At first blush, it appears that the Rochester Amerks will be taking on the Washington Capitals tonight. Not so said Ted Nolan this morning. Nolan doesn't like presuming where a kid or vet will play. This isn't a training camp. Its a tryout period. Nolan wants to see kids and vets busting their humps tonight. He and his coaches are evaluating all 60 players who were invited to camp. For Nolan to say that a kid or vet is pre-determined to play in Rochester or Buffalo would be premature, says Nolan. He and his coaches are telling every player: If you want a job, you have to earn it. Nothing is being handed to a player, nor are there any short cuts toi the NHL. Nolan used Mikhail Grigorenko as an example. He said that Grigo has looked "tremendous" his first two days of tryouts. Now, its time for the 6'3" 220 lb. supremely skilled Russian center to prove his mettle against other NHLers and AHLers in a real game setting. Nolan will be watching all of his charges closely in the six exhibition games and in his practice sessions and scrimmages.
Puck drop will be at 5:15pm EDT.
Enjoy the Bills-Chargers game, then flip the station to the NHL Network of MSG for the Sabres-Caps.
Happy Pegula Day.
Here are your line combos and D pairs for the first ex-game in Washington.
Were I Ted Nolan, I would start former Capitals tender Michal Neuvirth against his former team. Washington dealt Neuvirth to the Sabres at the trade deadline last March. The 26-year-old Czech wants to leverage the #1 starting goalie job away from incumbent Jhonas Enroth. Here's Neuvirth's opportunity to shine.
Neuvirth suffered hip and groin injuries last season and really didn't get to show his best work to his new team.
Neuvirth has a fresh new start in Buffalo after having to battle with Semyon Varlamov and Braden Holtby in Washington.
New Sabres goalie coach Arturs Irbe served as Neuvirth's goalie coach in Washington for two seasons. Neuvirth admittedly had his best NHL season while Irbe was his position coach.
In 2010-11, Neuvirth was 27-12-4 with a .914 save percentage and 2.45 GAA. He notched four shutouts that season.
There have been rumblings that Neuvirth and Irbe didn't really see things eye to eye in their final days together in Washington Neuvirth said earlier this week that he and "Archie" got along well together.
Neuvirth is really going to have to go above and beyond in terms of his conditioning and on ice performance in practices and games in order to wrestle the #1 job away from Enroth who served his NHL goalie apprenticeship by backing up Ryan Miller for four seasons.
Thanks, Sabres.com
In his only two starts in Buffalo last season, Neuvirth went 0-2, however only allowed 5 goals against on 98 shots faced, which equates to 2.56 GAA and .949 save percentage. Neuvirth faced 42 shots against Florida on March 7 and then faced 51 shots against Carolina on March 13.
Ted Nolan and Irbe are hoping that Neuvirth and Enroth can play to their full potential to create an inner competition in the crease. The better the goaltending is, the better the Sabers will be this season. They will not suffer from goal scoring-itits like they did in 2013-14 when they set a franchise low for goals scored with only 150 in 82 games played. Matt Moulson, Chris Stewart, Drew Stafford, Tyler Ennis, Cody Hodgson, Zemgus Girgensons, Marcus Foligno, Brian Gionta and others will be counted on to score goals with regularity.
The Buffalo D will be decidedly better with the subtractions of Jamie McBain and Hank Tallinder and the additions of Andrej Meszaros, Andre Benoit, and Rasmus Ristolainen.
As goaltending goes, so will go the Sabres in 2014-15.
***
Like the Buffalo Sabres had done last season, the Washington Capitals cleaned house during the offseason. Longtime GM George McPhee was fired along with head coach Adam Oates. Years of playoff failures could no longer be explained away by GMGM so Caps ownership decided to go in another direction. Like Ted Nolan, Barry Trotz is a demanding head coach who expects maximum effort from all players on his bench. Trotz is a big believer in having the experienced vets act as teachers and mentors to the young kids. Nolan has a similar coaching philosophy. Trotz and Nolan will square on Sunday afterrnoon in Washington. This will be the first preseason game for both teams.
The Sabre and Caps have only had a day and a half of practice to get ready foe this game. Not the best scenario an NHL head coach could ask for.
“To me, it is what it is,” says Trotz on Saturday. “It’s not ideal for teaching stuff; it’s just games.
“The first three games are about how we play and how we want to play. It’s attitude; it’s not necessarily all the details, because we haven’t worked on them. It’s impossible. It’s a little bit of an impossible task to say, ‘Oh man, they’ve got good structure.’ They’re not going to have good structure; they haven’t played this way. But it’s going to be about an attitude.
