Experience wasn’t a factor when Don Granato was deciding which of his four centers would take a defensive-zone faceoff with 15 seconds remaining in regulation and the score tied Saturday inside KeyBank Center.
Granato sent Tage Thompson over the boards and the 23-year-old won the draw against Nick Schmaltz of the Arizona Coyotes, helping the Buffalo Sabres send the game to overtime. It was Thompson’s second career NHL game playing the position – he wasn’t used there in the American Hockey League – yet his performance down the middle was pivotal in the Sabres’ 2-1 shootout victory.
"Anybody on the other side of the ice expecting an easy night is forewarned: The first step to respectability is not giving opponents a night off. The Sabres are getting there fast," writes Mike Harrington.
It’s the sort of gamble that former coach Ralph Krueger wouldn’t have considered, but placing young players in uncomfortable situations is part of Granato’s plan to develop the Sabres into a winner.
“We’re not in the playoffs right now, so if it’s Game 7 in a playoff series, you’re probably thinking something different,” Granato said. “All our guys need experience, they need situations. It’s the only way they’re going to learn. You don’t learn to swim and not get wet. So, we’ve got to put them in situations with the confidence as a coaching staff that they’re going to be able to adjust and adapt.”
The move was also out of necessity. The Sabres are thin down the middle, with Casey Mittelstadt out multiple weeks because of an upper-body injury and Jack Eichel awaiting a trade out of Buffalo. Dylan Cozens, a 20-year-old drafted seventh overall in 2019, ascended to the top-line center role against Arizona. In addition to the Thompson experiment, Granato moved Arttu Ruotsalainen to center, a position the 5-foot-9 forward had only played full-time in Finland.
Cody Eakin, 30, is the club’s most experienced center, with more than 8,000 faceoffs taken during his 11-year NHL career, but he totaled only three goals and seven points in 46 games in Buffalo last season. However, the foursome has produced promising results, albeit in a short sample size.
Here’s a glance at how each has performed through two games:
The Sabres (2-0) started the season with consecutive wins for the first time since 2019-20.
Tage Thompson
Thompson has all the intangibles teams want in a center and he played the position throughout his amateur career, but his first 145 NHL games were spent on the wing. His talent tantalized, specifically the blend of speed and heavy shot with a long reach. Thompson’s production wasn’t consistent, though, as he struggled to find time and space to use those tools to score.
Skating down the middle of the ice has given Thompson more space to make plays. He’s not restricted to the wall when playing center, and we’ve seen him make plays down low to get the puck to linemates near the net.
Across two games, Thompson leads all Sabres forwards in average ice time (18:55) after skating a career-high 19:45 against Arizona. He also ranks first in individual shot quality at 5-on-5 (tied with Kyle Okposo), fourth in on-ice shot differential and fourth in limiting on-ice shot quality, according to Evolving-Hockey.com. There haven’t been any notable defensive mistakes, and Thompson has won a team-best 60% of his faceoffs.
Granato likely wants Thompson to use his shot more – he has only three on net at 5-on-5 in two games – but there is instant chemistry with linemates Victor Olofsson and Rasmus Asplund. The trio had a perfect Corsi rating (15 shot attempts at 5-on-5 with zero against) against Arizona.
“I think you’re just coming up the middle of the ice more,” Thompson said of playing center. “You see more of the ice. You’re not always locked onto the wall. You have a little more options as far as making plays go. It’s pretty easy to build up your speed coming out of the D-zone, which is nice for me.”
In his debut with the team, defenseman Robert Hagg blocked a game-high six shots and played nearly 3½ minutes of penalty-killing time out of his total of 19 minutes, 41 seconds.
Dylan Cozens
The detail in Cozens’ game can be exceptional. He forced a turnover to extend a power play in the season opener, leading to Olofsson’s goal that made the score 3-1. Cozens’ drive down the right wing also led to Buffalo’s first goal of the game.
We haven’t seen enough impressive offensive plays at 5-on-5 from Cozens, but he’s been strong defensively and looks far better than he did early in the preseason. In two games, Cozens has won 50% of his faceoffs while ranking fourth among Sabres forwards in on-ice shot quality at 5-on-5. He needs to be more active in the offensive zone, as illustrated by his two shots on goal at even strength. Consistent linemates could help Cozens, but he’s also going to face more difficult matchups, perhaps as early as Tuesday night against Vancouver.
When the Sabres hit the ice for Saturday's matinee against the Arizona Coyotes, they're going to do it without their No. 1 center and half of their top defense pair.
Arttu Ruotsalainen
Ruotsalainen was a healthy scratch on opening night after totaling five goals in 13 games with the Sabres last season. His spot in the press box was the product of a preseason in which he was asked to play center and missed a game with a non-Covid-related illness. Ruotsalainen was serviceable in a bottom-six role Saturday, winning four of eight faceoffs with zero shots on goal in 12:07. His line allowed only four shot attempts in 8:46 of ice time, an encouraging sign considering his steepest challenge will be adjusting to the responsibility on defense.
The Sabres need Ruotsalainen to flourish there until Mittelstadt returns. Options are limited in Rochester, though the Sabres will monitor how recent signee Mark Jankowski fares on his AHL contract.
In his debut with the team, defenseman Robert Hagg blocked a game-high six shots and played nearly 3½ minutes of penalty-killing time out of his total of 19 minutes, 41 seconds.
Cody Eakin
Eakin is playing his best hockey since he joined the Sabres on a two-year contract in October 2020. He’s centering Okposo and Zemgus Girgensons on a line that’s provided energy and regained possession through forechecking in the offensive zone. Eakin has won 52.9% of his faceoffs and scored the Sabres’ only regulation goal against Arizona. He’s also helped the penalty kill go perfect through two games.
