BUFFALO, N.Y. — I’ve always taken this day for granted. The Sabres took the ice for the first time in nine months and I couldn’t have thought of a better way to start 2021.
Taylor Hall and Eric Staal showed off their new royal blue uniforms and neither looked at all out of place. Hall couldn’t wait to get out there with his new teammates, “I think no matter if you’ve been in the league one year, five years or 10 years, it’s always exciting to get out there with new teammates and coaches.”
Hall did not play with Jack Eichel on Friday because Eichel is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Casey Mittelstadt centered Hall and Victor Olofsson and Hall likes playing with different guys.
Olofsson netted 20 goals and 42 points playing 54 games in his rookie season. Olofsson wasn’t great 5-on-5 and that’s the part of his game he’s working on starting with this practice. The left winger turned right winger only had nine goals and 25 points at even strength.
Hall was very impressed with his new linemate after just one practice.
“You can see the skill, you can see the shot,” he said.
Many forget that Olofsson played right wing last season and actually did pretty well. He said during the summer that he thinks it opens him up for more offense and he’s very comfortable there.
Speaking of impressed, Hall didn’t look out of place at all and Ralph Krueger said, “His skill, his ability, his pace, you could see it already and it gives our whole group confidence.”
The team looked sharp and focused as Krueger went an hour and 45 minutes with them. Jeff Skinner was so glad to be back. He was giving out encouragement throughout the practice without losing his focus.
I saw some differences just in one day. Yes, this group was happy to be out there and there were many smiles throughout, but I saw an intensity that turned into what Ralph Krueger called sharpness. Hall thought this was a good start towards being game ready, “I thought everyone was sharp. I thought there was a lot of energy out there and that’s what you want to see after that much time off.”
Krueger wasn’t sure what he would see on the ice. Would it be sloppy after nine months off and some changes to the lineup? Krueger saw exactly what he wanted to, “The professionalism and the level of execution made me run them longer than expected because the pace stayed at a high level and I’m pleased to have a confirmation on what we felt the physical state of the group is.”
“If somebody walked off the street, they wouldn’t have known that they hadn’t had a practice in close to 10 months."
I’m not going to lie, one comment Krueger made surprised me. He said 13 days of preparation was more than enough time to get everybody on the same page. That’s a week less than he usually has. I agree with him that they should be ready, but I would’ve thought Krueger would’ve wanted more time.
Some other observations were Rasmus Dahlin put on some weight, but it didn’t seem to bother his quickness. He felt that he needed to add muscle so he’d be better in the defensive zone.
The Staal line looks like a veteran line that Krueger will just be able to count on to produce and give support to the Eichel line. In Skinner he averages 29 goals over 82 games. Reinhart produces 22 goals every 82 games and Staal is a solid 29 goals and 68 points over 82 games.
With Cody Eakin starting with Zemgus Girgensons and Kyle Okposo, it makes me wonder if when Dylan Cozens gets here, will he center Tage Thompson and Toby Rieder? The other way that Krueger could go is Casey Mittelstadt centering Cozens and Thompson, but that line would be awfully young with Cozens 19, Mittelstadt 22 and Thompson 23.
The lines on Friday were:
- 4 Hall, 37 Mittelstadt, 68 Olofsson
- 53 Skinner, 12 Staal, 23 Reinhart
- 13 Rieder, 27 Lazar, 72 Thompson
- 28 Girgensons, 20 Eakin, 21 Okposo
- 25 Ruotsalainen, 38 Sheahan
- 19 McCabe, 55 Ristolainen
- 26 Dahlin, 62 Montour
- 33 Miller, 10 Jokiharju
- 44 Irwin, 88 Davidson
The Sabres will be back on the ice Saturday at 10 a.m. Due to the COVID pandemic, none of training camp is open to the public.
