BUFFALO, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres are back to work as their offseason has officially come to a close and training camp is here. Expectations are high following their drought-breaking season, when they won their first playoff series since 2007. Following practice, head coach Lindy Ruff addressed the media.
“Obviously we should be in a lot better place. We’ve got a lot of belief in how we need to play and how we need to execute, but we also need an understanding of how hard it’s going to be, and the work we need to put in, and the areas we still need to improve. I think when you watch just this first practice, I think our level of fitness is even way ahead of where we were at the start of last year, and especially the start of two years ago.”
Owen Zellweger was able to showcase his talents on the ice in front of the Sabres coaching staff for the first time. Ruff says he’s a very strong player for his size and liked what he saw on tape and during the first day of camp. Zellweger also had his first opportunity to play with Owen Power.
“He is a lot like Bo [Byram] in a lot of ways. Really good skater. He’s talented offensively, and I think he really closes quick in the D zone. When I watch a lot of how he plays, Bo’s progression from day one here to when he left, he turned into a real good defender, and I think once he gets wired into how we want to play, I think he’ll fit that almost that same category. But I mean, obviously there’s options too.”
Last season, Justin Danforth and Jiri Kulich were dealing with health issues. Danforth suffered a season-ending knee injury on Oct. 15, while Kulich was dealing with a blood-clotting issue. Ruff said Danforth skated really well for someone they hadn’t seen in a year. He then expanded on Kulich’s situation.
“He’s another guy that I looked at and thought, we haven’t seen him in a while, you almost pay attention every time he’s in the drill, or he’s skating in a tracking or system part of it, just to evaluate where he’s at. And I know talking to him, he wants to put last year behind him, and he’s just super excited to try to prove he can be a guy that can make a difference for us.”
Overall, Ruff expects a lot of their system to carry over from last season. It was successful, and they made tweaks throughout the season to improve it even further. He doesn’t anticipate anything “really big.”
The Sabres will continue to practice for the next few days and have a scrimmage scheduled for Saturday. Ruff says that because camp moves so quickly, they added the scrimmage to simulate another game-like situation during the ramp-up period.
Their first preseason game is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 21.
Lindy Ruff addressed the media following the first practices of training camp.
Lindy Ruff addressed the media following the first practices of training camp.
