Practice Notes 5/5 Helenius with the Sabres

[_Q_]

Just now, Pimlach said:

Underperforming?   McLeod isn’t scoring in the playoffs yet, but he just completed is highest scoring season ever with 54 points.  How many other teams have a 54 point 3C?   Östlund is gone, maybe McLeod gets going this series   

Add to this his penalty kill skills, he leads the NHL in short handed goals.  

Yea hope he gets going for sure!  However, if I were Lindy and Östlund and McLeod were fully healthy today, I would start Östlund.  IMO

[Taro T]

16 minutes ago, _Q_ said:

Yea hope he gets going for sure!  However, if I were Lindy and Östlund and McLeod were fully healthy today, I would start Östlund.  IMO

Ruff isn't even going to start Kozak over Greenway when Carrick comes back.  No way he's bumping McLeod for Östlund should we be fortunate enough for that to become an option this playoff run.

[Punch]

22 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Underperforming?   McLeod isn’t scoring in the playoffs yet, but he just completed his highest scoring season ever with 54 points.  How many other teams have a 54 point 3C?   Östlund is gone, maybe McLeod gets going this series   

Add to this his penalty kill skills, he leads the NHL in short handed goals.  

McLeod showed some jump but was inconsistent. I'm eager to see him bounce back, he's a key man and matches up well against Montreal with his speed. I expect him to carry the puck into the offensive zone with purpose.

Edited May 6 by Punch

[ska-T Chitown]

The eagerness to insert some rookies into the lineup when this season mostly proved that having the correct mix of veterans and yooooths is a bit perplexing.

If you read this board objectively, from a neutral perspective, you'd surmise the Sabres were taken to OT in game 7 by some barely competent wild card team ... The Sabres won 4-2 against a 100 point team whose whole strategy was to clog things up and make the Sabres look worse than they were.

From what I saw, other than game 2 and a few random patches here and there, the Sabres were able to carry play a majority of the time against a 100 point team. I don't want to gatekeep, people feel what they feel, and the whole point of the internet is to allow equitable opportunity for everyone to "shout into the void" - but the second guessing and hand wringing over slotting in a rookie with barely 9 games of NHL experience over (checks notes...) a 54 point, borderline excellent two-way center is PEAK arm chair (powerplayer) quarterbacking ... The Sabres are an excellent team and at this point, ya dance with who brung ya and go get that cup!

[dudacek]

Wait people are advocating benching McLeod for Helenius?

I must have missed that.

 

[steveoath]

I would kinda like to see McLeod and Malenstyn on the same line and told to just wreak havoc with their speed. 

[#freejame]

13 hours ago, Jorcus said:

No respect tor Valclav Varada.

I don’t remember Varada being a massive scumbag, but I recently watched Gilmour’s mugging of him again on YouTube and the comments toward Varada were not kind. Have I blocked that part out of my memory?

[dudacek]

4 hours ago, #freejame said:

I don’t remember Varada being a massive scumbag, but I recently watched Gilmour’s mugging of him again on YouTube and the comments toward Varada were not kind. Have I blocked that part out of my memory?

I remember him being a scumbag despised by other teams.

Also got the sense he wasn’t the most popular teammate either, but less certain of that.

[Doohickie]

9 hours ago, dudacek said:

Wait people are advocating benching McLeod for Helenius?

I must have missed that.

Some people have maintained that McLeod has underperformed in Round One.

[dudacek]

Just now, Doohickie said:

Some people have maintained that McLeod has underperformed in Round One.

Yes, that’s what my eye test says and the numbers - fancy and otherwise - bear that out.

Personally agree with @tom webster that McLeod’s rep with this coaching staff is such that he’s unlikely ever to get benched. I probably wouldn’t do it either.

But also see a reasonable case that Östlund has outplayed him and if we’re trying to shoehorn Östlund into a healthy lineup, that’s a spot to consider.

But that’s Östlund, not Helenius.

Helenius has played 9 NHL games and didn’t do much in most of them.

[bigk33908]

On 5/5/2026 at 11:58 AM, K-9 said:

Helenius has great speed and I wouldn't be at all surprised if Lindy uses him against the Habs because of that. 

Not likely imho.  He is there to experience the moment and learn.

[#freejame]

22 minutes ago, bigk33908 said:

Not likely imho.  He is there to experience the moment and learn.

Welcome to the board. Go Sabres 

[_Q_]

On 5/6/2026 at 10:06 AM, dudacek said:

Yes, that’s what my eye test says and the numbers - fancy and otherwise - bear that out.

