Inside the NHL: Short summer after long playoff run with Oilers doesn't faze Sabres center Ryan McLeod

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Ryan McLeod has had the shortest summer of anyone in the Buffalo Sabres' dressing room.

It hasn't even been three months since his last game with the Edmonton Oilers, the heartbreaking loss to the Florida Panthers in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final on June 24.

Less than two weeks later, McLeod was traded to Buffalo.

Given that he's from just up the QEW in Mississauga, Ont., he was immediately stoked about how often family and friends can now see his games.

But the Stanley Cup dreams have been replaced by thoughts of just getting into the postseason, and you had to wonder how he would be physically after that long playoff grind.

Sabres center Ryan McLeod skates during practice on opening day of camp on Wednesday.

McLeod, remember, played 105 games in a 2023-24 season that stretched for 912 months 81 in the regular season and 24 more in the playoffs.

How has he looked so far? Not to worry.

The speed has been there in practices.

His role as the team's No.

3 center is locked in ink and he feels ready to go.

"You take some time to recover the body and get things sorted out and then get right back into it," McLeod said after a practice during the opening week of camp.

"But I'm coming in super hungry.

You get so close to winning and you get a little bit more jam or whatever, to come back next year and try to do it again." The Sabres were watching McLeod closely at the start of camp but they weren't overly concerned.

He's been an NHL regular for three seasons and knows how to prepare.

Benson is among the group of players who can increase production to help make up for the 24 goals lost by the buyout of Jeff Skinner.

And don't worry that Benson is only 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds.

Thus far in camp, he has been a bundle of energy and one of the most noticeable players on the ice.

"I think that pretty well takes care of itself," said coach Lindy Ruff.

"You've had an emotional playoff, and you take a couple weeks to kind of wind down.

You don't have much time to gain any traction.

"There's value in taking that time away from the game where you just refresh and you're ready to go again.

I think he's done a good job with that.

I've liked his practices, I've liked how well he's skated." The Sabres traded a key piece of the future in Matthew Savoie for the present in McLeod, a No.

3 center to fill in behind Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens.

So far, McLeod's linemates appear to be Jason Zucker and Jordan Greenway.

"(Ruff) seems like he wants to play a pretty structured game, and I think that's going to be great for our group," McLeod said.

"The practices have been very intense, and we've been up and down the sheet quite a bit, so it's been good." New Sabres center Ryan McLeod came within a win of being a Stanley Cup champion with the Edmonton Oilers last season.

The 6-foot-3 McLeod had career highs of 12 goals and 30 points last season and four goals in the playoffs three coming in the Cup final.

The Sabres got him to improve their team speed, play responsible defensively and boost their acumen at faceoffs (his 51% success rate last season would have easily led Buffalo's centers).

He knows those parts of his games are givens, but says he has more to contribute offensively.

"I'm constantly working on the offensive side.

I think I could shoot the puck and get to the net more and that will help me get my numbers up," he said.

"But I'm just looking to come in and play the right way here.

Instill that 'both sides of the puck' feeling here." McLeod admitted last season in Edmonton was a whirlwind.

The Oilers were buried early, in a 2-9-1 hole from the start of the season that led to the firing of coach Jay Woodcroft and the hiring of Kris Knoblauch.

They had a long climb back that included a 16-game winning streak.

They also came within one win of the greatest comeback in modern NHL history, nearly becoming the first team since 1942 to wipe out a 3-0 deficit in the Cup final.

"As a group, we kind of just figured out it's going to be a lot easier on us if we don't try to win every game 6-5," McLeod said.

"Go and maybe try and win 2-1 or keep them off the board.

It kind of comes from the group being collective in their thought and how they want to play the game.

So I think if we do that here, we'll be successful." And, of course, the Oilers had Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to lead the way.

Two of the greatest players in the world and McLeod was on board for every practice, every road trip and every game.

What's the secret to that kind of stardom? "It's hard work.

They put in the work more than anyone," McLeod said.

"They're always looking at ways to get better through video or going on the ice early, all that stuff.

It's inspiring to kind of get to build up from behind them.

They're just so special to watch every day, a lot of fun." Add in another player like McLeod and little by little, you can start to see the postseason experience factor creep up in the Buffalo dressing room.

Malenstyn was the first of several players acquired by the Sabres to bring speed and physical play to a lineup that needed to evolve.

He may also be the one they're most familiar with.

Alex Tuch played in the 2018 Cup final with Vegas and appeared in 66 postseason games during his four years with the Golden Knights.

Bowen Byram and Nicolas Aube-Kubel won a Cup with Colorado in 2022.

Connor Clifton got to Game 7 of the 2019 final with Boston.

As recently as the start of the 2021-22 season, the Sabres had only one skater who had been to a final and that was part-time defenseman Colin Miller, a teammate of Tuch in '18.

Quite a different look.

"It's huge.

Experience is a big factor," said Thompson.

"We've got some guys now that have made it far in playoffs and made good runs and played with players that are beyond elite and know what it takes to win.

