Zachary Benson, 5’ 10”, 170 pounds, a left shooting forward drafted 13th overall by the Buffalo Sabres and by all reports, a player rated much higher before the NHL Entry Draft for 2023 began last night.
The Sabres General Manager Kevyn (with a “y”) Adams talked about Mr. Benson’s projection in becoming an NHL player and what he will accomplish for Buffalo versus what he could do for the parent club now.
GM Adams also discussed that last year’s draft selection Mr. Savoie was an older teammate of Mr. Benson under HC Patrick (Sabres defenseman 6 years, Assistant Coach 7 years) which afforded Buffalo the opportunity to scout both players extensively giving the Sabres valuable insight for this year’s draft.
More insight was provided by current Sabres and former WHL Winnipeg Ice player Mr. Krebs who two seasons ago played 24 games for the Ice with teammate 15-year-old Mr. Benson and both lived with the same billet family.
Buffalo finishes up the 2023NHL Entry Draft today making seven selections with two of them in the second round, (39th & 45th).
African native Rumun (the “n” is silent) Ndur (En-doo-re) was born in Zaria a major city in Nigeria in July of 1975 then his parents moved to Hearst, Ontario, Canada when he was approximately six to seven years old.
First African-born NHLer Mr. Ndur grew up in Ontario and like most Canadian boys began to skate, play Hockey, and dream of the NHL which occurred for him during the 1994 NHL Entry Draft when the Buffalo Sabres selected Mr. Ndur in the 3rd round 69th overall.
His first stop before the NHL was two solid years in the AHL with the Rochester Americans under HC Tortorella where Mr. Ndur became a Calder Cup Champion in the 1995-96 AHL season while piling up over 300 penalty minutes and picking up the nickname “the Nigerian Nightmare”.
For three seasons Mr. Ndur played 11 games for Buffalo and he finished at +1, 20 PIMs, 1 SOG, and with a 10:58 TOI average, in December 1998 the Sabres lost Mr. Ndur while endeavoring to “sneak him back to Rochester” as the New York Rangers claimed him off waivers.
From 1992 in the OHL until 2009-10 in the IHL, Mr. Ndur played for 16 teams over 9 leagues and won Championships in the AHL and overseas with HK Jesenice in Slovenia and two EIHL Championships with the Coventry Blaze.
If only Mr. Ndur had cleared waivers and remained a Buffalo Sabres defenseman because in the next season, he would have made it to the Stanley Cup Finals and who knows maybe he could have checked Mr. Hull out of the blue paint.
The Buffalo Sabres play seven preseason games that include a trip to St. Thomas to play the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Joe Thornton Community Centre on the 27th of September.
Kraft Hockeyville winner West Lorne near St. Thomas are both above the middle Northern Lake Erie shoreline in Ontario separated by a 45-minute drive and about three hours from either Buffalo or Toronto which gives the “home-ice” nod to the Leafs.
This is Buffalo’s fifth appearance in Kraft’s Hockeyville NHL preseason games.
The first two Buffalo Sabres preseason contests begin with a Sunday two o’clock road game versus the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on September 24th then Tuesday the 26th at 7pm Buffalo hosts Boston at the Key Bank Center.
The last four preseason games are against opponents Pittsburgh and Columbus both home and home series over the end of September and beginning of October with one afternoon game.
Buffalo at Washington September 24, Capital One Arena 2pm
Boston at Buffalo September 26, Key Bank Center 7pm
Buffaloat Toronto September 27, Hockeyville JTCC TBA
Buffalo at Pittsburgh September 28, PPG Paints Arena 7pm
Columbus atBuffalo September 30, Key Bank Center 3pm
Buffalo at Columbus October 4, Nationwide Arena 7pm
Pittsburgh at Buffalo October 6, Key Bank Center 7pm
Kraft Foods Inc. has for over the last 17 seasons donated millions of dollars to communities across Canada so each municipality could upgrade their arena and receive youth Hockey equipment.
Since 2015 the United States of America Kraft Hockeyville has been in operation also providing Hockey passionate communities across the USA with upgrades and youth Hockey equipment.
The NHLPAGoals & Dreams fund also contributes thousands of dollars of youth equipment to all four community finalists.
These corporate events connected to NHL preseason games are a boon to pocket-sized communities and their Hockey passionate populace and if cheese sales increase it does not matter this is good for everyone connected and Hockey in general.
Most fans can name Alexander Mogilny who came to Buffalo in 1989 and Ilya Lyubushkin from last season as Russians that have and do play for the Sabres, but how many overall have come from Russia to represent Buffalo in the NHL?
