Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) - The Buffalo Sabres prospects hit the ice on Friday getting ready for the Prospects Showcase against the Boston Bruins. Games will be in Harborcenter on Sunday and Monday. Sabres 2022 second-round pick goalie Topias Leinonen won't be playing with a lower-body injury suffered while training. Rochester Americans coach Mike Leone said he'll miss a little time.
The 22-year-old goalie who was labeled by Sabres assistant GM Jerry Forton as the best goalie in the 2022 draft only played 15 games last season between the Amerks and ECHL Jacksonville Icemen. Scott Ratzlaff was the Sabres fifth-round pick in 2023 and he played 13 games in Rochester and 15 in Jacksonville. With Devon Levi traded to the Edmonton Oilers, Buffalo is looking for someone to step up as their young goalie on the rise. Leone said this season both goalies should get more of a chance,
"There was a lot with the goalie situation, where guys were going up and down, but I think it was a real eye opening experience for the young kids. Both got to play AHL games, both of them did well in the East Coast Hockey League and with goalies you have to play, you have to spend time in the American League and I think for both those kids its an opportunity. When 'Dev' got traded we signed an older goalie (Matt Villalta), but now there's an opportunity for someone to earn a spot."
Other drafted goalies for the Sabres are Sam Meloche (4th round, 2025), Evgeny Prokhorov (7th round, 2025), and Ryerson Leenders (7th round 2024). Ratzlaff, Meloche and Talyn Boyko are the goalies for these games. Boyko is an invitee who was drafted in the fourth-round of the 2021 draft by the New York Rangers.
Leone will have a whole new staff as Vinny Prospal is now an assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues and Nathan Paetsch is the head coach of the Youngstown Phantoms. Leone said hiring new coaches was a process,
"Stacy (Roest) and I had an idea of the people we wanted to bring into the organization and we were looking for and all three bring something different, like 'Sammy' (Philip Samuelsson) just got done playing, his dad coached in the NHL a long time, he called me when I was on my vacation, but I didn't know him. Heard great things about him as a player and he wanted to get into coaching and he was living in Florida looking for a job and for me, when you get into coaching professional hockey it's about people.
"Stacy and I did our homework and heard he's a worker and then Scott Moser was at Vermont (Associate head coach), he's from the Buffalo area (Tonawanda). I knew him a little bit from USA Hockey, he wasn't really on the radar, but the way he went about it, and he just wanted to coach.
"They're both younger guys and we wanted the energy and the passion that each guy brings and then Neil Conway, I actually played with him 10 years ago in the East Coast Hockey League (Toledo Walleye) and we were actually stallmates and he's another guy who has grinded. You don't make much money as a goalie coach in the USHL and the job he did in Youngstown, he had Jacob Fowler who is now with the Montreal Canadiens, so we just wanted to find people that were passionate, worked, no ego, selfless and we feel like we have a really good staff."
You'll be able to hear both games this weekend on The Bet 1520. On Sunday I'll be joined by Brayton Wilson and Owen Parker at 4:55, while on Monday at noon it'll be me, Wilson and Pat Malacaro.
Radim Mrtka and Gavin McCarthy will be playing for Buffalo against Boston.
Radim Mrtka and Gavin McCarthy will be playing for Buffalo against Boston.
