Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – With Arttu Ruotsalainen feeling under the weather, Buffalo Sabres forward Tage Thompson is going to move to center for Monday’s preseason matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
This move doesn't come as a surprise for Thompson, for he knew it could happen since the summer.
"'Donny' [Granato] called me in the summer and said he might want to try it out. So I had a little bit of a heads up," Thompson said following the morning skate on Monday.
Zemgus Girgensons played center for years before moving over to the wing. He’s still trying to get used to playing center again. Thompson understands how difficult it can be to move back to center after spending so much time on the wing.
“You’ve got a lot more responsibility in the [defensive] zone, a lot more skating, so that’s the only thing for me I’d say,” Thompson said.
Thompson said he's been working a lot at taking faceoffs. While this will be the first taste of playing center at the National Hockey League level, this isn’t the first time Thompson has moved to the middle of the ice.
“Growing up, I played center, and then in college I switched to wing. But I played a little bit of center in college,” Thompson explained.
Of course, this is just a trial run for head coach Don Granato, who wants to get a look at many different things on the ice ahead of the 2021-22 regular season.
“I’d like to see him there," Granato said following the morning skate. "We have to keep an open mind and potentially be as creative as we can be and see what would be the best situation for us.”
Linus Weissbach was on the ice for four goals-against on Thursday, while J-J Peterka was on for three goals-against, Both players are right back in the lineup Monday and Granato is confident they learned from Thursday's loss to the Detroit Red Wings.
“They learned how important details are, subtleties, strength on stick, time and space, you can be exploited much faster at this level, so I know they felt that.”
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Jacob Bryson is entering his third season of professional hockey after three years at Providence College. He’s 23-years-old with 38 games of NHL experience. Bryson seems to be battling with Will Butcher and Mark Pysyk for two spots on the defense. Granato said Bryson looks the part of a NHL defenseman.
“He carries himself with some experience," he said. "It’s another level of confidence that he brings. He’s a character guy, but as far as his progress, I don’t think you can gauge it until we start getting into games.”
Granato said Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will get the whole game in goal on Monday for the Sabres.
After the morning skate the Sabres announced that they claimed Axel Jonsson-Fjallby from the Washington Capitals. The 23-year-old left winger was drafted by the Caps in the fifth-round of the 2016 draft.
Jonsson-Fjallby played 2.5 in the AHL for the Hershey Bears scoring 24 goals and 17 assists for 41 points in 108 games. He also spent 2.5 years playing for Djurgardens and Vasterviks in the Swedish Hockey League.
MONDAY’S LINES:
Forwards:
Skinner – Mittelstadt – Hinostroza
Caggiula – Girgensons – Olofsson
Weissbach – Thompson – Okposo
Asplund – Cozens – Peterka
Defense:
Dahlin – Jokiharju
Hägg – Miller
Butcher – Bryson
Join Brian Koziol and me for pregame coverage starting at 6:45 p.m. ET on WGR Sports Radio 550.
