Eichel To Center L1, Girgensons L2 http://t.co/BvEeWewayN pic.twitter.com/RfmoVGarqB
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) September 26, 2015
I like Dan Bylsma's approach to preseason hockey games simply because he is giving his players, young and old, a real opportunity to impress the coaching staff an d Tim Murray.
Bylsma and his coaches have not type cast any of their players yet. First, he wants to put them in positions to succeed. Or fail.
For example, Zemgus Girgensons has been playing wing for Jack Eichel and Matt Moulson since Day 1 of training camp on September 18. Tonight, Bylsma is going to give Girgensons the second line pivot responsibilities. He will be flanked by William Carrier and Jason Akeson.
Last night in Toronto, Samson Reinhart moved out of his comfort zone and traded his center ice position for the right wing. Reinhart was full value in his preseason debut on the wing. Perhaps Bylsma is challenging Girgensons to bring his A+ game at his natural position in the faceoff dot. Girgensons will tell you that he is most comfortable playing in the middle, however, he play which ever positional role that his head coach assigns to him. Here is his opportunity to tell Bylsma and Dave Barr that he can ably and successfully play the #2 pivot as well as the #2 and #3 right wing role.
All Hail, Zemgus!
The other exciting subplot for tonight's game is that Jack Eichel will play the number one center role tonight. The second overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft scored the game winner and added an assist in Buffalo's preseason debut in Minnesota on Monday night.
Eichel will be given first line minutes against Ottawa out of necessity and reward.
Ryan O'Reilly normally plays alongside #s 9 and 63, however, he played in Toronto last night. Bylsma appears to be upping the ante on Eichel to see how he navigates the waters against the other team's top line. There is no reason to believe or speculate that Eichel is not up to this challenge. All the kid does is block out all of the outside noise and dominate the puck in all three zones. Eichel, like O'Reilly, has the innate ability to make the puck stick to him like Velcro for extended period of time inside shifts. Increased puck possession leads to increased zone time which wears down opponents and leads to more shots on the enemy goal. It will be intriguing to watch the slick play maker set up natural born scorers Evander Kane and Tyler Ennis. On Wenesday night versus Ottawa on home ice, Kane scored the only two goals for the Sabres in their 5-2 loss to the Sens.
Here are your trios for Saturday night's tilt in Kanata:
Kane-Eichel -Ennis Carrier-Girgensons-Akeson D`Amigo-Varone-Nevins McGinn-Larsson-Baptiste
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The fight for the numbers six and seven D jobs are still up for grabs in training camp. I keep waiting for two of the four candidates to grab the brass ring and run with it, however, there hasn't been real battle to break out yet.
Veterans Carlo Colaiocovo, Matt Donovan and Chad Ruhwedel have played so-so. Youngster Jake McCabe struggled early on in games in Minnesota and Toronto this week. He bounced back and played well in the third period of each of those starts.
Tonight, Colaiocovo, Donovan, Ruhwedel and McCabe will be in the lineup in Ottawa. It's now or never for this quartet as the roster will be cut down in the next couple of days.
Here are your D men for tonight:
Colaiacovo Ruhwedel McCabe Leduc Donovan Franson.
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In June, just after Dan Bylsma was hired to succeed Ted Nolan as head coach of the Sabres, he mentioned publicly that he would be experimenting with playing Samson Reinhart at center as well as on the wing.
The reasoning is that forwards are forwards and that centers are well versed in the nuances of playing all of the forward positions. Every forward in the NHL right now at one point or another in his hockey career has played center and wing.
The fact is that Reinhart is more valuable to the Sabres as a dual agent. In other words, when he has the ability to play wing and center he will offer more value to Bylsma's lineup. Plurality may be the tipping point for Reinhart making the NHL than singularity will be the reason he is sent to the AHL.
At this point, three games into his second Buffalo training camp, Reinhart is turning heads. His versatility is adding more equity to his brand.
The jury is still out as to what position, and what team Reinhart will play on come opening night. Is he a third line center or a third line winger?
Will he begin the season in Buffalo on with AHL Rochester?
That's entirely up to Reinhart at this point. His performances in exhibition games will go a long way to determining what position he will play.
Bylsma will continue to evaluate the 2014 second overall pick in the exhibition game.
