bob_sauve28

Nathan Paetsch is getting a front-row seat to Komarov’s rise. He was a player development coach with the Sabres when they drafted Komarov and has since moved up to coach the defensemen in Rochester where Komarov is expected to play this season. Because Komarov came to North America when he was 17 years old, the player development process was smoother than it is for other Russian players. Paetsch needed Zoom calls and a translator to have conversations with Nikita Novikov, Buffalo’s sixth-round pick in 2021. But he was able to drive up to Quebec to see Komarov’s games and take him out to dinner. Komarov’s English improved quickly as he was surrounded by people who spoke the language, too. Paetsch noticed something special about Komarov as a person, describing him as someone who has the “it factor.” When Paetsch drove up to watch Komarov’s games in Quebec, he would often call Sabres assistant general manager Jerry Forton to tell him he thought Komarov was the best player on the ice. “It was consistent,” Paetsch said. “There were first- and second-rounders on the ice, and I thought he was the best player. By the second half of that first post-draft year, I could really see him flourishing.” Paetsch knows if the draft were held today, Komarov wouldn’t go in the fifth round and thinks the fact Komarov was dealing with the transition from Russia to North America during his 17-year-old season might have caused him to slip in the draft. But Komarov quickly adjusted to life on the other side of the world, which started with immersing himself in the lives of his billets. Paetsch recalled one visit when Komarov’s billet mom pulled him aside to tell him Komarov had snuck off to buy Christmas gifts for her kids. He’d routinely play pond hockey with them, too. “They helped me a lot,” Komarov said with a smile after a recent Sabres rookie camp practice. “I came and didn’t know any English. I was just trying to learn simple words like ‘hi’ and ‘thank you.’ It was so fun. I was with them for like two and a half years. We still talk. They were so helpful.”

The player Lemay had scouted with the Jets had “really improved, slowly and surely.” “You could see right from the start that the hockey sense was there, the compete was there, and the poise. He just needed to get stronger and get his legs under him, move quicker. And he had the size as well,” Lemay said of the Komarov he’d watched in his draft year. “So it was just a matter of time for him I think to mature physically and get more powerful and that’s what he did the last two years.” Once they had him, they also learned he was more than just one of the best players in the league. Favreau was struck by his great English, positive mood and contagious spirit. Lemay was struck by his passion, his work ethic and the way his competitiveness spilled into practice. “Firstly, he’s a great individual,” added Lemay. “He’s a very good kid. And on the ice, he’s a workhorse who can log a lot of minutes. And what I like at our level, and I’m pretty sure he’s going to do the same thing in the near future at the next level, is he really improved his offense. It was already starting to improve last year but it really took the next step here in terms of offense. But what people really underestimate is how good he is defensively and how hard it is to play against him. Like he can block shots, he’s got a very good stick, good gap, and he can finish his check as well. He can do it all.” When they parted ways after the season, Favreau and Lemay both knew the Sabres had a good one. Favreau describes his game as “so stable” and “so reliable” but “yet very skilled.” “I think he’s an NHL player,” Favreau simply said. “At the NHL level he’s going to be classified as a two-way defenseman but somebody who can escape out of trouble, make a first pass, bring a little bit of offense, and probably one of the best sticks that I’ve seen in my eight years in the Q, and I’ve seen a lot of really good defensemen.”

Without Lamoureux, Komarov stepped up, registering 50 points in just 38 games with the Voltigeurs to lead all QMJHL defensemen in points with 69 in 60 games. At season’s end, he was named the QMJHL’s defenseman of the year. Still without Lamoureux, he then led the Voltigeurs to a QMJHL championship, winning his second consecutive title and, this time, QMJHL playoffs MVP with another 15 points in 19 games. Though he wasn’t able to also win back-to-back Memorial Cups, he’d finish his third and final year of junior with 86 points in 82 games split between the regular season, the playoffs and the Memorial Cup. “(Remparts coaches) Patrick (Roy) and Benoit Desrosiers had done a really good job with him in Quebec and his progression there. And then when we got him, he just kind of took off,” Favreau said. “And he’s such a unique player as far as his hard skills away from the puck and then his soft skills with the puck and being able to make plays, and his vision. So when you combine all of that together, it made for an extremely great hockey player.” In the end, Favreau thought Komarov was probably the team’s most valuable player and Lemay called him the biggest reason they won a QMJHL title. “When we lost Lamoureux, it’s a good thing that by chance we went to get Komarov,” Lemay said. “With the loss of Lamoureux, we told all the D it was an opportunity to have a bigger role and he really did that.”

