Coach Dan Bylsma may be tipping his hand a little bit by way of his three group top lines, and could be showing fans which players could be playing where.
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Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen will miss up to the first two weeks of training camp because of an upper body injury.
Tyler Ennis got a chance to play with Ryan O’Reilly at the World Championships and in the first skate of training camp, he’s back with him. “He needs to learn and improve and develop as a player, and when he does, he will be effective”.
Eichel, No. 2 in June’s selections, is like McDavid in learning the higher pace and intensity of the National Hockey League .
“They’ve been through three hard days out there”, Bylsma said. This is a duo that I am honestly very excited to see. “You see the way the team is starting to shape up and the direction we are going now”. With Zemgus Girgensons returning from an ankle injury that ended his 2014-2015 season, the addition of veteran David Legwand, and the solid play of Johan Larsson last season, Reinhart is in for a big test in training camp. He had the benefit of skating alongside Moulson, with whom he is living this season.
The Sabres regard Eichel as a cornerstone in their rebuilding efforts. “I’ve been working on [skating] all year, especially this summer”.
Before O’Reilly became a Sabre, Tim Murray did his homework and part of that homework was speaking with Ennis, “I talked to Tim telling him that this is a guy we could use, definitely a building block for the future”.
“It’s tough for me to commit to something like that prior to making the team”, Eichel said. Both of these players are intelligent and see the ice very well, so the mentoring process will sink in very quickly.
Bylsma loves that Eichel is taking that approach, even though No. 15 shirts and jerseys are already selling well in the Buffalo area.
“Connor is such a special player”.
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It’s a unique pairing with the Sabres traveling to Minnesota not just once, but twice in this seven game exhibition season.
