The Daily Dish

We are bringing back the daily links post and we may even fill it in with other news and notes about the Sabres, the NHL or everyday life.  After all, the purpose of this blog is to create a vibrant community of Sabres fans.  

You may have or may not have noticed that I took a couple of days off from the blog.  I assure you that I am back in the fold.  I spent Sunday in Cleveland, Ohio taking in a Yankees - Indians game (the Yankees are my secret obsession).  Unfortunately for me, the Yankees lost because of a walk-off single by Jhonny Peralta in the bottom of the ninth.

Just going to see the Yankees would have been enough but the day was not ready to end.  After a short nap at the hotel room it was time for a short walk down the road to the House of Blues.  The Tragically Hip were on the bill on Sunday evening at the House of Blues.

It was an amazing weekend but now it's back home and ready to blog.  The Player Report Cards will pick back up either tonight or tomorrow and another links post will be ready to roll tomorrow.

Sabres Links

Russian Hockey NHL Prospects | Russianprospects.com
Buffalo Sabres have once again extended an offer to the 22 year old Russian defenseman Vyacheslav Buravchikov (Buffalo Sabres). The club also reportedly offered the young defenseman an offer last summer, but at the time he was still under contract with HC Ak Bars. That contract is now over and Buravchikov is a free agent who is able to come to North America.

First Run at a 2009 Mock Draft - Western College Hockey Blog
An NHL Mock Draft. It's another mock draft that has the Sabres taking Ryan Ellis. I like the way the kid plays but still think the Sabres will go with a Forward.

NHL Links

TSN
This is an interesting story about the state of the NHL. Gary Bettman talks about numerous topics including Jim Balsille.

BREAKING: NBC Draws 4.5 Million Viewers For Game 1, Wins Weak Saturday Night of Programming " Puck The Media
I guess that NBC is getting exactly what they wanted with the coverage of games 1 & 2 instead of picking it up at game three like they did last season. The real test will be game five (if there is one) when they get the coverage back from Versus.

Salary cap issues could drag Blackhawks down : Bucky Gleason : The Buffalo News
Two years ago, the Buffalo Sabres became a cautionary tale, a reminder of how it takes a long time for an organization to build a contender but only a few seconds for a team to fall apart. They were in the conference finals two straight seasons before a few missteps led to a nasty spill.

Buffalo is still trying to regain its feet and brush off its knees, a fact the Chicago Blackhawks need to remember as they proceed through the offseason. The Blackhawks reached the conference finals with a young team. With that success come the same decisions that led to the Sabres’ downfall.