The future arrives ahead of schedule
Sabres’ prospects ready to help now
Tim Kennedy, Nathan Gerbe and Chris Butler refused to rely on mere destiny. It’s the main reason the future arrived early.
As the Buffalo Sabres’ top prospects, the three players were destined to make it to the NHL. Their talent is obvious, their resumes strong. But as first-year pros, it didn’t seem likely the trio would make it to the big time before the new year.
The wild card was the players’ desire to excel. Rather than wait for destiny to take its course, they determined their own fate. Gerbe’s scoring prowess earned him a call in early December. Butler’s all-around play brought him to Buffalo in the middle of the month. Kennedy, who was leading American Hockey League rookies in assists, made his NHL debut Saturday. He was sent back to Portland on Sunday.
Injuries and team slumps also hastened their arrivals, but the players had the biggest roles in reaching The Show ahead of schedule.
“All of us expect it out of ourselves to be up because you’ve got to have that confidence,” Gerbe said. “I think all three of us have that confidence in each other and also in ourselves. We definitely expect to be up, but you have to work hard to stay here.”
The work ethic is what kept them from going insane. Being one step from the NHL is an exciting thing, but the potential for extreme anxiety is there. Players can constantly wonder whether they are going to be the next one to get the call, which can distract them from doing what it takes to earn it.
“If you think about when am I getting called up — Is there an injury? Did something happen? — you’re going to drive yourself nuts,” Butler said. “I think just playing well down there and focusing on improving and adjusting to the pro game has maybe gotten us to this point instead of sitting around worrying about it.”
It’s fitting all three arrived in Buffalo in the same month. Each became a Sabres prospect during the 2005 draft. The Sabres picked Butler in the fourth round, Gerbe in the fifth and swung a trade with Washington after it picked Kennedy in the sixth.
All three spent three years in college, and all three signed with the Sabres this summer.
“It is pretty cool,” Kennedy said. “Me, Nate and Chris bonded pretty well over the past few summers at the [rookie development] camp. We lived two doors down from each other in Portland.
“When they got called up it was awesome. I told them that I hope they both don’t come back. I do because they’re my best friends down there, but I hoped that they’d stay up here and play, and hopefully I could come up there with them sometime. That’s happened now, and it’s cool that all three of us are here.”
The mutual admiration is evident when speaking with the players. Kennedy and Butler played together with Sioux City of the United States Hockey League, and they’ve known each other since they were 16 years old. Kennedy and Gerbe competed against each other for NCAA national titles the previous two seasons, so they each gained respect for the other’s game.
“It’s definitely nice to come up here and get a chance to play, especially to be with Tim,” Butler said. “We got drafted at the same time to the same team, so that was pretty special. You kind of look at where that’s going to be down the road, are we going to get a chance to put on a Sabres jersey and play together.
“As excited as he was [Saturday], I was just as excited for him. We talked a little bit before the game, and I told him, ‘Look’ — not that I’ve been here forever — but I said, ‘Look, you’re here for a reason, and you’re going to be fine. You’ve got plenty of talent, plenty of skill,’ so it’s awesome to be sitting right next to him in the room. We’ve been thinking about it for a long time.”
Although they were all in Buffalo, it is a long shot the three players will be in the lineup at the same time anytime soon. The 22- year-old Kennedy is back with the Pirates. The 21-year-old Gerbe is on the injured list with an upper- body injury.
Butler, 22, arrived to replace the injured Craig Rivet, so unless the Sabres tinker with their roster with trades, his time may be limited, even though he is playing well. The Sabres’ next game is Tuesday, when they host the Washington Capitals.
Even though they were together a short time in Buffalo, they all relished the chance to spend their first days in the NHL together. It bodes well for the Sabres that their future cornerstones made it to town ahead of nearly everyone’s schedule.
“All three of us are kind of going through this process together, and it’s good to have guys to go through that with you,” Gerbe said. “You know that everyone is going to get their chance soon, and it’s what you do with your chances.”
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