Buffalo Hockey Beat - WNY and Buffalo NY Hockey Coverage

Amerks re-sign captain Kevin Porter to AHL contract

Captain Kevin Porter will be back for another season with the Rochester Americans.

The Buffalo Sabres’ top affiliate announced today it has re-signed the veteran forward to a one-year AHL contract.

Porter, 33, has spent four seasons with the Amerks over two stints, captaining the club both times.

After three years away – Porter won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 – he returned to the Sabres organization in 2017, inking a ... Read the full article

Reports: Sabres to hire Mike Bales as goalie coach, retain Steve Smith

The Buffalo Sabres will hire Mike Bales as their new goalie coach and retain assistant coach Steve Smith, according to multiple reports.

Bales, 47, resigned as goalie coach of the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday. The Buffalo News, The Athletic and Sportsnet all reported Bales is bound for Buffalo.

Former Sabres coach Phil Housley hired Smith, a three-time Stanley Cup winner as a player, to run his defense last year. Ralph Krueger, Housley’s replacement, ... Read the full article

Comfort helped convince Jeff Skinner to sign long-term contract with Sabres

BUFFALO – For eight seasons, Sabres winger Jeff Skinner only knew one organization. He grew up with the Carolina Hurricanes, joining them as a teenager and quickly becoming the face of the franchise. He felt a certain comfort there.

So his transition here could’ve been tough. Everything was new. Even the best players often need time to acclimate.

“It was a lot of change and there was a lot of adjustments, I think,” Skinner said ... Read the full article

Rewards of Jeff Skinner’s long-term contract outweigh risks for Sabres

Jason Botterill sensed he would be asked a question about 40-goal scorer Jeff Skinner’s new long-term contract, so the Buffalo Sabres general manager decided to answer it himself.

“Probably one of the next questions is going to be about giving an eight-year contract to a 27-year-old,” Botterill said of Skinner’s $72 million deal on a conference call Saturday, a day after awarding the hefty contract. “But there’s always going to be risk sometimes in doing ... Read the full article

Sabres re-sign Jeff Skinner to eight-year, $72 million contract

In the end, the Buffalo Sabres needed to re-sign slick winger Jeff Skinner, even if it meant overpaying the 40-goal scorer.

As a 27-year-old fresh off a career season and just weeks away from becoming an unrestricted free agent, the two-time NHL All-Star possessed most of the leverage.

So late Friday, the Sabres awarded Skinner an eight-year, $72 million contract.... Read the full article

Report: Sabres close to re-signing Jeff Skinner to huge long-term contract

The Buffalo Sabres are close to re-signing 40-goal scorer Jeff Skinner to an eight-year contact with an average annual value of around $9 million, according to TSN’s Bob McKenzie.

Update: The Sabres announced tonight Skinner has signed an eight-year, $72 million contract.

As a 27-year-old fresh off a career season and just weeks away from becoming an unrestricted free agent, the talented winger possesses plenty of leverage.

The Sabres, one of the NHL’s laughingstocks, desperately ... Read the full article

Sabres coach Ralph Krueger arrives in Buffalo ready for new challenge

BUFFALO – Ralph Krueger spent the last five years running a soccer team in England, so on Wednesday, his first full day in his new city as Sabres coach, he was having NHL games loaded on a laptop.

“To look a little bit deeper,” Krueger, who was hired May 15, said during a news conference in the KeyBank Center atrium.

In addition to getting up to speed on the Sabres, Krueger, 59, must examine how ... Read the full article

Ralph Krueger believes Jeff Skinner wants to stay with Sabres

BUFFALO – Shortly after being named coach last month, Ralph Krueger called winger Jeff Skinner, the 40-goal scorer the Sabres are trying to re-sign to a long-term contract.

Krueger said after a long and productive conversation – “I could feel his unbelievable passion for the game,” he said – he hung up the phone believing Skinner, 27, wants to return to the Sabres.

“His tone in his voice when it came to the past ... Read the full article

Cole Caufield could be too talented for Sabres to pass up at NHL Draft

BUFFALO – John Wroblewski wouldn’t let Cole Caufield’s disappointing offensive outings shape his opinion of the diminutive winger.

Barely two years ago, fresh off a dynamic high school season in which he compiled 50 goals in 22 games, Caufield suddenly lost his scoring touch at the U.S. National Team Development Program tryout camp.

In five or six games against bigger and better competition, the 5-foot-7 Caufield couldn’t muster one goal.

But Wroblewski, who coaches the ... Read the full article

Alex Turcotte could be attractive option for Sabres at NHL Draft

BUFFALO – In Alex Turcotte’s formative hockey years, his father, Alfie, decided his son would follow a unique development path.

Instead of jumping to elite teams stocked with top talents, Alfie made Alex, a slick center projected to be an early selection at the NHL Draft, stay put on local clubs around Chicago. His reasoning was simple.

“I cared about my kid playing hard every game,” said Alfie Turcotte, a former center who played 112 ... Read the full article