The Sabres are in the midst of a youth movement and their prospects are going to be asked to play a lot of hockey in the days and weeks to come. Many of the players have been working out all summer at First Niagara Center, and quite a few of them are already skating together in preparation for the back-to-back double-dip of the Traverse City prospects camp and the Buffalo Sabres training camp.
The Sabres will be announcing their Traverse City prospects tourney roster in the days to come. You'll recall that Ron Rolston led his baby Sabres to the 2011 T-City tourney championship in 2011. They were not given the opportunity to defend their heavyweight belt last September at T-City because the NHL canceled the event due to the NHL lockout.
I'm expecting the Sabres to announce their Traverse City squad shortly. I have to think that they will be sending Grigorenko, Girgensons, Armia, Tropp, Foligno, Larsson, McNabb, Ristolainen, Varone, Catenacci, Kea, Nelson, Pysyk, Ruhwedel, Makarov, Knapp, Lieuwen, Leduc-Gauthier and others to T-City. I'm not certain yet about the availability of Jake McCabe (U of Wisconsin), Justin Bailey (Kitchener Rangers), Nikita Zadorov (London Knights), and JT Compher (U of Michigan)
For the first time in a very long time, there are multiple jobs available in Buffalo, and in Rochester. The prospects who impress Rolston and Regier the most will be the ones who are rewarded with roster spots.
Here's the 2011 championship team roster:
# FORWARD
72 Adam, Luke C
34 Beyers, Steven C
45 Boychuk, Riley LW
43 Catenacci, Daniel C
82 Foligno, Marcus LW
41 Henley, Cedrick LW
54 Kassian, Zack RW
83 Lagace, Jacob RW
48 Parker, Jonathan RW
56 Shipley, Steven C
32 Sundher, Kevin C
49 Sutch, Gregg RW
38 Szydlowski, Shawn RW
84 Varone, Phil C
# DEFENSE
70 Biega, Alex D
62 Crawford, Nick D
64 Fienhage, Corey D
74 Gauthier-Leduc, Jerome D
51 Lepkowski, Alex D
47 MacKenzie, Matt D
81 McNabb, Brayden D
53 Pysyk, Mark D
# GOALTENDER
50 Lieuwen, Nathan G
60 Rondeau, Ryan G
We'll know more when the roster is officially announced.
The Sabres will be in the Ted Lindsay Division along with prospects from the:
Carolina Hurricanes
Columbus Blue Jackets
New York Rangers
The Gordie How Division will be composed of prospects from the:
Dallas Stars
Detroit Red Wings
St. Louis Blues
The Red Wings will host the event for the 15th time in Traverse City. Buffalo is 1 for 1 in the tourney. They won the championship in their only appearance in 2011.
After skating against teams within their division, there will be a championship round on the final day of the tournament Monday, Sept. 9
Championship Round Monday, Sept. 9th
Format:
7th place game 4th Howe vs. 4th Lindsay 3:30 pm
5th place game 3rd Howe vs. 3rd Lindsay 4:00 pm
3rd place game 2nd Howe vs. 2nd Lindsay 7:00 PM
championship 1st Howe vs. 1st Lindsay 7:30 PM
Its an interesting subplot that the Sabres will be playing the Hurricanes and Blue Jax at Traverse City, then they will be playing each of the teams twice during the seven game exhibition season.
Familiarity will no doubt breed contempt amongst the kids from the Sabres, Canes and Blue Jax who will be doing their dead level best to make a name for themselves in hopes of earning a roster spot on their respective NHL club.
When the Traverse City camp ends, the NHL training camps will open. Shortly thereafter, the preseason games will begin.
Did you know that there are only 34 days remaining until the Sabres kick off their exhibition season in Montreal.
Here's the full slate of Buffalo's ex-games:
9/15: Sabres @ Canadiens
9/17 Sabres @ Blue Jax
9/19: Hurricanes @ Sabres
9/21: Maple Leafs @ Sabres
9/22: Sabres Maple Leafs
9/25: Blue Jax @ Sabres
9/27: Sabres @ Hurricanes
The kids will take center stage. What they do with their opportunities is entirely up to them. A great showing at T-City and in exhibition games will go a long way to earning a Buffalo roster spot.
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