Buffalo Hockey Beat - WNY and Buffalo NY Hockey Coverage

Sabres prospect Arttu Ruotsalainen battling to stick in NHL

BUFFALO – The Sabres started calling Arttu Ruotsalainen late last year.

Sometimes assistant general manager Steve Greeley would phone the undrafted center. Other times European scout Teemu Numminen would check in.

“What we liked is we’re on a player probably before he totally popped,” Greeley said Saturday between sessions of training camp inside KeyBank Center. “I think we might’ve been a little bit ahead of the game, hopefully, in getting him in our organization.”

Over ... Read the full article

Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark upbeat following tough season

BUFFALO – Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark figured he was better equipped to handle the grind of a seven-month, 82-game NHL season.

Ullmark, after all, thrived while carrying the load in his final two AHL seasons, playing 99 games before graduating to the NHL.

“But it’s a totally different thing, totally different beast to tame when you get up here in ‘The Show,’” Ullmark said Friday following the opening sessions of training camp inside KeyBank Center.... Read the full article

Coach Ralph Krueger wants Sabres to establish early identity

BUFFALO – In just three or four weeks, coach Ralph Krueger would like the Sabres’ brand of hockey to be easily identifiable.

“You underline the fact that we’re playing like this, this is Sabres hockey,” Krueger said Friday following the first sessions of training camp inside KeyBank Center.

That, of course, is no easy task for a new coach, let alone one that inherited a laughingstock.

The Sabres haven’t possessed a positive identity in a ... Read the full article

Rasmus Ristolainen upbeat for new season, ‘ready to go’ with Sabres

BUFFALO – Rasmus Ristolainen paused for a few seconds to collect his thoughts. All summer long, it felt like the Sabres could trade the defenseman at any moment.

But there was Ristolainen on Thursday, sporting his blue No. 55 Sabres hoody and a backwards hat fielding questions from the media inside KeyBank Center.

Is the Finn surprised he’s still in Buffalo?

“I’ve been here six years and I’ve seen this business,” Ristolainen said after veterans ... Read the full article

Coach Ralph Krueger makes strong early impression on Sabres

BUFFALO – Marcus Johansson hung up the phone and wanted to join the Sabres. Sure, signing with them would offer him a significant role as a top forward and an annual salary of $4.5 million.

But something else lured Johansson, 28, to the Sabres as a free agent: new coach Ralph Krueger.

“It was just my impression from speaking to (Krueger),” Johansson said this morning after training camp opened inside KeyBank Center. “So it was ... Read the full article

Sabres’ Rasmus Ristolainen mum on if he requested trade

BUFFALO – Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen walked into the media room this morning inside KeyBank Center and couldn’t help himself.

“You’ve been waiting for this, eh?” Ristolainen said to a room full of reporters and cameras.

Just about all of Buffalo has been waiting to hear from Ristolainen, whose future here has been in question all summer.

“I’m happy to be back,” Ristolainen said after veterans reported today for their training camp physicals.... Read the full article

Sabres’ Rasmus Ristolainen back in Buffalo, but for how long?

BUFFALO – Rasmus Ristolainen rarely says much. On a good day, if you see the Sabres defenseman, he might answer a question by offering a couple vanilla sentences.

So if Ristolainen talks to the media today after training camp opens, we probably won’t learn much about his conversations with the Sabres over the summer or how he spent the last five months.

Does Ristolainen, 24, feel like he needs a change of scenery? Did he ... Read the full article

Sabres prospect Casey Fitzgerald showcases speed, fighting skills

BUFFALO – After watching his son, Casey, unleash some wild haymakers Monday afternoon, Tom Fitzgerald congratulated the Sabres prospect on his first pro fight.

“He just said, ‘Good scrap, you didn’t get that from me, you got that from your mother,’” Casey Fitzgerald said of his father, who played 1,097 NHL games. “I got a good laugh from that. It was good to see him after, have him here.”

Tom Fitzgerald fought just seven times ... Read the full article

Sabres’ Ralph Krueger expects to begin training camp with Rasmus Ristolainen

BUFFALO – In the lockout-shortened season Ralph Krueger spent as an NHL coach in 2012-13, teams held abbreviated training camps in January.

So the Sabres coach has never ran a regular big league camp. Almost seven years ago, his Edmonton Oilers quickly convened for a camp that lasted less than a week.

Still, having spent most of his coaching career in international hockey, Krueger, 60, has ran plenty of camps.

“I have a big national ... Read the full article

Forward depth might keep Sabres from re-signing Jason Pominville

BUFFALO – The odds of winger Jason Pominville starting training camp with the Sabres later this week appear to be slim.

While general manager Jason Botterill said bringing back Pominville, 36, hasn’t been ruled out, right now, the Sabres have plenty of depth up front.

“We’re excited about where we are from a depth standpoint and the competitions we’re going to have,” Botterill said this afternoon inside Harborcenter following the end of the Prospects Challenge. ... Read the full article