WNY and Buffalo NY Hockey Coverage
November Edition
Carter Hutton played 94 games for Buffalo over three seasons. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu
Ex-Buffalo Sabres goalie Carter Hutton planned to become a machinist or millwright. Cracking the NHL, or even earning a college scholarship, was a far-fetched dream.
Hutton, who last week retired from the NHL after nine seasons, wasn’t any sort of prospect.
In his late teens, he was taking a mechanical engineering technician course, working at the local phone company and allowing more than five goals per game in the Superior International Junior Hockey League.
Filip Cederqvist was a fifth-round pick in 2019. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu, Rochester Americans
The Buffalo Sabres on Monday signed forward Filip Cederqvist, a fifth-round pick in 2019, 143rd overall, to a two-year, entry-level contract.
Cederqvist, 21, spent all of the 2021-22 season with Djurgardens IF, scoring 14 goals and 32 points in 49 games. His career-high offensive totals ranked second on the Swedish Hockey League team.
The 6-foot-2, 207-pound Cederqvist has compiled 19 goals and 42 points in 115 career SHL games.
Goalie Ben Bishop, shown here facing Buffalo’s Cody Hodgson with Tampa Bay during the 2013-14 season, can no longer play. ©2022, Dan Hickling
The Buffalo Sabres on Friday acquired injured goalie Ben Bishop from the Dallas Stars, a move that will help them reach the salary floor next season.
The Sabres also received a seventh-round pick in 2022 in exchange for future considerations.
A degenerative right knee injury ended Bishop’s playing days last season and the Stars placed him on long-term injured reserve. He has one year remaining on his contract with a salary cap hit of $4,916,667, ... Read the full article
Ex-Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller fends of Pittsburgh’s Brandon Sutter during the 2013-14 season. ©2022, Dan Hickling
Decorated ex-Sabres goalie Ryan Miller, the franchise’s all-time leader in wins and games played, will have his No. 30 retired and be inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame during the 2022-23 season, the team announced Friday.
Miller, 41, will become the seventh player and second goalie to have his number hang from the KeyBank Center rafters, joining Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin, Rene Robert, Tim Horton, Danny Gare, Pat LaFontaine and Dominik Hasek, the ... Read the full article
Ex-Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller talks Wednesday at a news conference for the 2022 Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame inductees. ©2022, Sam Wilson
BUFFALO – This place, ex-Sabres goalie Ryan Miller said, is part of “the family folklore.” Having been traded more than eight years ago, his son, Bodhi, had only heard about the city where his father became a hockey legend.
So when Miller, 41, was recently elected to the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame, he knew this visit would be extra special. He and his wife, actress Noureen DeWulf, could show their 7-year-old why Buffalo ... Read the full article
Rutger McGroarty could be available to Buffalo in the first round. ©2022, Rena Laverty, USA Hockey
BUFFALO – One team, reportedly the Montreal Canadiens, asked NHL Draft prospects it interviewed at the Scouting Combine what kind of animal they would be.
Rutger McGroarty, a high-scoring winger with the U.S. National Team Development Program, put some deep thought into his reply. Instead of simply saying he’d be some sort of ferocious beast, he offered two answers based on his off- and on-ice demeanor.
“I said that I was a father gorilla off ... Read the full article
NHL Draft prospects Matthew Savoie (left) and Conor Geekie talk Friday in LECOM Harborcenter. ©2022
BUFFALO – Center Conor Geekie, an NHL Draft prospect the Sabres could be interested in taking ninth or 16th overall, hails from the tiny prairie town of Strathclair, Manitoba, population 709.
Well, that number from the 2016 Canadian Census is a little misleading. It includes the population of the surrounding area. Strathclair proper is much smaller.
“Um, 137, I think,” Geekie replied Friday when asked how many people live in his hometown. “Just in the ... Read the full article
Oskari Laaksonen is an offensive defenseman. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu, Rochester Americans
ROCHESTER – Buffalo Sabres defense prospect Oskari Laaksonen learned last month his offensive abilities will only take him so far.
When the Calder Cup Playoffs began, Laaksonen, a regular for the Americans all season, sat out the first eight games as a healthy scratch, watching until Game 2 of the North Division final.
The 6-foot-2, 185-pound Laaksonen, 22, compiled 34 points in 71 regular-season games during his second AHL campaign, numbers that ranked second among ... Read the full article
Aaron Dell played 44 total games this season. ©2022, Micheline Veluvolu, Rochester Americans
ROCHESTER – Goalie Aaron Dell arrived in Buffalo nine months ago as perhaps the favorite to win the Sabres’ backup job before enduring a miserable preseason and getting waived.
When an opportunity materialized to play in the NHL a month later, Dell struggled so badly the Sabres acquired another netminder and demoted him to the AHL again.
Dell, 33, compiled downright awful statistics – a 1-8-1 mark with a 4.03 goals-against average and an ... Read the full article
Buffalo drafted Isak Rosen 14th overall in 2021. ©2022, Leksands IF
The Buffalo Sabres have signed forward Isak Rosen, a first-round pick in 2021, 14th overall, to a three-year, entry-level contract, the team announced Tuesday.
Rosen, 19, spent most of the 2021-22 season with Leksands IF, a Swedish Hockey League team, compiling two goals and four points in 28 games. He also registered four goals and nine points in eight outings for Leksands’ junior club.
The 5-foot-11, 159-pound Rosen played two games for Team Sweden’s ... Read the full article