Mr. Mogilny was the first to play for Buffalo and including the three on last season’s roster, there have been a total of 21USSR/Russian Federation players over the past 30 NHL seasons that have played or are currently with the Sabres.
“Magic” as he was known on his USSR Red Army team Mr. Mogilny was all that and more for Buffalo, the only Sabres player to score 70 or more goals in a season and his journey to the United States of America was exciting and dangerous.
A Lieutenant in the Soviet Red Army Mr. Mogilny was not just under contract to play in Russia he was a commissioned officer in the Union Soviet Socialist Republic, although he played Hockey and did not see combat his “defection” made him a deserter carrying severe consequences.
With the German people pulling down the Berlin Wall in 1989 and Glasnost taking hold the danger of the Soviets was still real to Mr. Mogilny and his family but politically the belligerency was waning to the point where his family was left alone and eventually the USSR dissolved.
Unheralded and undrafted after five seasons in the KHL the Arizona Coyotes took a chance on Ilya Lyubushkin the Lokomotiv defenseman but after nearly five years traded him to the Maple Leafs who used him for 31 games in 2021-22 before the Sabres made an offer to steep for Toronto to counter.
Mr. Lyubushkin is not here to be another scoring defenseman (1 even strength and 1SHG last season) his role is more physical as a traditional defenseman who averaged 15 minutes of ice time while dishing out 99 hits and blocking 104 shots in just 68 games played last season.
Mr. Mogilny was the first Sabres Russian player and Mr. Lyubushkin is the most recent here are the other 19 players for Buffalo in chronological order.
1989-90
Alexander Mogilny RW b. 1969 Khaborovsk, USSR
1992-93
Viktor Gordiouk LW b. 1970 Odintsovo, USSR
Yuri Khmylev LW b. 1964 Moscow, USSR
1993-94
Sergei Petrenko LW b. 1968 Kharkov, USSR
Denis Tsygurov D b. 1971 Chelyabinsk, USSR
1994-95
Alexei Zhitnik D b. 1972 Kiev, USSR
1995-96
Andrei Trefilov G b. 1969 Kirovo-Chepetsk, USSR
1996-97
Anatoli Semenov C/LW b. 1962 Moscow USSR
1999-00
Maxim Afinogenov RW b. 1979 Moscow, USSR
Dmitri Kalinin D b. 1980 Chelyabinsk, USSR
Vladimir Tsyplakov LW b. 1969 Inta, USSR (a town next to the former Corrective Labor Camp, Intagulag)
2000-01
Peteris Skudra G b. 1973 Riga, USSR
2001-02
Vyacheslav Kozlov LW b. 1972 Voskresensk, USSR
2006-07
Dainius Zubrus RW/C b. 1978 Elektrenai, USSR
2012-13
Mikhail Grigorenko C b. 1994 Khabarovsk, Russian Federation
2013-14
Nikita Zadorov D b. 1995 Moscow, Russian Federation
2014-15
Andrey Makarov G b. 1993 Kazan, Russian Federation
2016-17
Dmitry Kulikov D b. 1990 Lipetsk, USSR
2022-23
Ilya Lyubushkin D b. 1994 Moscow, Russian Federation
Nikita Novikov D b. 2003 Moscow, Russian Federation
Vsevolod Komarov D b. 2004 Chelyabinsk, Russian Federation
The last two Russian players listed were drafted in 2021 and 2022 and are not currently called up from the Quebec Remparts (Komarov) and from the Dynamo Moscow (Novikov) to date.
SC 5 – FLA 2 In an anticlimactic game five the Knights, Draft Kings, Fan Duel, (sports books in general) the Board of Governors (BOG), and sin city now have the Stanley Cup right where they want it, directly in the gambling center of North America…heavy sigh.
Mr. Bettman and the BOG endeavored to have the Stanley Cup awarded to a newly created franchise in its first season six years ago unlike cities granted a franchise before that were given cast-offs, unwanted, overpaid, underperforming, players without the guidance and care from the League’s commissioner. (But I digress)
I was able to enjoy the Stanley Cup playoffs even with the poor officiating and obvious bias as it was nice to watch players like Mr. Kessel (scratched) earn another ring, former players that skated for Buffalo Mr. Carrier, Mr. Reinhart, and Mr. Fitzgerald were often in the mix.
The Knights have outstanding players in net with three top-notch goalies to call on (one injured), Captain Stone, Misters Stephenson, Marchessault, Karlsson, Barbashev, and Alternate Captains Smith and Pietrangelo along with third and fourth-line contributions throughout the playoffs deservedly became the Stanley Cup Champions for 2023.
Buffalo Winter 