The nine month slumber period for the Buffalo Sabres is officially over.
On Wednesday, the Sabres announced their new season schedule and also made official the re-signing of winger Casey Mittelstadt.
Mittelstadt was a restricted free agent with no arbitration rights and very little leverage in his negotiations with first year Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams.
Mittelstadt gets a a one-year "show me" contract worth $874,125. The term and dollars suggest to me that Kevyn Adams and Ralph Krueger want to see the young gun take a big step in his development after having sat idle since March. Things may have been different for Mittelstadt had Jason Botterill kept his job as Sabres GM.
Mittelstadt must have himself a transcendent, memorable training camp or else he will be buried in the minors again this season.
Mittelstadt will enter training camp with no promises for a roster spot in Buffalo. He has played himself down the organizational depth chart with his inconsistent play on both sides of the puck in his first 100 NHL games. Mittelstadt has left the Sabres brass and coaching staff wanting more.
The kid definitely has more to give. Casey is going to have to sing for his supper with the Sabres or else risk being sent out back to Rochester. Mittelstadt better perform at an elite level or risk being moved out of the Sabres organization like fellow forward prospects Alex Nylander, Justin Bailey, Nick Baptiste and Cliff Pu.
Mittelstadt will have to nail his audition or else. Adams added forwards Taylor Hall, Eric Staal, Cody Eakin, and Tobias Rieder. Dylan Cozens and Tage Thompson are strong contenders to be in the opening night lineup.
The saving grace for Mittelstadt is that he can be added to Krueger's taxi squad which will likely include forwards Jack Quinn, Arttu Ruotsalainen, Rasmus Asplund, and Matej Pekar as well as defensemen Will Borgen and Jacob Bryson.
The 2018 first-round pick has struggled to get his NHL career started scoring just 16 goals and 18 assists in 108 career NHL games with the Sabres.
Former Sabres GM Jason Botterill didn't do Mittelstadt any favors by trading away 2C Ryan O'Reilly then thrusting the young Minnesotan into the second line center crater in Buffalo.
Mittelstadt, 22, split the 2019-20 season between Buffalo and Rochester. He scored 9 goals and 16 assists in 36 AHL contests and ranked third on the Amerks with an average of .69 points per game.
Mittelstadt attended Eden Prairie High School and was chosen as ALL-USA Boys Hockey Player of the Year in 2016 and 2017. He was named Mr. Hockey, the best high school senior hockey player in Minnesota, in 2017.
Mittelstadt was drafted in the first round, eighth overall, by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.
Mittelstadt having committed to a collegiate career, played as a freshman forward on the 2017–18 Minnesota Golden Gophers team. After ranking second on the team, and seventh among all NCAA freshmen, with 30 points Mittelstadt was selected for the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.
On March 26, 2018, Mittelstadt opted to conclude his collegiate career and was signed to a three-year entry-level contract by the Sabres. Mittelstadt made his NHL debut on March 29 in a game against the Detroit Red Wings, recording an assist. He recorded his first career NHL goal on April 6, 2018, in a 7–5 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
In his first full season with the Sabres, Mittelstadt scored 12 goals and 13 assists for 25 points in 77 games.
After a slow start to the 2019–20 season, Mittelstadt was assigned to the Rochester Amerks, on December 15.
**
The last time the Buffalo Sabres played a meaningful hockey game was on March 9, 2020 when they defeated the Washington Capital in a shootout.
That would be their final game of the COVID-19 pandemic shortened season. On March 11, 20202 the NHL shut down the shutdown season and didn't return to play until the playoffs began in July.
The Sabres failed to qualify for the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs by mere percentage points.
Are you ready for 56 games in 116 days??!!
The Buffalo Sabres have announced their 2021 return to play season schedule.
The Sabres will play 8 back-to-back sets in this new schedule format beginning with the Sabres playing the Washington Capitals four times in their first six games.
Six of the Sabres' first ten games will be played on home ice.
Jack Eichel and the Buffalo Sabres will host Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on January 14th and 15th in a rare double dip to begin the new season.
The Sabres will make their first roadie of the the season to Philadelphia where they will play back to back games against the Flyers on January 18 and 19.
Then it's off to Washington for a two game set against Caps on January 22 and 24.
The Sabres and Capitals are now East Division rivals and will play eight times this season.
The NY Rangers will play back to back in Buffalo on January 26 and 28, then the New Jersey Devils will visit Buffalo on January 30 and 31.
Per @BuffaloSabres 2021 season schedule! Here we go! pic.twitter.com/52bldLAqUz
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) December 23, 2020
Joining the Sabres and Capitals in the East are the Bruins, Flyers, Rangers Islanders, Penguins and Devils .
The Sabres will play 10 games in January. February will feature 20 games. The Sabres will play 13 games in March and 13 games in April.
