It’s hard to make sense of this Sabres training camp. We can surmise it will be fun to watch, but it’s hard to figure out exactly what it will be.
The basic fact is we all can just about name the entire roster before a single practice. There’s not much competition for jobs, and it’s going to be far more about competition for spots within the framework of the team.
That’s because the Sabres have acquired so many young assets who have established themselves or are about to, that they didn’t go out and bring in a bunch of veterans and find the need to meld them into a group. That’s what Steve Yzerman did in Detroit this summer and it comes off as a bit of a panic move.
There’s zero panic coming from GM Kevyn Adams and coach Don Granato. Not since the Ruff-Regier days has this ship been so steady.
Now, some annual reminders in the midst of all the Bills hysteria: A hockey training camp is not like a football training camp. Your draft picks aren’t competing to make the team and you’re setting up the roster of the minor-league team simultaneous to getting the big club ready. There’s no Triple-A or AHL in football.
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In hockey, there aren’t breathless recitations of the results of each play in a camp drill. And there is actual meaning in every preseason game. All six of them. That’s where you can mesh forward lines and defensive pairs and see how they work. Many of your key players actually play, too. Unlike in Fake Football.
Still, even knowing who will be on the team, there remain key points of emphasis for the next 2½ weeks. How good do Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka look? How about Casey Mittelstadt? How will Owen Power handle his first NHL training camp? (Yes, it was easy to forget after his eight games late last season that he’s never been to one). Who will be Power’s partner?
The No. 1 pick in the 2021 NHL draft has always been obsessed with hockey.
How ready is newly acquired Eric Comrie to become the No. 1 goalie? How healthy are Craig Anderson and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and is UPL ready for a 50- or 55-game run in Rochester? Can Tage Thompson, Jeff Skinner and Kyle Okposo match last season’s production? How much offense will come from Dylan Cozens and Rasmus Dahlin? How much can Alex Tuch produce in a full season?
(In the we’re-all-getting-older department, Thompson’s seven-year contract extension that kicks in next season is the first one in the organization to stretch to 2030. Obviously, it won’t be the last.)
Here’s my big question: When are Adams and Granato naming a captain? They should do it on Day One come Thursday. End the questions about it. The assumption here is that it will be Okposo, with Tuch getting put in the leadership group as the captain-in-waiting with a couple of others.
The prevailing feeling is this is a franchise on the rise, that there’s too much talent for it not to be. It feels like Okposo has everyone’s ears and one of his messages all summer is that the Sabres actually have expectations now and have to be ready to meet…
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