Reinhart has played two consecutive exhibition games. He played okay in Wednesday's 5-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators, however, he was one of the best performers on the ice at the ACC on Friday night where the Kootenay Kid seemingly picked up right where he left off at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships where he was Team Canada's MVP on their gold medal winning squad. Reinhart looked like Dale Hawerchuk Version 2.0 by dishing out three assists in the Buffalo win. He was poised, polished, creative, smart, confident and ultra-competitive in Buffalo's come-from-behind win. Bylsma gave Reinhart 14:54 TOI and he was +1 with one blocked shot. He looked like a complete hockey player while flanking Cal O'Reilly and Justin Bailey. He was 3 of 7 on draws, too. What's more impressive is that Bylsma auditioned Reinhart on the PK where he played 2:21 TOI. He played only :34 second of PP time. In his :34 second of PP time, Reinhart still managed to earn assists on PPGs by Marcus Foligno and Mark Pysyk. Talk about being efficient!
On Wednesday night, Reinhart turned heads as he centered a line along with Jamie McGinn and Brian Gionta. He played 16:37 TOI. He took three shots on goal and was -2 in the game. His play was consistent in all three zones. The upshot to his performance against Ottawa was that he finished the game 8 for 11 on draws. That's a solid 73% faceoff win percentage.
Reinhart has played well in scrimmages and exhibition games. He will have to continue to play that way in order earn his roster spot in Buffalo. Nothing is a given at this point. Jack Eichel will start the season as Buffalo's second line center for Matt Moulson and Zemgus Girgensons. The third line center slot is open for the moment. Reinhart is one of the candidates that Bylsma is considering for the third line center position. Swedish bull dog Johan Larsson is also in consideration for that coveted spot.
I have faith in Reinhart that he will continue to play a simple game while playing on the wing.
I'm a big believer that goal scorers must score. Play makers must make plays that light the lamp. Reinhart is the ideal combination of finisher and puck distributor. It is helping him considerably that he can score and create goals from the right wing position. You'll recall that Reinhart powered from the center ice position alongside Max Domi and Anthiny Duclair for Team Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championships. Canada won the gold medal at the very same Air Canada Center in Tronna in January. Reinhart has already perfected the art of delivering a few virtuoso performances on the hugest stage in the NHL at the ACC. I hope for his sake that he can carry his virtuosity from the Toronto game into the rest of the NHL exhibition.
Personaly, I think Reinhart has earned a right wing job on line three already. My thought process is that Bylsma likes Reinhart more as a right winger than a center man. For now.
Reinhart doesn't care which position he plays as long as it is in a Buffalo Sabres sweater. He has earned the trust of his coaches Dan Bylsma and Dave Barr and he doesn't want to be sent down to AHL Rochester at the completion of training camp.
I like his chances of sticking and staying in Buffalo as a winger.
Thanks, Sabres.com
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Mark Pysyk's coming of age was on full display at the ACC on Friday night. This kid is a special defenseman who frankly is too good to be playing in the AHL. He was this good last season, however, the tank strategy sent him to the Rochester Amerks. This season is a different ball of wax. The Sherwood Park, Alberta native killed the Maple Leafs with his manual dexterity, above average skating and his low blood pressure/calm demeanor. This kid is good. Scary good!
In the Toronto win, Pysyk did all of his scoring on the PP. He assisted on Marcus Foligno's PPG that cut Toronto's lead to 2-1 at the first period intermission.
He assisted on Brian Gionta's PPG that cut Toronto's second period lead to 3-2 in the second period.
His power play goal gave the Sabres the 5-4 lead last in the third period.
Of his 19:07 TOI, Pysyk collected three points in just :47 seconds of power playing time.
Like Reinhart, Pysyk is a quick strike scorer/play maker on the power play. He thrives in all situations and is making a strong case for why he should be Buffalo's #5 D-man behind Zach Bogosian, Josh Gorges, Rasmus Ristolainen and Cody Franson. In fact, at some point in this season, Dan Bylsma and Terry Murray may want o experiment with playing Pysyk in the top four D group. The kid has ice water in his veins and does not panic or get rattled easily.
Mark Pysyk is now an NHL D-man. If Friday night is a coming attraction of the movie that he will be starring in, I'd say that Pysyk is going to be a box office icon this season. That's good because the Sabres sure could use his versatility and offensive production.