PortuCool

ROC fans better get ready! Anton Wahlberg is on his way over. He’s still in a teenage body, and he needs to work on his skating. But, Anton has an air about him that screams “legit NHL prospect!” I expect the Sabres will bring Noah Östlund over to acclimate to the smaller N.A. ice. But his team - Växjö - is much better than Malmö so that could be delayed. Regardless, I think both will need at least a year in the AHL.

Prokhor Poltapov … of course, he’ll be skating in Russia. i watched Östlund a couple of weeks ago. He absolutely has top six potential. But, IMO, he’ll need a year, or even two years in Rochester. I sat near Anton Wahlberg’s dad; he expects his boy in ROC next season - that’s based on what the Sabres want. I think Östlund will suit up with him. Anton needs to work on his skating, and depending on how quickly he works that out, he might be the answer to this thread. But … I expect he’ll need one year + with the Amerks.

If you can pick only ONE place to watch the hockey … pick Finland! (Awesome hockey fans AND good coffee too!)

From Lisboa -> Munich -> Praha! I already have my ticket for the Czech game! I hooked up with the Sabresvpraze boys that electrified Buffalo a few weeks ago. BTW, Praha is as nice as they say, and even better looking than the pics make it appear.

I flew from Denver to Stockholm in 2019. Now I’m near Lisboa, so of course I plan to be in Munich and in Praha. I’ve never been to Munich, but have become a fan of German hockey. I was in Praha for my honeymoon so I’m very jacked to go back. And, I hope to hook up with the CZ SK fan club; they’re awesome.

Good. Let him have the experience and pleasure of WJC play. He’s got nothing to prove to the Sabres org., and deserves to get acclaimed around the world.

Kulich is just impressive; it’s hard not to lean his way here. But I have a dark horse candidate that I think will be given a lot of consideration: Filip Cederqvist He’s a bit older and has quietly risen up the ranks. It also would behoove the Sabres to pump up some of the fringe* prospects for possible trade purposes. (* I don’t use “fringe” loosely; Cederqvist is a fringe player in the sense that there are way too many legitimate NHL prospects in this org. to fit onto one roster.)

They’re going to have to go to 33 in the A since the Chicago Wolves wanted to go indy. The Wolves dropped the Canes. There are a lot of ECHL cities worthy of an AHL team, (Cincy & SLC come to mind quickly). But there’s probably not enough time to get a team ready for this season. The Canes have good young talent; they should not have trouble finding a dual-affiliate.

I still maintain that it’s not PARTICULARLY important to have the E team that close to the A team. How many players moved up or down from Cincy last year? it would be nice. But it’s still not that important. Once you hit Binghamton, your entering the NYC market. I was a Jackals fan, but Elmira lost their team for reasons that are not resolved.

The “mutual decision” suggests to me that Cincy might have wanted the change, more than Buffalo. What might Cincy be after? Well - and this is pure speculative spit-balling - Chicago went independent leaving Carolina without an AHL home. Cincy would make sense on many levels to move up to the A. There are a large number of cities that could serve as the ECHL, but proximity to WNY is not particularly important since there’s little movement up/down in the ECHL/AHL. Any team that plays in the same division as the Toledo Walleyes would be ideal; they have the coolest unis in all of hockey.

A d-man that cannot/won’t play D. Laaks gets a needed change of scenery, but he’s very likely to be in Finland next season. Cecconi is very unlikely to ever skate in Buffalo, but he improves the Amerks. And that is important too.