This season?

Goalie mistake? I’m at a party watching on a computer screen

Our 7th round pick from 2022

Or, injuries, I would guess. Depending on the position that sees an injury, he might have to wait for a few guys going down.

Nice write up on game https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/buffalo-sabres-columbus-blue-jackets-prospects-challenge-recap Jiri Kulich spent his summer in the weight room, intent on adding a physical, defensive dimension to the offensive prowess that made him a first-round selection in the 2022 NHL Draft. The 20-year-old arrived in Buffalo this month feeling stronger than ever, but Friday night marked his first chance to feel the fruits of his labor in a game setting. The early returns were positive. “To be honest, I felt so much stronger,” Kulich said. “But it was tough game.” Kulich was an offensive standout with two goals and an assist in the Sabres’ 3-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, their first of three games at the annual Prospects Challenge inside LECOM Harborcenter. He also served as a tone-setter through his work ethic and relentlessness on the forecheck. The Sabres outshot the Blue Jackets 41-21 in a game that featured a combined 32 penalty minutes, including two fights during the third period. Rochester Americans coach Michael Leone, who is leading the Sabres prospects through the event, provided the players with a simple directive to play hard, smart, and fast – qualities that will be foundational to the Sabres’ identity under incoming coach Lindy Ruff.

Maybe Ruff wants to get a look at them??

I bet a few of our guys are counting on this being their last time participating in this series.

James Earl Jones was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi, on January 17, 1931,[13][14] to Ruth (née Connolly); (1911–1986), a teacher and maid, and Robert Earl Jones (1910–2006), a boxer, butler, and chauffeur. His father left the family shortly after James Earl's birth and later became a stage and screen actor in New York and Hollywood.[15] Jones and his father did not get to know each other until the 1950s, when they reconciled. He said in interviews that his parents were both of mixed African-American, Irish, and Native American ancestry.[16][17] From the age of five, Jones was raised by his maternal grandparents, John Henry and Maggie Connolly,[13] on their farm in Dublin, Michigan; they had moved from Mississippi in the Great Migration.[18] Jones found the transition to living with his grandparents in Michigan traumatic and developed a stutter so severe that he refused to speak. He said, "I was a stutterer. I couldn't talk. So my first year of school was my first mute year, and then those mute years continued until I got to high school."[18] He credited his English teacher, Donald Crouch, who discovered he had a gift for writing poetry, with helping him end his silence.[15] Crouch urged him to challenge his reluctance to speak through reading poetry aloud to the class.[19][20] In 1949, Jones graduated from Dickson Rural Agricultural School[21] (now Brethren High School) in Brethren, Michigan, where he served as vice president of his class.[22]

3 dayz

I can see that line getting under the oppositions skin, forcing turnovers and creating chances. Not sure if its the best place to put Benson to use his talents but its good to have options

Do you think that will work? A bunch of guys on bottom six working and competing for ice time might just be the trick!

You believe what the media says? 🙃

That's a reason I like the potential of this trade. Gotta have enough good d-men or you lose hockey games

I'm guessing Zucker--McLoud--and Greenway? Of course injuries and there are a lot of forwards, so it could be any combination, but for now that's my guess at who will be on the line.

I don’t know. But $5 million is a lot of money. Can’t believe he will just be treated like a guy trying to make the team

Can Zucker be added to this list? $5 million is a lot to pay for a guy. I’d imagine someone in the organization is expecting a lot out of him. Who will he be playing with?

Skinner is not the kind of player that elevates those around him, like other really good players, which Skinner is. It's great that he scores goals, but for the kind of money he made it would be better if he did some other things really well, also

In a perfect Sabres Space world, they would be mutually beneficial to each other in a big way. They both have something to prove this year

He started to put it together at end of season and looked really good. You can say that of several others too, but I think Dylan returns to form, improves and is a driving force on the team

Yup, Chara took awhile to become a great player