Author: Buffalo Winter

It is always interesting to see a player signed or traded away come back for the first game against their former teams and most Hockey fans will pay attention on December 9^th when the Flames visit the Blue Jackets in Ohio to see how Mr. Johnny Gaudreau does in his first game versus his former team.

For October there are five interesting first games versus former teams worth watching beginning on October 14^th  with probably the second most anticipated one to watch as Mr. Brent Burns goes back to San Jose as a ‘Cane.

Mr. Kevin Fiala has spent more NHL time in Nashville but has blossomed from a decent 20-goal scorer to his first 30-goal campaign for the Wild so a surprising signing with the Kings makes the October 15^th matchup in Minnesota compelling.

A twin bill on October 21^st highlighting Detroit and Chicago as Mr. Dominik Kubalik is signed away from deep-dive rebuilding Blackhawks and Seattle signed Cup champion Mr. Andre Burakovsky for the opening act in Colorado.

Carolina asked for and received multiple picks for Mr. Tony DeAngelo and a seventh-rounder marking the initial conflict between the newest Broad Street Bully against his former team in Philadelphia on October 29^th for a divisional engagement.  

Two games in November add to the Holiday atmosphere with both contests being played on November 19^th first the Capitals sign Cup champion goaltender Mr. Darcy Kuemper and take on the Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche in Washington.

Secondly, Calgary led by Mr. Jonathan Huberdeau and Mr. MacKenzie Weegar battle their former team Florida while the Panthers have former Flames Mr. Matthew Tkachuk to complete the night’s action in the Sunshine State.

The last two games one on New Year’s Eve have Toronto and Colorado partying in Denver on December 31^st as Cup champion Mr. Nicolas Aube-Kubel signs with the Leafs for one year and one million dollars.   

The one game in 2023 on January 12^th highlights the Winnipeg Jets coming into Buffalo to possibly face their former backup goaltender Mr. Eric Comrie.

The City of Buffalo will host the Seventh Annual Prospects Challenge at the LECOM Harborcenter beginning September 15th and skating through to the 19th ending a week before the Buffalo Sabres begin their pre-season schedule on September 25th on the road versus Washington.

 This year will be entertaining, informative and as always, exciting as there will be six NHL teams participating in the round-robin challenge, and not every team will play each other as Buffalo, Boston, Montreal, New Jersey, Ottawa, and Pittsburgh bring 14 first-round selections from the two previous drafts.

The Schedule:

Tickets go on sale early this month and at 10 dollars they represent a decent Hockey value to watch up-and-coming talent as we had in past Prospect Challenges with Mr. Dahlin, Mr. Thompson, and Mr. Olofsson providing an opportunity to observe the future.

The Buffalo Sabres held three First Round picks in the NHL 2022 Entry Draft and were used to select three Centers at the 9th, 16th, and 28th position and all three of these 18-year-olds are at least two seasons from contributing to the NHL.

The first player drafted at the ninth spot was Matthew Savoie a WHL 5’ 9”, 179 lbs, right-shooting Center, born on New Year’s Day from St Albert just on the outskirts of Edmonton, has been discussed moving to the wing.

At 16 the Sabres selected Noah Ostlund a Swedish, 5’ 11”, 165 lbs, left-shooting Center that has good vision, playmaking, skating, and puck handling the only knock being he plays like one of the Sedin twins Henrik who lacked high-end offensive skills.

Buffalo used their third first-round pick at the 28th position and selected Jiri Kulich a Czechia, 6’ 0”, 179 lbs, left-shooting Center heralded for his playmaking abilities.

Montreal had put on a fast-paced draft that was entertaining and informative with the sad mention of Mr. Marchment passing by all and recognized and thanked by the Sharks organization.

The 60^th NHL Draft will be held in Montreal for the 29^th time which includes the last two years of virtual drafts and for this draft the ticketed public is welcome to attend at the Bell Centre this July 7th and 8th.

There are extenuating circumstances as to why Montreal has hosted so many NHL Drafts, such as the Drafts were always closed to the public and held in Montreal hotels or the NHL Montreal Office, and eventually the Montreal Forum from 1963 until 1979.   

Also worth noting is that Montreal hosted the draft just once in 2009 during a 26-year stretch beginning in 1993 through the 2019 seasons.

The NHL has been drafting over 200 players each season now since the 1970s with the amount almost tipping the scale at 300 at the turn of the Century, but now the drafting has been 210/217 range with this season upping the eligible players to two dozen over 200.

Buffalo Sabres GM Imlach would be turning over in his skates if he could see today’s Draft compared with the early drafts that he had to endure with prolonged procedures and unnecessary tediousness for each and every selection that took weeks to sort out.  

It was during the 1962-63 NHL Season that Mr. Campbell pushed forward the idea of a system of amateur drafting to afford all six teams an opportunity to draft a “star player” and the notorious “sponsorship system” eventually faded from existence by the end of the decade.  

The promise of a brighter future holds great interest to NHL teams and fans alike as each year a new crop of talented young players are selected and at times even offers a “generational player” that can shape a team into a winner.

The NHL Pre-Season Schedule for the Buffalo Sabres 2022-2023 Season consists of six games with the first three contests being played over four days during the last week of September with the first faceoff an early Sunday afternoon start and the 27^th the lone home game versus Philadelphia.

The three October pre-season games are played over seven days with the month’s first game also an early afternoon start, beginning and ending with a Home and Home series against Pittsburgh which is split as Buffalo hosts Carolina in between those games on the fourth.

• September 25th visiting the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena (2 p.m.) 
•  September 27th hosting Philadelphia at KeyBank Center (7 p.m.)
•  September 28th visiting the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena (7 p.m.) 
•  October 1st hosting Pittsburgh Penguins at KeyBank Center (1 p.m.)
•  October 4th hosting Carolina Hurricanes at KeyBank Center (7 p.m.)
•  October 7th visiting the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena (7 p.m.)