It’s hard to press on with the Covid-19 situation the Buffalo Sabres are going through right now. The team will eventually return to play in the next week or so. As such, I wanted to go back and look at something that caught my eye on Sunday.

I felt as though Casey Mittelstadt had one of his better games with the Sabres in a while. The on-ice stats after the game were not pretty, but that was the case for the entire team. I went back and watched all of his shifts to get a second look to confirm my initial thoughts. I came away thinking on the second view that he actually performed better than I originally gave him credit for.

Changing Roles

This is going to be an odd one for this site because I’m going to rely on video observations more than what the data is telling me. Crazy, I know, but sometimes you have to look past the numbers in small samples. In this case, we have only two games from Mittelstadt this season.

Another important part of this is an understanding that the Sabres are changing his role with them. This is the correct decision and honestly something that I thought they should do throughout the offseason. They’ve shifted him to not only playing the wing but doing so in a bottom-six “checking” role.

Realistically, I feel it would be wise if we all let go of the notion that Mittelstadt is going to be that top-six center that can be an offensive game-changer. It’s just not going to happen. I know he’s only 22-years-old, but we haven’t seen that at any level of play going back to college.

It may not be what you want out of your eighth overall pick, but if the Sabres want to get any value out of that pick; changing his role makes the most sense.

Mittelstadt has always been a player that is a good forechecker when he wants to be engaged in the play. Being engaged consistently has been the issue. However, this season in the two games he has played, I’ve noticed that he has consistently been strong on the forecheck.

He also looks like he improved his skating over the offseason. He looks a step quicker and that has allowed him to get on the puck more efficiently. You’ll see an example of that in the clip below. He accelerates quickly to get behind the defenseman and get to the puck first.

He gets sealed off on the boards by Jack Hughes, but the Sabres retain possession as he moved it up the wall to Matt Irwin. There still is an issue with getting knocked off the puck too easily, but he has shown a willingness to engage in more puck battles.

In the clip below he fights off a Devils defender to get a pass off to the front of the net to Riley Sheahan that doesn’t connect. Seconds later he tries a cross-ice pass to Sheahan that gets broken up.

These are two high-danger pass attempts that don’t connect, but it’s the offensive creativity that he can provide in the bottom of the lineup that makes him a good fit in this role. He’s not being asked to carry the offense on a top line, but can still let his creativity generate offense down the lineup in a more traditional checking line.

Mittelstadt also has a strong transition game that could be beneficial. The strongest part of his game may be his ability to carry the puck through the neutral zone and attempt to create off of it. I’d still like to see his rushes result in more quality opportunities, but that could evolve with more playing time.

You can see it on display in this next clip. Mittelstadt fights with Gusev for a puck and wins the battle. He then skates the puck out to the red line and makes a nice pass to Kyle Okposo, which results in a 2 on 1.

This last clip really gets to the change that I’ve seen in Mittelstadt’s game so far. He creates the scoring opportunity on the Sabres’ first goal with a hustle play in the neutral zone. He chases Gusev around and eventually forces him into the neutral zone trap. The puck is turned over and a few seconds later it’s in the net.

For what it’s worth, this is a prime example of why the stats people like to look at impact over points. Mittelstadt is awarded no points on this play on the score sheet but is the reason the scoring opportunity presented itself.

Time for a Rotation

Mittelstadt’s game is not perfect yet by any means. Even in this new role, they’re asking him to play. He still gets knocked off the puck too easily on occasion and the lazy play pops up from time to time. You can get a look at one such occurrence below.

He needs to clean those areas of his game up if he wants to consistently remain in the Sabes lineup moving forward.

While Ralph Krueger may not feel the same way, there should be an opportunity for Mittelstadt to be in the lineup if everyone is healthy. He should be part of the rotation in the spot that is currently occupied by Kyle Okposo.

I’m not going to get into the shortcomings of Okposo in this piece, but he has sunk the line of Cody Eakin and Tobias Rieder since he has returned. That line ranks as the worst line in hockey to play at least 40 minutes together in shot quality share at 5 on 5, according to Moneypuck. That line carries a 19.6% shot quality share as a trio. Away from Okposo, Eakin and Rieder are a 53% shot quality share at 5 on 5.

Mittelstadt can step into that spot and play a similar role to what Dylan Cozens did for them. A line combination of Eakin, Rieder, and Cozens was successful for the team early on. Eakin has shown some scoring ability in his past and Rieder has put the puck in the net this season. Adding Mittelstadt’s playmaking ability to that line could help generate more secondary scoring.

Getting the Minnesota-native into the lineup can be a boost for the Sabres second power play unit. That’s where he has been most successful in the NHL and AHL in his early career. His creativity comes through and he is dangerous coming off the wall on his off-side with his shot.

If the Sabres decide to move Ristolainen to the top unit with his net-front ability, Mittelstadt would be a good player to step into his vacancy on the second line. A second unit of Mittelstadt, Miller, Cozens, Staal, and Hall would give them two quality power play units.

We’ll see what happens after the Sabres come out of quarantine in the next week or so. At the very least Mittelstadt has earned an opportunity to stay in the lineup for the next game or two. This will give us a bigger sample size to see if he truly fits in this new role.

Photo Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports