LEWISTON — Lindy Ruff seems genuinely excited about next season. The Buffalo Sabres'

coach knows he lost a few key players, particularly on defense, and he's not quite sure who is

going to fill their roles.

That is exactly what has him excited.

Ruff and the Sabres wrapped up their five-day development camp Friday, and the coach spoke

publicly for the first time since free agency stripped his team of blue-liners Henrik

Tallinder and Toni Lydman, and brought defenseman Jordan Leopold and forward Rob Niedermayer.

"We've seen in years past, when we get concerned about losing players, that all of a sudden

somebody steps in and gets a greater opportunity and does a good job for us," Ruff said at

Niagara University. "You always miss players you lose, but you've got other players who step

in and surprise you. They get a bigger role. They feel more important.

"If you look at where Chris Butler's at, where Andrej Sekera's at, it's time for them to

take on a larger role, a more important role with the team, more ice time. You look at a Mike

Weber, who should be ready to challenge for one of those positions, he falls in the category

of a Lydman and a Tallinder.

"I'm excited about where these guys are going to be at [training] camp, and I'm excited

about seeing what they're going to do with their opportunity."

Opportunity is always one of the keywords of development camp. Ruff and the rest of the

organization repeatedly told them they all have a chance to wear Blue and Gold in the NHL

someday.

"I love how hard these kids work," Ruff said. "It's understanding how hard we work at all

our players to give them the chance to be able to play for the Buffalo Sabres. It's

understanding that we develop players, we want our players to take part in the National Hockey

League and play for our team. We take pride in growing our own players."

The coaches for the Sabres and Portland — including Pirates coach Kevin Dineen, who

is expected to return to Maine after being considered for NHL head coaching jobs —

consistently kept their eyes on which players were ready to jump from the minors to the NHL,

or from juniors to the pros. The players had to prove they were ready, even those who were

dynamic for the Sabres in the playoffs last season.

"You can't assume anything," forward Tyler Ennis said. "When that happens, sometimes you

can develop some bad habits. For myself, I always want to get better. In no way have I

expected to make the team. I'm going to try my best, and I want to make it really bad, but I'm

not coming in thinking that there's a spot given to me.

"Even this summer camp I'm going to try to work my hardest and play my best, and I'm going

to carry that through the summer and into main camp."

The Sabres also made sure the week was spent showing the prospects what it takes to succeed

off the ice. Young kids can find trouble — see the recent assault charge leveled against

2009 first-round pick Zack Kassian — so the organization had presentations of what to

expect now that the players have a more public profile.

"It's a really good learning experience, and that's what the Buffalo Sabres are striving

for," right winger Gregg Sutch said. "They're striving for it to be a good learning

environment for everybody, all the new guys, and that's basically what it's been.

"There's a lot more involved on the off-ice. It's a business now. It's professional, and

you've got to handle yourself professionally and take care of your body professionally. That's

the whole reason NHLers are the way they are. It all starts right here, and you learn to do

that and give yourself a better chance to be there."

Ruff said Kassian is among those who need to keep striving.

"Zack has a ways to go," Ruff said. "You have to learn from some of your disappointments. I

think the incident that he had was a disappointment. He didn't play a lot of hockey last year,

was suspended and missed a lot of games [20 for hitting an unsuspecting opponent], and I

really feel that this is going to be an important year for him wherever he plays. These next

couple months of summer are going to be important.

"He was able to play on a championship team, which was good, but in his case, when you look

at the talent on the ice, he has a ways to go. We know how tough he is, and we think he can be

as tough as anybody when it comes to the fighting category, but we want him to be a player at

the same time."

The camp, as usual, had its lighter moments. One included fans in Dwyer Arena playfully

chanting at Sabres General Manager Darcy Regier to sign high-priced free agent winger Ilya

Kovalchuk.

"I was going to hold out my hand actually for a couple bucks," Regier said with a smile.

"The kids are having some fun. It's pretty neat. Camp-wise, it's terrific because you get the

young players, you get a lot of young players here, and they're very enthusiastic, both the

players and the kids. It's a fun time of the year."