“We might be behind in some areas because the team we’re playing is playing the same system [they’ve been playing] or they’ve got a lot of guys back or whatever. We don’t. We’re doing things a little differently, so we’ve just got to pull each other along. We’re going to make some mistakes, but we can control a lot of things. They had a long film session. They’re smart players; they’re going to have to deal with it. They’re going to have to find a way. And we’ll coach them through it; they’ll coach each other through it. It’s about the attitude, it’s not necessarily about the structure or all those other things. We’re trying to forge a little bit of an attitude."
Trotz will use a mixed lineup on Sunday that will feature some of his vets playing along with the kids. Power forward Tom Wilson will not be available as he is nursing a broken leg.
There's no doubt about the talent and hose power that Trotz has on his bench right now. On paper, the Caps look like a perennial playoff team, however, they never live up to their lofty preseason goals and expectations. Trotz was hired to instill a new culture of accountability and winning. He expects buy-in from all of his players, come Hell or high water.
“It’s about how we play,” says Caps coach Barry Trotz. “I want to establish a protocol. There is some mentorship that I want; you’ll see some veteran guys playing with some young guys and all that.
“I need to establish what Capitals culture is. Capitals culture is about a foundation of hard work, and we’re going to get the structure, and we’ve got good people that care about each other. We’ve got some great talent here, and we’ve just got to get better every day. And I said to the guys at our meeting [on Thursday], ‘Our goal is to be better every day in one area. Just be better in one area than you were the day before. You might not be more conditioned, you might have to be a little bit smarter or understand something, but just work on one thing every day and be a little bit better so that collectively you can be really good.”
Ovechkin are you listening?
Thanks, Capitals.com
***
Caps captain Alex Ovechkin finds himself playing for his fifth head coach since the 2006-07 season. Glen Hanlon, Bruce Boudreau, Dale Hunter, and Adam Oates failed in their attempts to get Washington to the Stanley Cup Finals. Therefore they were shown the door out of Washington. Hunter willingly left to rturn to his OHL London Knights club where he doesn't have to coddle multi-millionaires who have talent but lack the proper attitude and structure., Like Ovechkin. Now, Barry Trotz gets a chance to impart his wisdom on Ovi.
“It’s just the schedule,” . “There’s nothing we can do. Of course, there are going to be some hard moments for us because the first practice was hard and [Saturday] is going to be a hard practice and we’re going to play right away.
“It’s good for us and it’s good for the coaches, because right away we’re going to have a game and we’re going to see our mistakes. And because it’s going to be a new system, of course there are going to be mistakes, of course there are going to be communication [errors] and all that kind of stuff. I think it’s going to be pretty hard.”
Thanks, Capitals.com
***
The Sabres won two of the three games versus the Caps last season. All three games went to OT. Buffalo took a pair of 2-1 shootout decisions while Washington earned a 5-4 OT win over the Sabres.
***
To say that Chris Stewart has a chip on his shoulder is a bit of an understatement.
Dude's got a massive boulder on his shoulder, and it has Ken Hitchcock's name on it.
The power forward was traded to Buffalo from the St. Louis Blue in March 2014. In the final months of his tenure in St. Louis, Stewart's playing time had dwindled from top-six guy to fourth line, five minute TOI guy. Stewart landed in Buffalo along with Jaro Halak and William Carrier (plus 2015 first rounder and conditional pick) in the Ryan Miller-Steve Ott trade.
Stewart played only two games in a Sabres uni last season. He was wrecked by the Tampa goaltender Bishop on a fifty-fifty puck race. Stewart suffered a jacked up ankle that rendered him useless for the final 6 weeks of the season. He never got a chance to show Ted Nolan and Tim Murray exactly what type of player that is. He was so eager to show his new bosses that he is not that fourth liner that Hitchcock had lost faith in in The Loo.
Stewart spent the entire offseason in Buffalo, rehabbing his ankle, then working out daily with a handful of vets and kids inside First Niagara Center. It was there that he and Ted Nolan would have occasional chats about the upcoming season and his role with the re-building Sabres. Stewart has been a bull in a china shop the first two days of tryouts. Nolan is skating Stewart on Samson Reinhart's right wing, opposite Marcus Foligno. Nolan has wasted very little time pumping Stewarts's tires by trusting him to play with the second overall pick in the draft. Nolan wants Samson to be flanked by two giant road graters in Stewart and Foligno. Two massive security blankets if you will. At prospect development camp in July and again at Traverse City last week, Reinhart made himself available to be hit hard by opponents. He was crushed on his first shift as a Sabre back in July when Zemgus Girgsensons welcomed him to the NHL. Then again, Carolina winger Sandlak face-planed Samson into the glass at in the first game four disappointing games at Traverse City for the Sabres. Nolan will not tolerate opponents taking advantage of Reinhart. If and when they do, Stewart and Foligno will chuck the knucks and defend their centerman.
