earlier in the day.

The 24-year-old O’Reilly, who signed ... Read the full article

Sabres prospect Sam Reinhart seeing results from new approach

BUFFALO – The hardest part of returning to junior, Sam Reinhart said, was convincing himself to get in the gym and work on his body. The 19-year-old center likes to go all out on the ice. Spending two days before a game lifting weights can make that difficult.

But to succeed in the NHL, Reinhart had to start adding muscle to his 6-foot-1, 185-pound frame when the Sabres sent him back following a forgettable ... Read the full article