@boosbuzzsabres
In this series we build the 2019-20 Buffalo Sabres roster one by one leading up to the season opener on October 3.
C--Casey Mittelstadt
20 yrs. old
6'1" 202 lbs.
2017, eighth-overall
Career stats: 80 games | 13 goal |17 assists | 25 points | -18
Last year during our roster build, we quoted The Athletic's Scott Wheeler who made Sabres rookie center Casey Mittlestadt one of his
10 Gifted Prospects to watch heading into the 2018-19 campaign. Wheeler wrote of the 19 yr. old Mittelstadt, who'd just turned pro after one year of college, "[he's] already extremely talented yet super, super raw."
Mittelstadt, a freshman, had battled hard at the University of Minnesota as the Gophers only real threat (outside of maybe sophomore, Rem Pitlick) and finished his lone NCAA season with a rather average 30 points (11+19) in 34 games. At the end of the season he signed his entry level deal and hit the NHL with an impressive six-game debut featuring his first NHL goal and four assists. The trade of No. 2 center Ryan O'Reilly that off season created an opening behind Jack Eichel with only Mittelstadt and veteran Patrik Berglund seemingly in contention for that opening. Berglund would end up being the choice for the Sabres to begin the 2018-19 season with the rookie starting out on the third line.
While building the 2018-19 roster here, we had Mittelstadt at the No. 2 slot surrounded by two veteran wingers in Jeff Skinner and Kyle Okposo. That never came to fruition on the second line but Mittelstadt and Okposo were paired on the third line and were joined by Vladimir Sobotka to start the season. Three games later Mittelstadt had two new wingers on his line in Johan Larsson and 21 yr. old Tage Thompson.
What transpired in the early part of the season was a lot of forward shuffling while coach Phil Housley tried to find the right combinations. He eventually found a very capable top line but secondary scoring fell off a cliff and to make matters worse, Berglund wasn't getting the job done. After falling down the depth chart and into the press box, he walked away from the NHL entirely in December.
Those turn of events put the onus on Mittelstadt to be Buffalo's No. 2 center and it proved to be too much for the kid. Mittelstadt struggled with the game itself, as well as the endurance needed to play an 82-game schedule, and his first season for the Sabres was regarded as below average at best.
As we head into the 2019-20 season the Sabres are faced with the same problems they had last year as they're still bereft of a true second-line center and their top-nine depth still needs work even though general manager Jason Botterill landed two versatile top-nine forwards. Mittelstadt looks to have the inside track at being Buffalo's second line center and Botterill indicated he'll be flanked by two veteran wingers. How new head coach Ralph Krueger approaches this is to be determined but at least this season he'll have a couple more choices than Housley did last year.
Mittelstadt seems to have a good grasp of what to expect heading into his second season and hecame into the Sabres Fan Fest a couple of weekends ago looking rather svelte. According to Lance Lysowski of the Buffalo News, Mittelstadt called his trainer, former Sabre Erik Rasmussen, with three weeks left in the season. Mittelstadt wanted to get started just a few days after the end of the season on his training regimen, to which Rasmussen was said to have replied, "There's no way you're starting then."
This was Mittelstadt's response, according to Rasmussen, "I will be there and we're starting."
Botterill talked to the gathered media at Fan Fest telling the gathered media that Mittelstadt "has taken the summer very seriously."
"I think he's taken a big step," said the GM. "He faced some adversity last year. We challenged him a little bit about some of his conditioning [and] I think he's done that extremely well."
Conditioning is huge for a young player, especially a teenager who came from the college ranks where the length of a season is less than half of what the pros play. Many teenagers and players in there very early 20's are still filling out their frames and getting accustomed to playing against men. It's a huge jump to the NHL whether it's college or Canadian Junior and Botterill stressed that he thinks "it's always that first or second year where good players take that jump."
By no means is this a make-or-break year for either Mittelstadt or the Sabres, but seeing significant year-over-year progress should be a minimum goal. As a 19 yr. old Housley sheltered his minutes with a team-high 84.03% offensive zone starts but there wasn't much the coach could do when it came to the personnel Mittelstadt had on his wings. This year things will be different as he'll have at least one player on his wing that can drive play setting expectations for a marked improvement over that 12-goal/13-assist stat-line we saw last season.
The only other option the Sabres have right now at No. 2 center is the 26 yr. old Rodrigues, a versatile forward who's more suited to a third-line/bottom-six role. Rodrigues had spot duty in the top-six last year and performed admirably, but Mittelstadt has the skills to be a mainstay up there.
However, he's still "super, super raw."
Building the 2019-20 Buffalo Sabres roster:
LW, Jeff Skinner /
C, Jack Eichel/
RW, Sam Reinhart
_____________ /
C, Casey Mittelstadt / _________
LHD, Rasmus Dahlin /
RHD, Brandon Montour
G, Carter Hutton
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