Helenius shined in the final day of Sabres Development Camp during the 3-on-3 tournament. It's been a whirlwind week and a half for the 18-year-old, bur he's loving every second of it.
The 3 forwards signed this off-season for the bottom 6 were in the top 50 of fastest short burst skaters in the NHL last season & they all totaled about 500 hits. Zucker himself also had a good number of hits & has had 5 20+ goal seasons on his resume. Signing 33/34+ yo forwards to 4+ year contracts is not very smart & most will be buyouts in about 2 years. Even Vegas understood that. Now Skinner, who stats from February onward last season, was February- 2G 1A March- 5 goals (3 vs Seattle) 0 after March 18th.
I think the fourth line will be a story/strong point next year, and I expect third line center to essentially be a competition between Krebs, Lafferty, Kulich, and Helenius. I am not sleeping on Helenius to make the team either.
@mttzakr23 Next season the Sabres will be hitting forechecking monsters with much faster forwards especially on the lower lines. Benson will be entering his 2nd season. Helenius will probably sign before training camp. I love how 2 forwards dropped to the Sabres in the last 2 drafts.
These guys look like they are playing in slow motion (lots of "coasting" and minimal hard skating). Also, NOT impressed with KA's free agent signings. WHY do we always lose out on blue chip targets ???