Playing with guys like that, you pick up certain habits and things that they've done that's gotten them there.

For us to be able to bring in pieces like that is going to do nothing but benefit us." Added Ruff on McLeod: "His value in the room for a guy that just played in a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final, how they played and how they even came back in that series is really important for our group." Jackets' post-Gaudreau plans The Columbus Blue Jackets are back on the ice in the wake of last month's death of Johnny Gaudreau and have announced a full slate of plans to honor their fallen teammate, whose No.

13 jersey will stay in its stall at Nationwide Arena and travel with the team on the road throughout the season.

Saturday's opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins in KeyBank Center will be the only one on the seven-game schedule to be televised on MSG, with Sabres announcers Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the call.

Starting with their preseason opener Monday in KeyBank Center against the Sabres, the Jackets will wear helmet stickers that feature Johnny Gaudreau's No.

13 and Matthew Gaudreau's No.

21 from Boston College on either side of two doves.

A No.

13 patch on their sweaters will debut for the Jackets' season opener Oct.

10 in Minnesota.

The home opener Oct.

15 vs.

Florida will be a celebration of the Gaudreau brothers' lives and all fans will be given one of the "13" patches.

Typical opening-night festivities, including the team's blue-carpet entrance, will be pushed back to the second home game, which is against the Sabres on Oct.

17.

New coach Dean Evason said Gaudreau will remain a presence with the team.

"The coaching staff is going to emphasize that to our group, said an upbeat Evason.

His stall is going to be there.

Tell stories.

Remember.

Laugh.

With the videos that we put together for camp, somebody asked, Should we take Johnny out of all the clips we show to players?' And we said, Absolutely not.

"Johnnys going to teach, good and bad.

If he didnt back-check, well show it.

Hes going to be with us.

Weber scaling back in Nashville Old friend Pete Weber isn't retiring from the mic in Nashville, where he's been a fixture since Day 1 in 1998.

But the former Bisons and Sabres voice is 73 now and has had some health challenges in recent years.

Still, the voice remains strong, the eyes sharp and the enthusiasm for the games and the gig isn't lacking one iota.

Pete Weber spent 13 years as the play-by-play man for the Bisons but also served stints as the Sabres radio man and a Bills analyst/host during the Super Bowl So Weber and the Predators have announced a reduced schedule of road games but he has already said it will include this season's visit to Buffalo on Jan.

31.

He will continue to do home games and turn over the bulk of the travel to Max Herz, who has replaced him from time to time the last three years.

"This represents a time in my life where I am scaling back, not because I don't like what I do, but maybe because I like it so much and it will help to prolong my career, Weber said in a statement.

I am not saying goodbye, but instead stating that I want it to last as long as it can.

Said Predators CEO Sean Henry: "As an organization we could not be more supportive of Petes decision to step back from the road, a decision that will allow him to remain a central figure in Smashville and carry on that generational tradition for years to come.

'Enzo' calls it a career Popular former Sabres forward Tyler Ennis announced his retirement on Thursday after playing part of last year in Germany and last appearing in the NHL with Ottawa in 2022.

A first-round pick of the Sabres in 2008 and an AHL Rookie of the Year with the Portland Pirates in 2009, Ennis played 700 NHL games with Buffalo, Minnesota, Toronto, Edmonton and Ottawa.

He scored 144 goals and recorded 346 points and the bulk of his time was in Buffalo (419 games, 97-139-236).

Wrote Ennis on Instagram : "As I officially walk away from hockey, I can't help but feel indebted to the game that has given me so much the greatest game on Earth." Ennis is the answer to a current Sabres trivia question: He's the last player to score a game-winner for Buffalo in the postseason.

It was Ennis' overtime goal on the rebound of a Mike Weber shot that gave the Sabres a 4-3 victory at Philadelphia in Game 5 of the first round on April 22, 2011.

The Sabres took a 3-2 lead in the series home but dropped the next two games and haven't been back the playoffs since.

Around the boards Smiling Sabres newcomer Beck Malenstyn on the summerlike Buffalo weather that greeted the start of training camp: "I don't have nearly enough T-shirts, I'll tell you that.

I was definitely packing as if it was going to be a little bit colder.

...

It's been stunning." Malenstyn split the last five years between Hershey, Pa., and Washington and is a native of suburban Vancouver, B.C.

Former Buffalo goalie Linus Ullmark on the message he wants his new teammates in Ottawa to get after he spent three straight years in the playoffs in Boston: "I have to show them how it has to be done every single day and not just some days.

...

You can't just play for 25 games, you've got to play for 82.

When the dog days come around 56 games into the season and you're gone on a road trip for nine days and you're going on a back-to-back in Western Canada or whatever, those are the games that you need to win." Numerology on former Sabres captain Kyle Okposo, who retired Thursday: He is one of 32 skaters to play in 500-plus games for Buffalo, one of 36 to collect 100-plus goals and one of 52 with 200-plus points.

His minus-75 rating stands third-worst in franchise history, ahead of only Rasmus Ristoalainen (minus-163) and Sam Reinhart (minus-97).

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