Summer is halfway complete, and for hockey fans the light is visible at the end of the tunnel as just over a month from now arenas will be filled by the sounds of skates carving into the ice and pucks ricocheting off the glass.
A sign of what’s to come arrived Tuesday when the Buffalo Sabres announced plans for their fourth annual Prospects Challenge, a four-team event to be held at Harborcenter Sept. 7 – Sept. 10.
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The preseason gathering will see the Sabres’ young guns square off in a round-robin competition against prospects from the New Jersey Devils, Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins.
The tournament, designed as a rookie camp lead-in prior to veterans reporting for physicals, is expected to feature the much-anticipated debut of 2018 first overall pick Rasmus Dahlin in his No. 26 Sabres jersey.
The club’s official roster for the event has yet to be released, but the standard rules should apply. Players on entry-level contracts, draft picks playing in the Canadian Hockey League, and European prospects planning to attend training camp will get the first looks for spots. Free-agent invites from the CHL and American Hockey League, much like Colin Blackwell a season ago, will likely round out those wearing blue and gold during the three-game stanza.
Given the roster parameters, don’t expect to see Justin Bailey, Nick Baptiste, C.J. Smith or Sean Malone take part in the action as they enter their second professional contracts.
Also as a reminder, NCAA student-athletes do not attend NHL training camps, so consider Mattias Samuelsson, Casey Fitzgerald, Matej Pekar, Linus Weissbach and Christopher Brown, among others, not in scope for the Prospects Challenge.
With that settled, it’s always a fun exercise to review potential line combinations that Rochester Americans coach Chris Taylor can work with when the Sabres take the ice for their first tilt versus the Devils.
Even Strength
Forwards
Alexander Nylander (LW) – Casey Mittelstadt (C) – Andrew Oglevie (RW)
The Sabres have an opportunity to build a balanced attack with their forward lines, featuring a top unit with Casey Mittelstadt as the anchor flanked by a pair of wingers who could challenge for spots on the Sabres’ opening night roster.
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The speedy Oglevie enters the pro ranks after a move to the middle last season at Notre Dame, but a large part of his development, both in the United States Hockey League and as an NCAA underclassman, was spent as a winger. His best value to the lineup takes advantage of that history while allowing him to become a safety valve for those inevitable times when Mittelstadt gets booted from the face-off circle.
The Sabres could toy with the idea of forcing a more complete game upon Nylander by placing him at center, but at this stage he’s destined to be a professional winger so you might as well see if there’s chemistry to be built with the ultra-creative Mittelstadt.
Victor Olofsson (LW) – Rasmus Asplund (C) – Cliff Pu (RW)
The second line brings together a trio of rookies penciled in for AHL duty this fall. You never know. It may very well serve as a preview of a combination that eventually gets formulated on the farm.
AHL line construction often sees veterans paired with developing prospects, but it’s worth noting how the polished Asplund arrives from Sweden with 184 professional games on his resume, while fellow Swede Olofsson sharpened his skills as a triggerman over the course of 229 pro contests. They may not be North American veterans, but they aren’t fresh babyfaces out of Canadian junior, either.
The skill sets work with a blend of speed, attention to detail down the middle and finishing ability on the boards.
Still, fans should enjoy this one only for the short term and hope they can mesh together over the three-game set, responsibly drive the play, and inspire the Amerks’ staff to consider rolling them out together when the AHL schedule gets going.
Also of note in this proposed scenario is something that will likely play out in Rochester – the Sabres’ potential desire to slide Pu, who regularly showed a high level of aptitude on draws during his Ontario Hockey League career, out to the boards as a winger. He can still step into the face-off circle as needed, much like Evander Kane did at times during his time as a Sabre, but one gets the sense that Pu could quickly ascend the ranks by honing his game down the wing.
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In full disclosure, the first iteration of this lineup had Nylander and Olofsson flip-flopped. In the end, the expectation is that Nylander will break out of the gates hungrier than ever and earn top billing alongside Mittelstadt.
