Sabres Preseason Begins Tonight; New GM Reflects on First Two Weeks
Buffalo News
September 14 2005 (Sunrise, FL) -
With all the buzz surrounding this past weekend's Prospect Cup, you may have forgotten the fact that the 'real' Buffalo Sabres strolled into the Queen City on Saturday to begin training camp.
"We conducted our team orientation and fitness tests on Saturday morning and we're extremely pleased with the results", new Sabres GM Matt Bosela stated. "It is obvious that the players were committed to their individual offseason programs because almost every player showed up in top shape."
The man turning the most heads in the early stages of camp is highly touted rookie winger Thomas Vanek. The young Austrian has been lined up with pivot Daniel Briere and right winger J.P. Dumont and has been racking up points by the bushel load, with three goals and two assists in the two intersquad scrimmages.
"That line has looked very, very good so far", Bosela said. "Actually, I'm really happy with the pace and spirit of the scrimmages overall. Lindy, Scotty (Arniel) and Cutch (Brian McCutcheon) have been running great practices and the guys seem to have a lot of jump."
Bosela went on to talk a bit about the Prospect Cup, calling it "a resounding success" and also indicated that it will definitely be an annual event.
"We might change up the teams a bit next year", he said. "Maybe have teams from the Canadian Junior system, or even bring in some pro teams from overseas. I was quite surprised by how one-sided the games were but that just shows that our system is looking pretty good right now."
Bosela went on to rave about the play of some of the prospects, namely 2005 top pick Marek Zagrapan, Dylan Hunter, Vyacheslav Buravchikov and Phillip Gogulla. When asked if any of the youngsters have a chance to make the big club, Bosela was at his diplomatic best.
"I can only hope that the kids put together similar performances against the pros as they did against the collegians. It would be a definite longshot for any of them to make it this year but never say never."
The Sabres are in Sunrise, Florida to take on the Panthers tonight in their first preseason game of the year. Bosela said that the club intends to evaluate as many players as possible over the first few games. "We play again tomorrow night back in Buffalo and I will tell you that you won't see anyone playing both games. We have sixty guys in camp and want to get as many of them into a game as possible."
Bosela did add that he's in talks "with many teams" about the goaltending logjam in Buffalo. He admits that "something has to be done and the sooner the better."
Ryan Miller will start in goal tonight for the Sabres. Game time is 7:00pm and is radio only.