Buffalo Sabres youngster Casey Mittelstadt looked like he may be taking a long-awaited step forward last season with his biggest role and best offensive production yet, but an injury-riddled season has seen Mittelstadt take a step back in his development, a concerning look for the eighth-overall pick considering he’s already 23. But after sitting down with Buffalo Hockey Beat’s Bill Hoppe, Mittelstadt detailed his extensive struggle with a recurring upper-body injury this year, one that’s kept him out of the lineup at length and has caused him to be shuffled around constantly when healthy, not finding any chemistry with consistent linemates. Sabres fans will remember that Mittelstadt sustained an injury in the first period of the season, causing him to subsequently miss more than 20 games and then re-aggravate the injury soon after returning. It’s been a lengthy, trying season for the young American, but he feels as though he’s settling back into his game ahead of next season.
Sabres Rumors
Buffalo Sabres Sign Josh Bloom
The Buffalo Sabres will have another prospect under contract next season, as they have signed Josh Bloom to a three-year, entry-level contract. The deal will start in 2022-23, and for now, Bloom will report to the Rochester Americans on an amateur tryout.
Still just 18, Bloom was the 95th overall selection in the 2021 draft and one of the younger players selected. That pick was something of a shot in the dark, given how little he had actually played at the OHL level. As a rookie in 2019-20, the Oakville native played a depth role on the Saginaw Spirit, scoring just six goals and 14 points in 54 games. The following season, 2020-21, he didn’t play anywhere because of the canceled OHL season. That means the Sabres were spending a third-round pick on a forward with just 14 points at the major junior level, though he has quickly rewarded that faith.
This season, still with Saginaw, Bloom has 30 goals and 61 points in 67 games, showing off his blazing speed on a regular basis. Given that he won’t turn 19 until June, the young forward will not be eligible to play in the AHL next season. That means this handful of games on an ATO will be his only professional experience for a while–unless he somehow makes the Sabres out of camp in 2022-23.
USA Hockey Announces 2022 World Championship Coaching Staff
The IIHF World Championship will begin next month in Finland, and former New York Rangers head coach David Quinn is set to lead the U.S. squad. Today, his staff has been announced, with Jeff Blashill of the Detroit Red Wings, Don Granato of the Buffalo Sabres, and Mike Hastings from Minnesota State University joining as assistants.
Blashill, head coach of the Red Wings for the last seven years, was actually head coach of the men’s national team at three previous World Championships. He also has experience with USA Hockey at the U18 and U20 levels and stops in both the AHL and NCAA. Several players that he is familiar with, including most prominently Dylan Larkin, could be in play for the U.S. at the event, as the Red Wings are set to miss the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season.
Granato, who took over as the head coach of the Sabres last season, has received many accolades for his work turning the team around. While they won’t reach the playoffs this year, huge developmental steps have been taken from several players. One of those is Tage Thompson, who could play a significant role if selected for the U.S. squad, along with several of his Sabres teammates.
Hastings meanwhile is the lone assistant from outside of the NHL, coming to the Worlds after leading his Minnesota State Mavericks all the way to the national championship game this year. Hastings has been with the program for a decade and helped turn it into one of the most dominant teams in the NCAA, posting winning percentages above .800 in each of the last three years. Nathan Smith, the Mavericks standout who recently debuted with the Arizona Coyotes seems a likely candidate for the team if they so choose, after his outstanding junior season. Dryden McKay, winner of the Hobey Baker and a Mavericks legend, could also be in the mix, depending on the team’s goaltending situation.
The tournament begins on May 13 in Tampere and Helsinki.
Owen Power To Make NHL Debut Tuesday
- While Owen Power wasn’t in the lineup for the Sabres, the team plans to have the 2021 top pick make his NHL debut on Tuesday on Tuesday against Toronto, notes Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News. That will allow the defenseman to get a full practice in with the team instead of going directly from Michigan to Buffalo’s lineup. Power suggested he might get an opportunity to see some time on his off-side over their final few games as they will evaluate his ability to play on the right.
Erik Portillo To Stay At Michigan, Sabres Hope To Sign Ryan Johnson
After signing Owen Power on Friday, the Sabres were hoping to get two other key college prospects signed soon. GM Kevyn Adams told Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News on Friday that he had reached out to Michigan goalie Erik Portillo and Minnesota defenseman Ryan Johnson to discuss the possibility of both of them turning pro. However, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link), Portillo has since decided to return to the Wolverines next season. A 2019 third-round pick by Buffalo, Portillo had a 2.14 GAA along with a .926 SV% in 42 games in his sophomore year.
Meanwhile, Johnson, a first-rounder that same year, had 19 points in 39 games with the Golden Gophers. If the Sabres wanted to do so, they could offer to burn the first year of his entry-level deal as they did with Power to help entice Johnson to sign.
Buffalo Sabres Sign Owen Power
Another Michigan Wolverine has decided to make the transition from college hockey to the NHL. Along with teammate Kent Johnson, Owen Power has decided to ink his NHL deal as the Buffalo Sabres announced the signing of the 2021 first-overall pick on his entry-level contract. He could join the team and enter the lineup before the end of this season.
Power, 19, was as previously mentioned the first pick of the 2021 draft and has been the Sabres’ top prospect since. Standing at six-foot-six and 213 pounds, Power has coveted physical tools for a defenseman. He has flashed offensive upside to his game and has produced well at Michigan where he had 32 points in 33 games this season. Power had 16 points in 26 games as a freshman. It is a widely-held opinion across the league that Power has serious potential to become a do-it-all number-one blueliner, and he joins a surging Buffalo team that already boasts another number-one pick defenseman in Rasmus Dahlin.