Pascal Aquin (LW) – Eric Cornel (C) – Cole Coskey (RW)*
Vaclav Karabacek (LW) – Vasily Glotov (C) – Max Patterson (RW)*
*free agent invitation
The bottom six forwards are comprised of four players who will be assigned to Rochester’s training camp shortly after the Prospects Challenge, along with two others in Coskey and Patterson who previously participated in June’s Development Camp as undrafted free agents.
There are no guarantees that Coskey and Patterson return for training camp, but the former should absolutely get a longer look on the heels of a 50-point OHL season and an appearance with the U.S. program at the World Junior Summer Showcase.
Defensemen
Rasmus Dahlin – Brandon Hickey
Brendan Guhle – Will Borgen
Lawrence Pilut – Oskari Laaksonen
Tobie Bisson-Paquette – Devante Stephens
Brycen Martin
The Sabres staff likely will execute some creative juggling of its defensive pairs throughout the three games given the two-way talent at its disposal.
The suggested top pairing of Team Perreault mates from June’s French Connection Tournament has less to do with aligning Dahlin, who has proven in his Swedish Hockey League career that he can play both the left and right sides, with a responsible defensive defender as much as it is a test to see how well Hickey can play on his off side.
The Sabres could take the easy way out, of course, and let Hickey play his strong side, but given an organizational dearth of right-handers, they have a need to identify those left-handers who can step in and control the play on the right half of the ice.
Matching the roving Guhle with the sturdy, defensive-minded Borgen reprises a left-right duo that historically has worked well together in development camp scrimmages over the years, and may very well be a combo that continues to grow together at the NHL level in the not-too-distant future. When the Sabres go short-handed, expect Borgen to be the first to hop over the boards.
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Perhaps the most compelling pair sees reigning Swedish Hockey League Defenseman of the Year Pilut work alongside the up-and-coming Laaksonen, who will play for Ilves in Finland’s top league this year and could be the only European league player at camp. This duo may lead to adventurous shifts at both ends of the ice, but the pace could be fun to watch as the Sabres transition up the ice.
Given the potential to toss the defensemen into a blender, sliding Guhle next to Laaksonen and getting Pilut time to play with Borgen would also make a great deal of sense.
The potential for extra defensive bodies in present given the Sabres strength in numbers, so there is a chance that one of the two additional names could rotate into the lineup.
Goaltenders
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Jonas Johansson
There really isn’t a choice here. The Sabres’ goaltending cupboard is bare.
Luukkonen will take a break from the Sudbury Wolves practice sessions and head south for his first-ever NHL training camp experience. It’s fair to suggest that he’ll see action in two of the games with the tournament serving as a prime developmental tool.
Johansson enters the middle year of his entry-level deal with a ticket back to ECHL Cincinnati via Rochester.
Power Play 1
Nylander – Mittelstadt – Olofsson
Pilut – Dahlin
Power Play 2
Pu – Asplund – Oglevie
Laaksonen – Guhle
The puck movement from this proposed first-unit power-play, featuring four Swedes and an American, could be something special to watch.
A whopping 14 of Olofsson’s SHL-best 27 goals last season came with the man advantage. If the Sabres power-play in this tournament doesn’t revolve around feeding him pucks in the right circle, they’re simply doing it wrong.
An underrated part of this unit is the shooting skills of Pilut. The elevation and accuracy of his shot from range is something that opposing goaltenders may learn about rather quickly when the Sabres have space.
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2018 Prospects Challenge Schedule
Friday, Sept. 7
Pittsburgh vs Boston, 3:30 p.m.
Buffalo vs. New Jersey, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 8
New Jersey vs. Pittsburgh, 3:30 p.m.
Buffalo vs. Boston, 7 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 10
Boston vs. New Jersey, 9:30 a.m.
Buffalo vs. Pittsburgh, 12:30 p.m.
(Top photo: John Crouch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)