The big boys also have skill and strength and will win pucks on walls and create open ice so that Reinhart can operate freely and distribute the puck.
So far, so good.
Renhart will be in the lineup in Washington on Sunday afternoon, however, Stewart will not be. My guess is that Nolan will insert Joel Armia into Stewart's right wing slot.
Stewart is committed to having his Sabres "make some noise". Nothing would please Stewart more than showing Hitchcock that he is wrong for trading him last season. Oh, and Stewart would love to shut the pie holes of all of the Sabres haters and Connor McDavid fan club members. The 6'3" 235 lb. power winger is in the best shape of his professional life. He's never been more motivated than he is today. He is now in a contract year. He will earn $4.15 million this season and he wants to earn another contract in Buffalo. He and his wife welcomed their twins into the world this summer and Stewart's family lives in Toronto. They can travel to Buffalo to see the babies with regularity. Its a quality of life opportunity as well as a huge hockey opportunity for Stewart in Buffalo. He's 26 now. He's been through all of the ups and downs associated with erratic play and injuries. Now, its his time to show Murray and Nolan that he is worthy of an extension to remain a Buffalo Sabre.
To say that Chris Stewart has a chip on his shoulder is a bit of an understatement.
Dude's got a massive boulder on his shoulder, and it has Ken Hitchcock's name on it.
The power forward was traded to Buffalo from the St. Louis Blue in March 2014. In the final months of his tenure in St. Louis, Stewart's playing time had dwindled from top-six guy to fourth line, five minute TOI guy. Stewart landed in Buffalo along with Jaro Halak and William Carrier (plus 2015 first rounder and conditional pick) in the Ryan Miller-Steve Ott trade.
Stewart played only two games in a Sabres uni last season. He was wrecked by the Tampa goaltender Bishop on a fifty-fifty puck race. Stewart suffered a jacked up ankle that rendered him useless for the final 6 weeks of the season. He never got a chance to show Ted Nolan and Tim Murray exactly what type of player that is. He was so eager to show his new bosses that he is not that fourth liner that Hitchcock had lost faith in in The Loo.
Stewart spent the entir eoffseason in Buffalo, rehabbing his ankle, then working out daily with a handful of vets and kids inside First Niagara Center. It was there that he and Ted Nolan would have occasional chats about the upcoming season and his role with the re-building Sabres. Stewart has been a bull in a china shop the first two days of tryouts. Nolan is skating Stewart on Samson Reinhart's right wing, opposite Marcus Foligno. Nolan has wasted very little time pumping Stewarts's tires by trusting him to play with the second overall pick in the draft. Nolan wants Samson to be flanked by two giant road graters in Stewart and Foligno. Two massive security blankets if you will. At prospect development camp in July and again at Traverse City last week, Reinhart made himself available to be hit hard by opponents. He was crushed on his first shift as a Sabre back in July when Zemgus Girgsensons welcomed him to the NHL. Then again, Carolina winger Sandlak face-planed Samson into the glass at in the first game four disappointing games at Traverse City for the Sabres. Nolan will not tolerate opponents taking advantage of Reinhart. If and when they do, Stewart and Foligno will chuck the knucks and defend their centerman.
The big boys also have skill and strength and will win pucks on walls and create open ice so that Reinhart can operate freely and distribute the puck.
So far, so good.
Renhart will be in the lineup in Washington on Sunday afternoon, however, Stewart will not be. My guess is that Nolan will insert Joel Armia into Stewart's right wing slot.
Stewart is committed to having his Sabres "make some noise". Nothing would please Stewart more than showing Hitchcock that he is wrong for trading him last season. Oh, and Stewart would love to shut the pie holes of all of the Sabres haters and Connor McDavid fan club members. The 6'3" 235 lb. power winger is in the best shape of his professional life. He's never been more motivated than he is today. He is now in a contract year. He will earn $4.15 million this season and he wants to earn another contract in Buffalo. He and his wife welcomed their twins into the world this summer and Stewart's family lives in Toronto. They can travel to Buffalo to see the babies with regularity. Its a quality of life opportunity as well as a huge hockey opportunity for Stewart in Buffalo. He's 26 now. He's been through all of the ups and downs associated with erratic play and injuries. Now, its his time to show Murray and Nolan that he is worthy of an extension to remain a Buffalo Sabre.