Personally agree with @tom webster that McLeod’s rep with this coaching staff is such that he’s unlikely ever to get benched. I probably wouldn’t do it either.

But also see a reasonable case that Östlund has outplayed him and if we’re trying to shoehorn Östlund into a healthy lineup, that’s a spot to consider.

But that’s Östlund, not Helenius.

Helenius has played 9 NHL games and didn’t do much in most of them.

My point on this has been, that McLeod is underperforming and would look to Östlund if it continues.  Obviously, McLeod was better last night.

Now on to next season, I could see McLeod being moved and having Östlund/Helenius as the plan to backfill the spot.  But who knows, maybe McLeod has been nursing something and just hasn't been himself.

[K-9]

57 minutes ago, bigk33908 said:

Not likely imho.  He is there to experience the moment and learn.

Agree entirely that it’s unlikely, but I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if he were to make an appearance. 

[Eleven]

49 minutes ago, K-9 said:

Agree entirely that it’s unlikely, but I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if he were to make an appearance. 

That would be one expensive appearance, though.

[TheAud]

The second round of the playoffs is not the place to give someone experience. It's exclusively the place to play the players who give you the best chance to win. If, probably due to injuries, Helenius was the next best guy to go in then I think you don't worry about burning a year off the ELC you just go ahead and try to win. 

[HoosierDaddy]

10 minutes ago, TheAud said:

The second round of the playoffs is not the place to give someone experience. It's exclusively the place to play the players who give you the best chance to win. If, probably due to injuries, Helenius was the next best guy to go in then I think you don't worry about burning a year off the ELC you just go ahead and try to win. 

It's just hard to shift gears and think about the now after so many years of thinking about the future.

[Weave]

4 hours ago, K-9 said:

Agree entirely that it’s unlikely, but I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if he were to make an appearance. 

Helenius is a pull lever in case of emergency item.  Nothing more.

[bob_sauve28]

On 5/6/2026 at 6:09 AM, #freejame said:

I don’t remember Varada being a massive scumbag, but I recently watched Gilmour’s mugging of him again on YouTube and the comments toward Varada were not kind. Have I blocked that part out of my memory?

I remember him being cut a lot. Like the dude was getting high sticked by angry opponents 

[The Jokeman]

On 5/5/2026 at 1:21 PM, Doohickie said:

Okay.  Let's just call them Dark Sabres.

 

🙃

 

[bigk33908]

On 5/7/2026 at 1:13 PM, K-9 said:

Agree entirely that it’s unlikely, but I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if he were to make an appearance. 

An appearance burns a contract year.......not gonna happen imho.

[Taro T]

On 5/8/2026 at 4:28 PM, bigk33908 said:

An appearance burns a contract year.......not gonna happen imho.

It buns an ELC year.  It does not move him closer to RFA nor UFA status.

Have to believe, all things being equal, they'd prefer not to burn the 1st year of the ELC.

[LGR4GM]

12 hours ago, Taro T said:

It buns an ELC year.  It does not move him closer to RFA nor UFA status.

Have to believe, all things being equal, they'd prefer not to burn the 1st year of the ELC.

Not you but ppl are overly worried about this. If they need him, burn the year, it doesn't matter much. In 2 more years you'll be well past Skinner being an issue and you'll have 2 more years for all the other long term deals to drop in cap%. It's a non issue. 

[Weave]

13 hours ago, Taro T said:

It buns an ELC year.  It does not move him closer to RFA nor UFA status.

Have to believe, all things being equal, they'd prefer not to burn the 1st year of the ELC.

I don’t really care at all about burning a contract year.  

I do care that there is no way he is ready for this.  He looked good in his first couple of mid season games playing with two guys starting to set the world on fire (Benson and Doan), and then he went more or less invisible.

I’ll say it again, he is only here as a use in case of emergency piece.  If Helenius is coming into the lineup, we’ve probably lost 2 centers to injury and are desperate.

You aren’t using Helenius to give the Habs a different look to counter.  He doesn’t play faster than McLeod or even Norris.  He’s not playing a grittier game than any of our current centers. He’s barely familiar with regular season NHL play.  And he’s not so incredibly talented that he can’t be ignored right now.  He’s a player waiting for an emergency situation to develop.  If Lindy sits an uninjured forward to dress Helenius, Im getting Lindy tested for dementia.  It would be the most reactionary move he could make.