March 9, 2020 was the last time the Buffalo Sabres hit the ice as a team. Since then, Sabres players have been working out with their own personal skills coaches and in small groups with other NHL players inside small-town rinks in towns and cities across North America and in Europe.
On Thursday, the nine-and-a half-month hibernation period will end when the Sabres players will report to training camp for off-ice testing and socially distanced meetings with coaches. All will not be quiet on New Year’s Day when Krueger finally pulls on his Bauers and runs his team through its first training camp practice on Friday morning.
Eichel & Company will begin its 56-game season when Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals come calling on January 14.
On Tuesday morning, an effervescent Krueger and an optimistic Kevyn Adams held their pre-camp Zoom presser availabilities. The brain trust of the Sabres is thrilled to be finally gathering with their players on a face-to-face basis for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic caused the United States and Canada to grind to a screeching halt in March. Krueger said he is grateful that the Zoom technology allowed he and his players to have one on one chats during the past nine months. However, Krueger stressed that there is no replacement for gathering in small, socially distanced groups to exchange ideas and to prepare for the rigors that will be caused by having to play 56 games in 114 days.
Krueger said the idea of having to rev the engines up from zero to 100 mph doesn’t bother him. In fact, Krueger embraces the opportunity. In September 2016, Krueger was the head coach of Team Europe at the World Cup of Hockey, the highly popular tournament that created a hockey buzz worldwide. Krueger and Team Europe GM Miro Satan were tasked with selecting the Team Europe squad and then assembling it for several pre-tourney practices. Krueger’s Team Europe finished the tournament as runners-up with a 3–3–0 record overall. All things considered, the Team Europe came together as strangers and then immediately bonded as a team while on the fly. Krueger is hoping that his 2021 Buffalo Sabres players can come together in a similar fashion while learning and training on the fly.
“First and foremost, we are continuing a story, not beginning a story," Krueger said on Tuesday’s Zoom call. "We have our core players who are familiar with our system. We had contacts through the offseason in different forms. But, clearly, we need to re-awaken the principles of play and the concepts that we were working on last year with the core guys.
I like Krueger’s synopsis of his roster: We returned our core forwards, D, goalies. We’ve added specialists in Hall, Staal, Eakin, Reider, Irwin. The depth we lacked last season is now on our roster. Our increased depth now puts pressure on the roster. Internal competition now
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) December 29, 2020
Krueger said that he is pleased to be reuniting with the core group of players that comprised the 2019-2020 Sabres team. Krueger noted that adding “specialists… in Taylor Hall, Eric Staal, Cody Eakin, Toby Rieder and Matt Irwin will no doubt add immediate leadership and compete level to an already talented Sabres roster. Krueger added that the 2021 Buffalo Sabres will now have the depth at all positions that it so badly has lacked the past few seasons. Krueger and Kevyn each remarked that the new depth will create internal competition amongst the veterans and the youngsters that will be attending training camp looking to make a positive impression on the Sabres’ coaching staff.
Krueger and Adams said Tuesday that there will be no freebies at this training camp. For example, players like Casey Mittelstadt and Tage Thompson won’t be given their ice time just because they have time served inside the Sabres and Rochester Amerks. All players will have to earn their roster spots because of the commitment to adding difference makers at forward and defense.
The new year will begin in earnest on New Year’s Day. Kruger said his players need to come to the rink each day with an open mind and their eyes focused on the smallest of details.
“You need to be creative. We all know this is going to be a season where flexibility, spontaneity and an open mind are going to be really important because we do not know exactly what the rules will be in two weeks, four weeks or six weeks. So, what we need to do is keep the windows small. Within those windows, you need to drive for the pace and for the style of play that you want right off the hop, no matter how the players feel the pain."
Ralph Krueger has planned his work. Now, it is time for he and his coaches to inspire the Sabres players to work the plan.
When asked about the new taxi squad opportunity, Kruger said that he and Adams have been giving the new concept a lot of though in the past couple of weeks. NHL teams are now permitted to carry their 23-man roster plus a taxi squad that will consist of four to six players that can practice and travel with the NHL team. On Tuesday, the Sabres signed veteran forward Riley Sheahan to a PTO and forward J.S. Dea cleared through waivers. Both vets will compete in training camp for a roster spot with the Sabres Krueger said he will not rule out assigning prospects and vets to the taxi squad.
Adding another interesting wrinkle to the taxi squad is the unknown start dates to the regular seasons of the American Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League and Western Hockey League. This confirms what I have been saying about the Sabres summoning prospects Dylan Cozens, Jack Quinn, J.J. Peterka, Matej Pekar, Arttu Ruotsalainen, Will Borgen, and Jacob Bryson to main camp in Buffalo. Cozens and Quinn of course would have to wait until Team Canada is done playing at the IIHF World Juniors in Edmonton, which will conclude on January 5. Cozens and Quinn would have to perform a two-week quarantine before joining the Sabres in on ice practices and the January 9 inter-squad scrimmage game.
"I think it's a combination of everything," Kevyn Adams said Tuesday. "I would say, if I'm prioritizing, it has to be about what puts us in the best position to have success for the Buffalo Sabres now."
Heading into Tuesday action at the WJC’s, Dylan Cozens leads all scorers in the U-20 tourney with three goals and four assists in two games played. Cozens is Buffalo’s most likely prospect to make the leap from major juniors to the NHL this season. Cozens, 19, is the co-captain of Team Canada and is the captain of his Lethbridge Hurricanes junior club team. Cozens scored 38 goals and 47 assists last season after scoring 34 goals and 50 assists in 2018-19.
