Linus Weissbach isn’t as big of a name as Jiri Kulich or Lukas Rousek, but there are a few reasons to believe he will play for the Buffalo Sabres.
Linus Weissbach may be a former 192nd overall pick, but don’t think for a single second that the AHL is the ceiling for this Buffalo Sabres prospect. With Jack Quinn shelved for at least four, and more likely six months, there will be some shuffling in the Sabres lineup and Weissbach could end up taking advantage.
But he will have to beat out other prospects like Lukas Rousek, Jiri Kulich, and Brett Murray, among others, to get there. But there are a few reasons to believe the undersized winger can outlast the competition.
Why Linus Weissbach can earn a spot on the Buffalo Sabres
1 – Experience
When you look at guys like Jiri Kulich and Lukas Rousek, you see a pair of dynamic playmakers. However, neither has the experience in playing the North American game like Weissbach, who starred at the University of Wisconsin for four seasons after a one-year stint with the USHL’s Tri-City Storm.
Add in another 136 regular season games of experience in the AHL, and Weissbach has more than just an edge in the experience category. This could make him more NHL-ready than the likes of Rousek, Kulich, and others he will be competing with.
2 – Productivity
Weissbach grew productivity-wise over his two full seasons in the AHL, knocking down 37 points and 16 goals in 67 regular season games in 2021-22. Last year, he upped that total with 47 points and 20 goals in 69 games, good for 0.681 points per game, a 0.13-point increase from the 0.552 he scored in 2021-22.
Weissbach’s momentum didn’t stop in the regular season, as he posted another 10 points and three goals in 12 playoff games last year. No, this wasn’t as much as we’d seen from Kulich or Rousek, but he showed enough productivity to at least generate rumblings that he could be serviceable at the next level.
3 – Clutch Player
In the AHL, you wanted the puck on Weissbach’s stick if the Amerks needed a goal, and he had a tendency to come through, leading the team with four game-winners this past season. While that will be a tougher task in the NHL if he gets there this season, we at least know Weissbach can at least perform well under pressure.
Overall, Weissbach is one player who isn’t mentioned as often as Rousek, Kulich, or even Tyson Kozak. But this is also a player who has given us solid returns at each of his previous stops, and one who has been a steady performer in Rochester over the past two seasons.
Source: SABRES SIGN WEISSBACH TO ONE-YEAR, TWO-WAY CONTRACT, Amerks.com
(Statistics provided by Amerks.com)