Beyond his exploits at Michigan, Power proved his NHL readiness by being selected for the Beijing Olympics, where he registered one assist. While the Sabres, who are 5-2-3 in their last ten games, have run out of runway to make the playoffs this season, the signing of Power adds another jolt of optimism for a market that has to be feeling very confident about their squad going into next season. With top prospects such as Power and Jack Quinn set to enter a lineup that already posts strong young talent such as Dahlin, Peyton Krebs, and Dylan Cozens, perhaps the Sabres’ NHL-record eleven-year playoff drought can finally come to an end in 2022-23.
ESPN’s Kevin Weekes was the first to report the signing.
Owen Power Could Turn Pro After His NCAA Season Concludes
6:55 pm: According to ESPN’s Emily Kaplan, seven or eight Michigan University players are expected to turn pro after their NCAA season comes to an end (link). Most notable among them are Sabres’ number one overall draft choice in 2021, Owen Power; the second overall selection in 2021 and the first draft pick in Seattle Kraken history, Matty Beniers; and the fifth overall choice in 2021 by the Columbus Blue Jackets, Kent Johnson. Another premier name on the highly-talented Michigan team, Luke Hughes, who was selected fourth overall in 2021 by the New Jersey Devils, is not expected to turn pro and will return to Michigan next year. The NCAA men’s hockey championship game is scheduled for Saturday night at 8:00 pm ET.
Devon Levi Returning To Northeastern
According to Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News, goalie prospect Devon Levi has informed the organization that he intends to return to Northeastern University for his junior season (link). Though it had not been confirmed, the general belief had been that Levi would return to Northeastern instead of opting to turn pro and sign with Buffalo. As much as the Sabres would like to have the goaltender enter their organization now and learn the business of being a professional hockey player, the move seems to make sense for Levi, who can have another year of development at the NCAA level, another year of education at Northeastern, and another chance at a national title.
Also of note for the 20-year-old is that turning pro would not necessarily mean a regular role with the Buffalo Sabres, and a likely trip to the Rochester Americans of the AHL for at least a year. Although professional could benefit Levi, another year at Northeastern may ultimately be more appealing while still allowing him to develop.
Selected in the seventh-round by Florida in 2020, 212th overall, Levi has been a standout in college. After missing his Freshman year due to injury, Levi burst onto the scene this season as a Sophomore, boasting a .952 save-percentage and 1.54 goals-against average over 32 games. Time will tell how the young goaltender develops, but his return to Northeastern does not make him any less a part of the Sabres’ future plans.
Sabres Want Craig Anderson Back For 2022-2023
Going into this NHL season, fans who wanted to accuse the Buffalo Sabres of “tanking,” or intentionally icing a weak roster to lose as many games as possible, could have simply pointed to the team’s goaltending situation and made a decent case. On paper, it looked rough. The Sabres were set to run a tandem featuring 40-year-old Craig Anderson and NHL-AHL tweener Dustin Tokarski, a pairing that inspired very little confidence. While the team has battled injuries in the crease, it’s safe to say that the tandem of Tokarski and Anderson has performed better than expected, and it seems that the Sabres agree. According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the Sabres have told Anderson that they “would like to have him back” next season, and are willing to wait for him to decide if he wants to continue playing before seeking a replacement to fill his spot.
While a fan looking just at Anderson’s box score numbers, and specifically his .902 save percentage, might scoff at this development, it is more reasonable than it may seem. Anderson is a beloved veteran whose leadership is likely to be increasingly important in the Sabres’ young locker room. Additionally, his overall performance is more impressive when put into the context of the Sabres’ season in general. Buffalo is not a team that has an abundance of talent on their blueline, and Anderson more frequently faces nights without much help than he does nights where his team makes the game easy for him. More than anything, the stability and poise he has brought to the Sabres’ net has helped them come out on top in some big moments this season, highlighted by the team’s win in an outdoor game versus the Toronto Maple Leafs. For a Sabres organization that hasn’t had many highlights to speak of over the past decade, wanting to re-sign the goalie who led the charge during this season’s best moments is not an unreasonable desire.
Colin Miller Enters COVID Protocol
While COVID-related absences have slowed down significantly since last season and earlier this season, they are not totally a thing of the past just yet. The Buffalo Sabres have announced that defenseman Colin Miller has been placed in the NHL’s COVID-19 Protocol, and will be out for the foreseeable future. The Sabres are set to take on the New York Rangers tonight, so Miller will obviously be unable to play in that game as the Sabres might have originally planned.
This loss will not likely be anything of major concern for the Sabres, who are 6th in the Atlantic Division with a 23-33-9 record. The remaining games of their season have pride at stake more than anything else, so losing Miller to the COVID protocol is unlikely to make anyone in the Sabres organization lose any sleep. As Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News reports, Miller’s normal defense partner Mark Pysyk will also not suit up for tonight’s game versus the Rangers, and in his (and Miller’s) place, Casey Fitzgerald and Will Butcher will re-enter the lineup. In a media availability, Sabres coach Don Granato stated that he wanted Butcher and Fitzgerald to play as a pair because they had been “skating together all week,” so the loss of Miller to COVID protocol may have the unintended consequence of making it easier for Granato to slide that pairing into his lineup.
For Miller, this absence is not likely one he welcomes but also not one that looks to be any major setback to his career, similar to the COVID absences of many other players this season. Miller has had an improved season this year compared to last, although he has struggled to stay in the lineup with any great degree of consistency. He has 14 points in 36 games this season, an improvement on his 12 points in 48 games last season. For Miller, who is a pending unrestricted free agent as his $3.875MM AAV contract is expiring, the hope has to be that he misses only a few days thanks to this development.