Dylan Cozens Career Awards:2018-2019 • CHL Top Prospects Game • Hlinka Memorial Gold Medal
2019-2020 • U20 WJC Gold Medal • WHL (East) First All-Star Team
Cozens and Quinn will join the Sabres training camp after their obligations to Team Canada come to a conclusion on January 5.
Peterka, who has one goal and four assists in three games with Team Germany at the WJCs, is also a candidate to join the Sabres at camp. Krueger said he doesn’t expect the late arrivals from the World Juniors tourney to negatively impact the chances of Cozens and Quinn to make the Sabres’ starting roster or be placed on the taxi squad.
"We need to see how they come off the world (junior) championships," Krueger said. "We will have time. Everybody knows we can play players up to seven games before we need to keep them or place them somewhere. We're in no rush. Let's let it happen organically."
"What we'd like to do is to bring especially Dylan and Jack to camp and see where everybody else is at that time. It will be a week, at least, into camp and hopefully we can see them in our second inter-squad game."
When asked about Quinn’s impending dilemma with the delay in the start date of OHL season, Adams said the Sabres could explore opportunities for his prospects to play in Europe in the event that they do not make the NHL team and the OHL and WHL are not able to begin their seasons.
"I think as an athlete, you look at that as an opportunity, and that's the same way I want the staff and hockey operations overall as an organization," Adams said.
The Sabres and Boston Bruins are grouped with Metro Division teams for this season. Buffalo will play eight games each against the NY Rangers, New Jersey Devils, NY Islanders, Washington Capitals, Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, and Boston Bruins. Krueger loves the idea of playing against teams outside of the Atlantic Division like Tampa and Toronto. Krueger likens it to playing seven mini-seasons within one larger season by having to play seven opponents eight different times this season.
Adams loves the opportunity for his Sabres to attack the game against some of the stiffest competition in the National Hockey League.
"This is an amazing opportunity. We get to wake up every day and get to compete with the top teams in the league and challenge ourselves. You know the saying, 'Iron sharpens iron.' I think we're going to get better through this. That's something to embrace. That's the mindset the players want to have."
Thanks, Sabres.com
Dahlin’s TOI will soar this season per Kreuger
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) December 29, 2020
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The Sabres will make three appearances on NBC Sports Network this season.
What a joke network NBCSN is.
Don't schedule the Sabres on multiple occasions. They do know that Buffalo is the perennial leader for NHL household TV rating. Don't they?
The last time I checked, the higher your TV ratings are the higher rates NBCSN can charge for in-game advertising and sponsorship programs. The NHL is a 50-50 revenue share league, right?
I can't wait until the new TV contract will feature FOX and ESPN as well as NBCSN.
Here's NBCSN's season schedule:
NBCSN 2020-21 NHL Wednesday Night Hockey:
Date Away Home
January 13*
Pittsburgh Philadelphia Chicago Tampa Bay St. Louis Colorado
January 20 Edmonton Toronto January 27 Chicago Nashville February 3 Boston Philadelphia February 10 Boston N.Y. Rangers February 17 Chicago Detroit February 24 N.Y. Rangers Philadelphia March 3 Washington Boston March 10 Vegas Minnesota March 17 Philadelphia N.Y. Rangers March 24 Buffalo Pittsburgh March 31 Arizona St. Louis April 7 Montreal Toronto April 14 Vegas Los Angeles April 21 Nashville Chicago April 28 St. Louis Minnesota May 5 Washington N.Y. Rangers *Opening night
NHL ON NBC
Once a week – NBC Sports will showcase the NHL 16 times on NBC – once every week on average during the 2020-21 season – beginning Sunday, January 17, featuring the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins. It’s the most-ever NHL regular-season games on NBC. Fan-favorite rivalries – The NHL on NBC schedule features a number of rivalries, including a Valentine’s Day date between the Capitals and Penguins, plus Blackhawks-Red Wings, Bruins-Rangers, and Blues-Avalanche matchups.
“Final flex Saturday… – the final game on the NHL on NBC schedule on Saturday, May 8, is currently TBD and will feature the most compelling game with playoff implications.
NHL ON NBC 2020-21 SCHEDULE
Date Away Home Sun., January 17 Washington Pittsburgh Sun., January 24 Detroit Chicago Sun., February 7 Philadelphia Washington Sun., February 14 Washington Pittsburgh Sat., February 20 Vegas Colorado Sun., February 21 Philadelphia Boston Sun., February 28 Boston N.Y. Rangers Sun., March 7 Buffalo N.Y. Islanders Sun., March 28 N.Y. Rangers Washington Sun., April 4 Detroit Tampa Bay Sat., April 17 Pittsburgh Buffalo Sun., April 18 Washington Boston Sat., April 24 Colorado St. Louis Sun., April 25 Boston Pittsburgh Sun., May 2 Tampa Bay Detroit Sat., May 8 TBD TBD
SUNDAY NIGHT HOCKEY ON NBCSN
Schedule variety – 15 different teams from all four divisions will be showcased across 10 Sunday Night Hockey Top tier teams – All four Conference Final teams from the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs will be featured on Sunday Night Hockey. Westward Ho! – Six of the 10 matchups feature a Western Conference team.
2020-21 SUNDAY NIGHT HOCKEY SCHEDULE ON NBCSN
Date Away Home February 14 Colorado Vegas February 21 Florida Detroit February 28 Detroit Chicago March 7 N.Y. Rangers Pittsburgh March 14 Los Angeles Colorado March 21 Vegas Los Angeles March 28 Nashville Chicago April 4 Dallas Carolina April 18 N.Y. Islanders Philadelphia April 25 Columbus Tampa Bay