The signing of Vinnie Hinostroza is a little bittersweet. On the one hand, it’s a solid depth signing that would make sense for a team that is trying to be a competitive hockey team, but on the other, it’s a move that should have been made two or three years ago when there was still hope of salvaging the old core of the hockey team. Gone are Linus Ullmark, Rasmus Ristolainen, Sam Reinhart and quite possibly Jack Eichel and thus the need to bolster the bottom six with serviceable players isn’t as dire as it was one, two or three years ago when they were trying to win.
Looking back on some of the signings and trades made late in the Botterill era and into the Krueger/Adams era, we see names like Wayne Simmonds, Michael Frolik, Cody Eakin and Riley Sheahan. At the risk of beating a horse that expired during the time of Billy the Kid, these signings and trades were underwhelming and largely a net negative on the team which I don’t need to tell anyone who watched those games.
Let me be clear: Vinnie Hinostroza was not the magic pill that would have salvaged any of those teams from being bad, but there’s also the fact that Sabres missed the 24-team cutoff for the Return-to-Play playoffs* by one point. Would Hinostroza have radically altered the composition of the team or put them over the top to make them a good team? No. Could he have gotten them an extra half-of-a-win to sneak them into the return-to-play? Yeah, I think he could have. One point in the standings is an incredibly razor-thin margin. Had the Sabres made that tournament, it probably would have saved Jason Botterill’s job (which may not have been a good thing in any case), but more importantly it could have kept Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart happy and content being in Buffalo for the foreseeable future.
One tiny move in the correct direction could have totally changed the direction of the franchise. They decided to wait for Frolik instead.
Enough of the depressing what-if talk.
Hinostroza is a versatile, Swiss army knife type of player who can play center or right wing, and I’m sure he could muddle through his way on the left wing if necessary. The third line as hypothetically constructed will have three players who can all play center to varying degrees so the readers are welcome to guess who else will be on this third line. The Chicago-native is smallish at 5’10” and 176 pounds so there’s not a lot physicality that he’ll bring to the table but he can add some decent depth offensive punch.
His best season came in Arizona during the 2018-2019 season when he scored 16 goals with 23 assists for 39 points in 72 games for a points-per-game of .54 which is completely respectable. That year he shot at around 10% which is above his career average of 7% but it’s not a ridiculously high percentage in any case. With head coach Don Granato, he’ll have a chance to meet or exceed those numbers in what figures to be a high-tempo offense. Speaking of Granato, Hinostroza cited his presence as a reason to sign with the Sabres this offseason.
'I think with him as a head coach you’re always going to have that transparency where you know what he wants from you and if you’re not doing something right he’s going to tell you,” Hinostroza told the media following his signing. “There’s never going to be that gray area where you are wondering what did I not do or what could I do better. He’s always going to tell you and try to help you be the best player you can because ultimately if everyone’s the best player they can be the team is going to have success.”
He continued by saying that based on conversations with Don Granato, the offensive system will help him have success this year:
“The way the team is going, the way they want to play, I think I fit perfectly there. (I’m) hard-working, relentless with some speed,” Hinostroza said.
Granato forged this bond with Hinostroza when the man the fans call Donnie Meatballs was an assistant coach with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2017-2018. Hinostroza finished that season with a clean 25 points in 50 games which will make him a perfect candidate for a Sabres middle six that needs some scoring punch. It’s yet another example of Granato forging a bond with American-born players like Anders Bjork, Casey Mittelstadt, Mattias Samuelsson and Kyle Okposo. That’s not to say that Granato favors Americans over the rest of the team, but his ties via his coaching history and his family history certainly lends itself to Team USA connections.
This signing looks to have all the hallmarks of an analytics signing with Hinostroza consistently posting some solid underlying stats. The past year was kind of “meh,” but his offensive numbers under Granato in Chicago look super solid which is a good omen going into this season with the rookie bench boss in Buffalo. Hinostroza can chip in on either the powerplay or the penalty kill as necessary as well, so there figure to be plenty of opportunities for the 27-year-old to show he’s still got it.
Overall, it’s a solid, low-risk signing at $1.05m that could look like an absolute bargain if Granato can get him back to .5 points per game like he did in Chicago. From there, either he could be flipped at the trade deadline or he could be re-signed to be part of the continuing rebuild. Either way, it’s a signing that really has no downside.
*The NHL chose to say that the first round of the Return-to-Play initiative in 2020 was not, in fact, the playoffs despite counting the players’ stats in that best-of-five round as playoff statistics. This is the kind of nonsensical logic that I use to justify putting three slices of jalapeno pepper jack cheese on a sandwich. After all there are bits of vegetable in the cheese, so it must be healthy.
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We’re putting together the top-10 moments from the 10-year playoff drought from you, the readers, and today the list begins with some great submissions from the comment section. Keep ‘em coming as we have 7 more spots to go.
#10
Reader lacaprup submitted this moment:
“There was a game against Philadelphia I was at during the 10-game win streak that had four Sabre goals and a fight in the first period.
After the fight, which happened at the close of the period, the arena was rocking as loud as ever I've heard it in this awful era.”
Here's the video:
#9
From user Boss34 who had multiple suggestions (some of which we may see later):
“ek9 (Evander Kane) beating up the panther guy 3 times and holding up 3 fingers”
Youtube may ask you to verify your age to watch the triple beatdown. Let’s go to the tape:
#8
IonSabres submitted this Eichel suggestion:
“Hank...
I'm older and don't remember exactly when it was ... around Christmas time in Jack's 1st or 2nd year...
Playing Boston and put up 4 points in the win. Great game.”
Here it is:
Bonus selection from reader Rhinofan… er… Quinnfan:
“#1 Sabres moment came on October 6th, 2020, when the Buffalo Sabres drafted Jack Quinn.
Buffalo Sabres Blogger • 
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