Sabres notebook: Vinnie Hinostroza still trying to take game to another level

Hinostroza knew when his first season with the Buffalo Sabres ended in April that he wanted to return. The club’s decision-makers, including coach Don Granato and general manager Kevyn Adams, made it clear to Hinostroza that the feeling was mutual.

However, as a pending unrestricted free agent, Hinostroza needed a new contract, and it was fair to wonder whether the club would have a roster spot available with prospects graduating from Rochester.

Finally, following a three-month wait, the 28-year-old winger received a one-year deal worth $1.7 million from the Sabres on the eve of free agency to ensure he’d return to the team for which he scored 13 goals in 65 games.

“I always just kept the faith,” he told The Buffalo News on Tuesday ahead of the Sabres' game against the Seattle Kraken in Climate Pledge Arena. “I talked to Donny a few times during that span, and kind of just had to let things play out, wait to see what happened. That whole time, I was training to be a Buffalo Sabre and getting ready for the season. If something else happened, then it would, but I think, in the back of my mind, I always had faith and knew I was going to be back here.”

Statistics don’t properly illustrate Hinostroza’s impact on the Sabres’ resurgence over the final two months of last season. His determination and work ethic brought the intensity of practices to another level. Teammates have described his energy as infectious, and it has shown in different forms.

Hinostroza’s competitiveness and desire to improve are on display in small-area games or other drills that have the Sabres go head-to-head against each other. But he’ll also dance to celebrate a goal or congratulate someone else on an impressive play.

When Hinostroza started this season as a healthy scratch, he quickly worked his way back into the lineup and made a significant impact. He had four assists in the three wins to start this road trip, and nearly scored a goal Saturday night in Vancouver. Some forwards stop developing at a certain point in their careers. Hinostroza isn’t one of them.

“He’s relentless,” Granato said. “He just won’t be denied. A credit to him to stay ready to go, not playing the first couple. I’ve watched him grow as a player since both our days in Chicago with the Blackhawks. He just is another guy that we wanted him back because we knew he’d be better than a year ago. He’s made himself better over the last four or five years that I’ve been around him, and it’s a characteristic of his. He’s an opportunist, so ready to pounce on everything, and that’s what we love about him."

Hinostroza had seven goals and 25 points in 50 games with the Blackhawks at 23 years old in 2017-18 when Granato was an assistant coach in Chicago for Joel Quenneville. Hinostroza was traded to Arizona in the summer of 2018, where he totaled a career-high 16 goals the following season.

Then came a stretch of bad puck luck, a difficult half season with Florida in 2020-21 and a successful reunion with Chicago. When the Sabres were seeking the right veterans to surround their young corps last season, Hinostroza was at the top of their free-agent shopping list. His role and impact have expanded as the players around him in Buffalo have improved.

Hinostroza was only out of the lineup at the start of the season because the Sabres wanted to give Jack Quinn and Peyton Krebs, both of whom are 21 years old, ice time and opportunity. It was only a matter of time, though, that Hinostroza would be back in the lineup. He’s shown since arriving last fall that he’s unquestionably one of their top 12 forwards.

A sixth-round draft pick of the Blackhawks in 2012, Hinostroza is determined to show he’s not done ascending.

“A lot of time in the NHL, you go through ups and downs,” he said. “When you’re in your downs, you’ve got to keep grinding and get better. I feel like I still haven’t gotten to my best, and I’m 28 years old. I’m very hungry to use the summers to get better and better, really try to utilize everything I can, whether it’s on the ice or off the ice.

"That’s something I’ve learned over the years. Experience is a lot. When you play 300 or whatever games, you learn so much. A big thing for me is controlling my energy and not just going 100 miles per hour all the time, like I did when I was younger.”

Amerks updates

The Sabres’ organizational depth on defense took another hit over the weekend with injuries to Chase Priskie and Peter Tischke in Rochester.

Amerks coach Seth Appert told team reporter Suzie Cool on Tuesday that Priskie (upper body) and Tischke (lower body) will be out multiple weeks. Michael Mersch, the team’s captain, is “week to week” with an upper-body injury, and winger Matej Pekar is “very close” to returning to game action.

Goalie Malcolm Subban returned to practice Tuesday and, according to Appert, is expected to return “within the next two weeks." The Amerks play at Laval on Friday and Saturday this week.

Prospect watch

Sabres prospect Devon Levi, a junior at Northeastern University, has a .943 save percentage and 1.77 goals-against average through five games. Levi also owns a 3-1-1 record and posted one shutout for the 11th of his collegiate career. He made 30 saves, in addition to a 2-for-3 performance in a shootout, to help the Huskies beat Boston College on Oct. 18.