'Hungry' Butcher sees good fit with Granato, Sabres

Will Butcher pulled Sabres coach Don Granato aside early on in training camp and offered to play as many preseason games as possible. He may not have expected 28 minutes right off the bat.
Butcher skated a game-high 28:15 during Buffalo's preseason opener against Columbus on Tuesday. Granato identified the defenseman as the one Sabres player who appeared to already be in midseason form.
"It was a lot of minutes," Butcher said after practice Wednesday. "It didn't feel like that in the moment, but today I was hurting a little bit. But I felt good. I think I got better as the game went on."

The Sabres acquired Butcher along with a fifth-round draft pick in a trade with the New Jersey Devils on July 28. The Devils made the move to clear cap space after Butcher appeared in 23 games last season, spending large portions of the schedule as a healthy scratch.
Butcher had been an everyday player during his first three seasons with the Devils, with whom he signed as a sought-after undrafted free agent out of the University of Denver in 2017. He had visited the Sabres and considered them a finalist prior to making his decision.
He was excited about the opportunity for a fresh start when he found out he had been traded to Buffalo. The fact that he would be playing for Granato, his coach at the U.S. National Team Development Program, was a bonus.

Granato described the 5-foot-10 Butcher as a "rink rat" who makes up for what he lacks in size with resilience and a cerebral approach to the game. Butcher feels Granato's mentality - predicated on relentless puck pressure, hard work, and attention to detail - fits his style.
"When a player can't play it's the worst thing in the world," Granato said. "They're players. They want to play. And he experienced that last year. He wasn't allowed to play and was a healthy scratch for numerous games. He comes in with a hunger."
Butcher, 26, joins a defense corps with a variety of left-shot options. The group is headlined by Rasmus Dahlin, who saw top-pair responsibilities for the first time to end last season. Robert Hagg was brought in along with Butcher as veteran options while Jacob Bryson and Mattias Samuelsson (who is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury) are trying to establish themselves as full-time NHL players.
So far, he's found a like-minded group.
"I wouldn't call myself necessarily a veteran, but being, it seems, kind of one of the older guys, it's fun to be around this young group," he said. "Guys love playing hockey every day, going out and practicing. It's energizing. So, it's fun to be a part of."

Wednesday's practice

Here's how the two practice groups lined up:
Group 1
53 Jeff Skinner - 37 Casey Mittelstadt - 71 Victor Olofsson
91 Drake Caggiula - 74 Rasmus Asplund - 72 Tage Thompson
42 Brendan Warren - 20 Cody Eakin - 21 Kyle Okposo
73 Matej Pekar - 43 Sean Malone / 36 Ryan Scarfo - 51 Dominic Franco
26 Rasmus Dahlin - 10 Henri Jokiharju
8 Robert Hagg - 33 Colin Miller
75 Josh Teves - 13 Mark Pysyk
Group 2
77 JJ Peterka - 24 Dylan Cozens - 15 John Hayden
57 Brett Murray - 25 Arttu Ruotsalainen - 22 Jack Quinn
96 Anders Bjork - 28 Zemgus Girgensons - 29 Vinnie Hinostroza
27 Michael Mersch - 49 Ryan MacInnis - 65 Linus Weissbach
4 Will Butcher - 6 Ethan Prow
78 Jacob Bryson - 64 Oskari Laaksonen
88 Brandon Davidson - 45 Casey Fitzgerald
67 Peter Tischke / 44 Jimmy Schuldt - 70 Mitch Eliot
The Sabres visits the Detroit Red Wings for their second preseason game on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Stream the game live on Sabres.com.