Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres will play their first game of the Prospects Challenge on Friday against the New Jersey Devils. On Thursday the Devils blasted the Columbus Blue Jackets 8-2.
On Thursday Rochester Americans head coach Mike Leone said all four goalies in camp will play this weekend. One goalie will play Friday, one on Saturday and the other two will split Monday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
There really isn’t any way to teach the players a system yet, but Leone has a way he wants to see them play this weekend. He said,
“We won’t so much worry about the structure, it’s more habits, the foundation we want to play with, it’s pressuring and being relentless on the puck and then there’s playing fast.”
In a tournament like this, many mistakes will be made and Leone said,
“Not concerned about the mistakes, but the compete level, the puck pressure, reloading and being above the puck just the never out of it mentality.”
Many on the power play were with Leone in Rochester. He said,
“I just told them they’d better be at 50% for this tournament. A lot of those guys played in those spots, but it’s a little different now with ‘Helly’ (Konsta Helenius) being in the bumper just the hands matchup. A lot of times we had all lefties, but now the hands line up really well so that gives you more options.”
Viktor Neuchev is in camp and practicing, but Leone said he’s not quite ready to play from surgery. He said the 2022 third-round pick is close.
This will be the first time we’ll get to see 2025 first-round pick Radim Mrtka. In practice the right handed shooting defenseman has been paired with Nikita Novikov.
For the past few drafts, the Sabres finally realized that they needed to get some size into the prospects pool. Anton Wahlberg is a natural center, but has played wing for the most part in Rochester. The 6-3, 210 pounder was taken by Buffalo in the second-round of the 2023 draft. He was one of the picks acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Rasmus Ristolainen.
In 63 games last season Wahlberg scored 11 goals and 19 assists for 30 points. This will be his second Prospects Challenge and he said he’s much more comfortable this season.
The 20-year-old came from Sweden and played last year in North America for the first time. He said,
“It was learning a lot every game, but it was also a rollercoaster with a lot of ups and downs when you play a good game and then have four or five bad games, so what I worked on all summer was my consistency.”
If Wahlberg is going to play in the NHL, it will have to be as a power forward. In the division that Rochester plays in, Wahlberg had to face men 8-to-10 years older than him as well as guys that were stronger. Wahlberg said,
“I’ve got to get stronger and faster. I see the guys that have played here for awhile so playing against Syracuse, Utica, big guys who were a lot stronger and more physical than I am. So I think I can take parts from their games.”
Wahlberg feels he has gotten stronger in the off-season working in the gym. He also thinks he’s been able to improve his speed.
The general manager as well as the head coach of the Sabres of course addressed these young players so they know what’s expected of them. Wahlberg said,
“Kevyn Adams and Lindy Ruff told us yesterday that we can’t take it for granted and that’s really what it is, you’ve got your chance now and you’ve got to take it, so every day you go out and compete.”
Join Me, Brian Koziol and Josh Schmit for the pregame starting at 6:30 on WGR Sports Radio 550