There are all kinds of pandemic-season tales in the hockey world. Sean Malone, the West Seneca native and Nichols School product who returned to the Sabres after a year out of the organization, has a doozy of his own.
After career highs of 12 goals and 30 points at Rochester in the truncated 2019-20 season, Malone signed with the Nashville Predators on July 15, 2020. A fresh start, new organization, maybe a new chance at the NHL. All of that.
And if another trip in the AHL was in the cards, it would be in Milwaukee. Nice town. Great team. The Admirals were 41-14-8 for an AHL-high 90 points when the 2019-20 season was bagged and maintained Calder Cup aspirations. But in January, the Admirals opted out of the 2021 season due to struggling finances and the Predators had to make a sudden pivot.
They reached an agreement with Carolina to share the Chicago Wolves franchise and send Malone and other players there. But like Milwaukee, the Wolves had to watch the bottom line. So they temporarily abandoned their home at the 40-year-old Allstate Arena and played games at their practice facility in suburban Hoffman Estates, Ill.
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"It was different. I don't know if you've seen any video, but it was something else," Malone said this week during a break in Sabres camp. "The glass wasn't very forgiving. We didn't have fans. It was a gritty, gritty year, but we made the most of it."
Malone had five goals and 15 points in 23 games for a Chicago team that finished atop the AHL Central at 21-9-3, but had no playoffs to shoot for.
"Wild," Malone said in succinctly describing the season. "It was good for me because the Carolina coach (Ryan Warfofsky) was our head coach, but he liked me, so I was able to consistently play. He had half and half forwards from each organization. The D and the power play was split, so it was a little bit different.
The Sabres called an audible with their goalie plan to get a longer look at UPL.Â
"We had probably 10 coaches on the ice at a time, but I think we had a lot of young players and just tried to make the most of it. Our team was really good and it was actually a fun year."
Malone played one game for the Sabres at Florida in 2017 after signing his entry-level contract following Harvard's run to the Frozen Four. Almost four years later, he got back to the NHL for one game, collecting an assist for his first point in a Nashville loss to Tampa Bay.
"It was good. It was a fresh situation. Fortunately for me, the team wasn't doing very well in the beginning of the season. I was able to get in a game and I thought I played pretty well," he said. "I would have liked to play a little bit more, but it was nice going somewhere else and getting a new set of eyes on you and knowing you were on the cusp of playing again."
Malone got a good chance to play for the Sabres in Thursday night's exhibition game at Detroit, centering Brett Murray and top prospect Jack Quinn. Barring a run of injuries, there doesn't initially appear to be any room on the roster for him in the NHL, but Malone figures to be a key player in Rochester.
He came back to the organization because of familiarity and because he knew of Sabres coach Don Granato from their time together with the U.S. National Development Team Program.
Unlike most Sabres on the roster late last season, the coaching change wasn’t transformative for Skinner.
"It’s fun to see him now ... to see him as an older individual player (26)," Granato said. "I had him when he was 17, 18, and he was great for us then. Haven’t been with him, obviously, since, but to see the growth and maturity in him, the confidence in him, is great. I’ve known him since then as a very talented guy and he remains that, so I’m glad he’s here. He’s done a real nice job so far."
"At least talking to the guys from Rochester who have been with Seth Appert and with Coach Granato here in Buffalo, the practices are a little tougher," Malone said. "It's sort of where you build your identity as a team. This year, especially, you want to be a hard-working team. We've stressed that in the beginning of camp. We have to earn everything this year and I think everyone's starting with that fresh mindset ready to go."
Around the boards
• Defenseman Mark Pysyk, traded by the Sabres in 2016 and reacquired over the summer, got into his first exhibition Thursday. Pysyk joked after the morning skate that although he's familiar with many organizational staff members, Zemgus Girgensons is the only player who remains from his time as a first-round draft choice with the Blue and Gold.
Girgensons is the senior member of the organization after being drafted in 2012, even though he's only 27, and Pysyk considers him the old man of the locker room. "It's not a joke. It's serious. He's old," Pysyk wisecracked. "You see him walk around. The way he plays, his body takes a beating, so he is for sure the old man."
• Granato revealed Thursday that forward Andrew Oglevie failed his camp physical.
"Still lingering effects from the injury last year," Granato said of Oglevie, who was limited to 12 games in Rochester by an undisclosed ailment.
• This is the first time since 2015 the Sabres are playing their entire preseason schedule in NHL arenas. There were no exhibition games in January due to the pandemic and shortened training camp.
