The Buffalo Sabres are putting the toughness quotient in place during the first days of training camp.
There haven’t been fisticuffs or scuffles, yet. It’s only three days into camp, and there’s still more than two weeks before the Sabres open the season Oct. 9 against the New York Rangers at KeyBank Center.
The offseason additions, though, bring a new dimension to the Sabres, whether it’s the size and physicality of defenseman Michael Kesselring or Mason Geertsen’s lack of fear and willingness to fight.
“I’m going to play a little bit meaner,” Kesselring said. “I want to play meaner, all the time, and that’s one thing I talked to (Sabres coach) Lindy (Ruff) and (general manager) Kevyn (Adams) about, and something I want to keep growing on. That’s a role I want to keep growing on. That’s kind of a role that I want to help show everybody, hey, if we play a little bit meaner as a team, it’s going to help us have some success.”
Kesselring, Ruff said, brings size (6-foot-5), skating and physicality, and the potential to be a two-way player. He has primarily skated with Owen Power on the Sabres’ second defensive pair.
“Michael’s at the stage where he understands what it is to be a good player in this league,” Ruff said. “And Owen is right on the tip of that, too.”
Geertsen can play at either forward or defenseman – he’s listed as a forward on the Sabres’ training camp groups and as a left wing on NHL.com and on the Sabres’ training camp roster. He established himself as an aggressor in the American Hockey League, averaging more than 103 penalty minutes a season in seven seasons, and played at forward in 25 games (with 77 penalty minutes) with New Jersey in 2021-22, when Ruff coached the Devils.
With left wing Jordan Greenway (core surgery) out until at least the start of the season, it could open the door for Geertsen to earn a roster spot on the Sabres’ fourth line.
“He’s an enforcer,” Ruff said. “He is a well-conditioned athlete, too. During the opening skate, those first couple bouts, he outskated (Jacob) Bryson. When I talked to him this summer, I said, ‘I need you to get in incredibly good shape if we’re going to use you. Where you can skate, you can play.’
“He said, ‘I’ll promise I’ll be in the best possible shape I can get into.’ And I think he has.”
Tuch back on ice
Alex Tuch took his first skate with the Sabres in the morning practice Saturday at LECOM Harborcenter. The right wing worked with the power-play unit of Josh Norris, Tage Thompson, Rasmus Dahlin and Jason Zucker, but did not participate in the scrimmage later in the morning at KeyBank Center.
Ruff doesn’t expect Tuch to play in the Sabres’ first preseason game Monday at Columbus.
“We’ll get him a skate in on Monday and in all likelihood, if we don’t put him in the lineup Monday or Tuesday, it’s only because he’s missed this amount of time and we’d like him to skate a little bit more. He would have loved to have skated in the scrimmage.”
Tuch didn’t skate with the team the first two days of practice. He did not disclose the nature of his injury but on Thursday called it a “minor little thing that kind of snuck up on me right before camp.”
The White team won the scrimmage, 4-0, topping a Blue team that included the Sabres’ top line of Zach Benson, Josh Norris and Tage Thompson.
“I talked about some of the changes we wanted to try to make,” Ruff said. “I think it frustrated some of the players on the Blue team. That put a smile on my face.”
UPL update
Ruff said he and his coaching staff have gotten “a couple really good reports” on goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s progression from a lower-body injury that’s kept him out of the first three days of training camp.
“He’s really feeling pretty good, too, now,” Ruff said. “Whether he’s ready to participate (in practice) on Monday, or not, we’ll see.”
Alex Lyon and Alexandar Georgiev were in goal in the scrimmage Saturday, and Lyon, playing for the White team, gave up four goals. Luukkonen won’t play in the exhibition games Monday and Tuesday against Columbus, and Ruff’s plan is for the starting goalie to play two periods, then have the backup come in for the third period.
On the air
The Sabres open the first of six preseason games Monday, and all six will be broadcast either on television or on a streaming internet feed.
MSG will broadcast the Sabres exhibition games at 7 p.m. Monday at Columbus, 7 p.m. Oct. 1 against Pittsburgh and 7 p.m. Oct. 3 at Pittsburgh.
Sabres.com will carry the exhibition game Tuesday against the Blue Jackets at KeyBank Center, at 7 p.m. Thursday at Detroit and at 3 p.m. Saturday against Detroit.
All six games will be broadcast on the radio on WGR-AM 550.
Next
The Sabres play their first preseason game at 7 p.m. Monday at Columbus.
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Rachel Lenzi
News sports reporter
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