{"id":129035,"date":"2025-09-08T15:07:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T15:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/129035\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T15:07:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T15:07:08","slug":"camp-countdown-which-amerks-could-debut-and-contribute-in-buffalo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/129035\/","title":{"rendered":"Camp Countdown | Which Amerks could debut and contribute in Buffalo?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the days leading into training camp, Sabres.com will be addressing major questions surrounding the 2025-26 Buffalo Sabres. Up next: Which AHL-level prospects could make their NHL debuts and contribute in Buffalo this season?<\/p>\n

At points in each season, the Buffalo Sabres tap into their prospect pipeline and summon young talent from their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans.<\/p>\n

In 2024-25, forwards Tyson Kozak and Noah Ostlund both got the call, made their NHL debuts and capably filled the fourth-line center role \u2013 Kozak for 21 games, Ostlund for eight.<\/p>\n

These four Amerks, each of whom should have their opportunities during the upcoming training camp and NHL preseason, could be the organization\u2019s next AHLers to make the jump to Buffalo.<\/p>\n

Konsta Helenius \u2013 F<\/p>\n

Drafted 14th overall in 2024, Helenius began his 2024-25 campaign as an 18-year-old rookie and ended it as one of three forwards named to the AHL Top Prospects Team<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Finnish forward finished the regular season with 35 points (14+21) in 65 games, including five goals in the last five. He admitted it took time to adjust during his first year in North America, and his growth throughout the season backed that up.<\/p>\n

Helenius leveled up in his first Calder Cup Playoffs, collecting six points (3+3) in eight games as Rochester reached Game 5 of the North Division Finals versus Laval. Beyond scoring, he made an all-around impact in the playoffs as a reliable defender \u2013 something Sabres coach Lindy Ruff demands of his centermen \u2013 and a post-whistle agitator.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was incredible,\u201d Amerks head coach Michael Leone said. \u201cI thought he rose to the occasion; the bigger the moment, the better he played. I thought he played with a level of physicality. Ultimately, when you get to this time of the year, you find out who you are as a player. You work so hard to get to that end of the year, and you have to play a certain way to be successful. That\u2019s what wins, and I thought Hele played a lot of winning hockey for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s easy to envision the Sabres, whether dealing with injuries or looking for a spark, plugging the now-19-year-old Helenius into the bottom six later in 2025-26 and seeing what they\u2019ve got.<\/p>\n

Anton Wahlberg \u2013 F<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the days leading into training camp, Sabres.com will be addressing major questions surrounding the 2025-26 Buffalo Sabres.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-129035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}