Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) – On Monday the Buffalo Sabres lost their fifth straight Prospects Challenge game in two years, 6-3 to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Buffalo has now lost 6-of-7 games there.
This was a tournament where the Sabres created a lot of chances, but missed the net constantly with wide open Grade-A shots. Defensively they were horrible missing coverages all over the ice leading to many tap in goals.
Konsta Helenius had not been good in the first two games, but he was flying on Monday and was easily Buffalo’s best player. He did pick up one assist, his only point in the three games. Rochester Americans head coach Mike Leone said,
“If you look at the two games we had close to 90 shots on goal (84) and we probably missed the net 20 to 30 times, so I thought we had the puck a lot. I’m a big believer in shot volume creating chaos and I thought we did that, so it wasn’t the lack of chances, we missed a ton and we missed the net quite a few times.
This is Isak Rosen’s fourth pro season and he needed to dominate this tournament. He had no points in three games and was quite frankly awful. I think they need more out of him, so I posed that question to his coach,
“Yes, I think it’s just a matter of the willingness to do it all the time and the consistency in his game, you see it in flashes, but I think for him going into training camp is just to do it all the time. You know, you’re on the last year of your contract, it’s just being consistent in the game and not getting frustrated and it’s not getting points, it’s how you impact the game because you’re going to go through stretches where you don’t get points, but how’s your play away from the puck.”
In my opinion, it wasn’t good at all and I think he showed once and for all, he’s not an NHL player and there is a good chance he could be a bust as a first-round pick.
The first night Buffalo’s best player was 2025 fourth-round pick Matous Kucharcik. In three games he had a goal and an assist. In the second game, 2022 first-round pick Noah Ostlund was Buffalo’s best player. He ended with one goal and no assists. Kucharcik’s line along with 2025 seventh-round picks Ryan Rucinski and Melvin Novotny were the Sabres best line every night. The 18-year-olds who will play in the USHL had two goals and three assists for five points combined. There were all over the ice and created numerous chances as they spent most shifts in the offensive zone.
This year’s top pick Radim Mrtka showed pretty well in the tourney. He showed his speed and the accuracy he has making that first pass out of the zone. Yes, he did have some young mistakes, but overall I thought he accounted pretty well for himself.
During the last two playoff seasons for Rochester, I thought defenseman Nikita Novikov looked really good. I was thinking that within a year, he might be a third pair guy with the Sabres. This tournament did nothing to make me think my original thought was right. Both he and Vsevolod Komarov looked off and did not play well. Training camp needs to be better for both of them.
The players report to training camp on Wednesday and we’ll bring you the press conferences with Kevyn Adams and Lindy Ruff starting at 10 a.m.
Fiddler-Schultz : 2-0-2
Mrtka : 1-1-2
Savage : 1-1-2
Constantini : 1-2-3
Brunet : 0-2-2
Kucharcik : 1-1-2
Ostlund : 1-0-1
Novikov : 0-1-1
Laberge : 0-1-1
Rucinski : 1-1-2
Komarov : 0-1-1
Belliveau : 1-1-2
Novotny : 0-2-2
Nadeau : 1-1-2
Neuchev: 0-1-1
Helenius: 0-1-1
Leinonen : 4.00 .852 0-1-0
Leenders : 7.12 .813 0-1-0
Meloche: 6.00 .800 0-1-0
Finals Standings:
Pitt. 2-0-1 5 pts 12 9
NJ 2-1-0 4 pts 16 10
Clm. 2-1-0 4 pts 14 17
Bos. 1-1-0 2 pts 7 6
Buff. 0-3-3 0 pts 10 17