Stewart knows how to light the lamp in the NHL, having scored 28 goals in a season in his career. There's no good reason why he can't be relied upon to pot thirty or more goals for the Sabres this season.
Thanks, Sabres.com
To say that Chris Stewart has a chip on his shoulder is a bit of an understatement.
Dude's got a massive boulder on his shoulder, and it has Ken Hitchcock's name on it.
The power forward was traded to Buffalo from the St. Louis Blue in March 2014. In the final months of his tenure in St. Louis, Stewart's playing time had dwindled from top-six guy to fourth line, five minute TOI guy. Stewart landed in Buffalo along with Jaro Halak and William Carrier (plus 2015 first rounder and conditional pick) in the Ryan Miller-Steve Ott trade.
Stewart played only two games in a Sabres uni last season. He was wrecked by the Tampa goaltender Bishop on a fifty-fifty puck race. Stewart suffered a jacked up ankle that rendered him useless for the final 6 weeks of the season. He never got a chance to show Ted Nolan and Tim Murray exactly what type of player that is. He was so eager to show his new bosses that he is not that fourth liner that Hitchcock had lost faith in in The Loo.
Stewart spent the entir eoffseason in Buffalo, rehabbing his ankle, then working out daily with a handful of vets and kids inside First Niagara Center. It was there that he and Ted Nolan would have occasional chats about the upcoming season and his role with the re-building Sabres. Stewart has been a bull in a china shop the first two days of tryouts. Nolan is skating Stewart on Samson Reinhart's right wing, opposite Marcus Foligno. Nolan has wasted very little time pumping Stewarts's tires by trusting him to play with the second overall pick in the draft. Nolan wants Samson to be flanked by two giant road graters in Stewart and Foligno. Two massive security blankets if you will. At prospect development camp in July and again at Traverse City last week, Reinhart made himself available to be hit hard by opponents. He was crushed on his first shift as a Sabre back in July when Zemgus Girgsensons welcomed him to the NHL. Then again, Carolina winger Sandlak face-planed Samson into the glass at in the first game four disappointing games at Traverse City for the Sabres. Nolan will not tolerate opponents taking advantage of Reinhart. If and when they do, Stewart and Foligno will chuck the knucks and defend their centerman.
The big boys also have skill and strength and will win pucks on walls and create open ice so that Reinhart can operate freely and distribute the puck.
So far, so good.
Renhart will be in the lineup in Washington on Sunday afternoon, however, Stewart will not be. My guess is that Nolan will insert Joel Armia into Stewart's right wing slot.
Stewart is committed to having his Sabres "make some noise". Nothing would please Stewart more than showing Hitchcock that he is wrong for trading him last season. Oh, and Stewart would love to shut the pie holes of all of the Sabres haters and Connor McDavid fan club members. The 6'3" 235 lb. power winger is in the best shape of his professional life. He's never been more motivated than he is today. He is now in a contract year. He will earn $4.15 million this season and he wants to earn another contract in Buffalo. He and his wife welcomed their twins into the world this summer and Stewart's family lives in Toronto. They can travel to Buffalo to see the babies with regularity. Its a quality of life opportunity as well as a huge hockey opportunity for Stewart in Buffalo. He's 26 now. He's been through all of the ups and downs associated with erratic play and injuries. Now, its his time to show Murray and Nolan that he is worthy of an extension to remain a Buffalo Sabre.
***
Ted Nolan didn't divulge his starting lineup for Sunday's first preseason game against the Washington Captials. This much we know: Samson Reinhart will play. Chris Stewart will not play.
Nolan and his assistants have a created competitive lineups for all of his veteran players to get a good look-see during the exhibition games.
“Some of the veteran players will get the last two or three games and let them get their footing in. Early, we’ll see some guys who are really going to be battling for jobs,” Nolan said on Saturday. “We kind of put a ghost lineup (together) for all six games and as hockey goes, it’s all subject goes.”
***
Matt Hackett made a surprise appearance at at the end of the second day of tryouts on Saturday. The promising young goalie suffered a horrific ACL injury in the second to last game of the nightmare season from hell. Jamie McBain's laziness resulted in Torey Krug canon-balling Hackett.
Ted Nolan was flabbergasted, and pleased that the Sabres medical team could get Hackett back on the ice so quickly after such a serious injury.
"You’ve got to give our medical staff and doctors credit to get a kid back on his feet that quick," Nolan said. "I was expecting maybe end of November he might start thinking about it, but right now he’s out. It’s a great sign for him."
Hackett will ease his way back into the net and will hopefully be playing games in Rochester in October or November.
Jhonas Enroth and Michal Neuvirth will battle for the #1 job In Buffalo.
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