**
It's beginning to look a lot like the Ontario Hockey League will be postponing its 2021 season.
With the COVID-19 pandemic rearing its ugly head in the Province of Ontario, tough times are demanding tough decisions.
For the second time since August, the leadership of the OHL has delayed the beginning of the 2021 OHL season.
On Wednesday morning, OHL Commissioner David Branch issued the following statement:
After meeting with our Board of Governors and General Managers, the OHL has made the decision to delay the start of the 2020-21 season. Training camps had been scheduled to begin in mid-January, many players were set to report to their teams in early January, and games were scheduled to commence on February 4, 2021.This decision follows Premier Ford’s announcement of a province-wide shutdown in Ontario commencing on December 26, 2020. The League will continue to consult and work closely with Governments and health authorities to determine potential start dates in the new year.
The safety of all of our stakeholders and communities is our priority and we are committed to starting the 2020-21 season when it is safe to do so. We know that this is difficult news for many of our players, fans, billets, parents, staff and teams. However, the restrictions both provincially in Ontario as well as nationally with regards to cross-border travel have informed our decision.
On behalf of the OHL, we wish everyone a safe and healthy holiday season and we look forward to dropping the puck when we safely start the 2020-21 season.
On August 5, the OHL announced that it was planning to return to play on December 1, 2020, subject to ensuring that the players, fans, staff and community are able to play and attend games safely. Over the course of the past four months the OHL worked with government and health agencies to finalize outstanding issues such as safe attendance at venues and cross border travel for teams and players.
The season was supposed to include a 64-game schedule and a 16-team playoff format. The regular season was scheduled to end on Thursday April 29, 2021. The 102nd Memorial Cup was scheduled to be played June 17-27, 2021 and will be hosted by either the Oshawa Generals or Soo Greyhounds.
Several NHL clubs will have prospects impacted by this delay in the start to the 2021 OHL season.
One such club is the Buffalo Sabres who will have to work with Jack Quinn, their first round selection in 2020. Quinn is a star for the OHL's Ottawa 67s.
Quinn was chosen with the Sabres’ top pick in this year’s NHL Draft, eighth overall.
In 2019-20, Quinn ranked second in the Ontario Hockey League scoring with 52 goals and 37 assists, and helped lead the Ottawa 67’s to a league-leading 50-11-1 record.
In 123 games played for the 67s, Quinn has scored 64 goals and 57 assists for 121 points.
Quinn is currently the top line left winger for Team Canada's World Junior team, which is expected to repeat as gold medal winner at the WJCs.
Quinn is playing left wing for fellow Sabres prospect Dylan Cozens and Chicago Blackhawks power winger Kirby Dach. I expect this trio be one of the most productive and offensive lines at the Word Juniors.
I have Dylan Cozens penciled in at third line winger in Buffalo this season. The kid is that good. Cozens is a keeper.
When the WJC tourney ends on January 5, the Sabres will likely summon Quinn to Buffalo to attend his first professional training camp. When camp ends, Kevyn Adams and Ralph Krueger should assign Quinn to the Sabres' taxi squad where they can evaluate his progress.
Is Quinn ready for prime time?
No. Not today. However, he may be ready to play in an NHL game or two in 90-120 days.
In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with giving your top prospects direct access to the NHL incubator during the COVID19 pandemic. I love the idea of allowing Quinn to practice with and travel with the Sabres. The Sabres have an excellent skills development coach in Matt Ellis who can work with the kid to ensure that he sponges up the cues to being a successful professional player. I love the idea of Quinn and Cozens taking practice reps and weight room sessions alongside Sabres vets Jack Eichel, Taylor Hall, Jeff Skinner, Samson Reinhart, Rasmus Dahlin, Eric Staal and the rest of the Sabres.
Quinn won't be the only prospect that the Sabres can assign to the taxi squad. Adams and Krueger can also assign forwards Casey Mittelstadt, Artuu Ruotsalainen, Matej Pekar, and defenseman Will Borgen and Jacob Bryson to the newly formed taxi squad.
In an effort to minimize any roster shortages due to the coronavirus and testing, each team will also be entitled to a 4-6 man taxi squad.
Players on the taxi squad will be eligible to travel, practice and take part in NHL team activities, but are ineligible to practice with any minor league squads. All players, except for goalies, must be recalled by 2 p.m. ET to be eligible to play that day. A taxi squad goalie must be made available for all teams that don not have three goalies on their NHL roster.
These taxi-squad players will be paid AHL-level salaries and wont count toward the 23-man, $81.5 million salary cap. It will be interesting to see how the Sabres use their taxi squad even though the Rochester Americans are expected to restart their season in early 2021.
Quinn has signed his NHL entry level contract and is now eligible to play on Buffalo's taxi squad this season. I think that its a no brainer to get Quinn into Buffalo immediately after the World Junior Hockey Championship.