It seems as though Lindy Ruff has had enough of this team losing and he is making changes.  Some of the changes are necessary due to injury but others became necessary because of poor play.  Ales Kotalik will be out of the lineup for several weeks with a hamstring injury and Tim Connolly is out with an upper body musculoskeletal injury.  Connolly has recently been listed as week-to-week with his most recent injury.

Unless the Sabres decide to call up a player from Portland they will have to use every healthy forward on the roster.  The biggest change is the demotion of Derek Roy to the second line.  Lindy Ruff has made it clear that he is not happy with the play of Roy while 5-on-5.  I have been an avid supporter of Derek Roy but he has struggled lately and needs an adjustment.  I still believe in the talent that Derek Roy has but he is hurting this team right now.  Lindy feels that he may be pushing too hard and that a lesser role may help him get out of it.

Continue reading this post »

I wasn't going to talk about the All-Star game on this site because I think it is a boring exhibition but this year it's even worse.  The Montreal Canadiens are set to play against the Western Conference all-star team.  It seems that either Montreal Canadiens fans have voted in record numbers or there has been some voter fraud.  I understand that the NHL wants to get the fans involved in the process because they are hoping to sell this game to the fans but the current situation has (or should have) all hockey fans turned off to the whole idea.

Canadiens fans have voted in record numbers and have the entire starting lineup just about locked up for all Habs players.  Alexei Kovalev, Saku Koivu and Alex Tanguay lead the forwards in voting while Andrei Markov and Mike Komisarek lead the defensemen.  Second year goalie Carey Price is leading all goalies despite not being anywhere near the best goalie in the Eastern Conference.

This isn't a knock on the Montreal players who I mentioned, in fact they are all very good players that I would love to have on the Sabres, the problem is...they aren't the best at their position.  As a Sabres fan I would like to say that a Sabres player deserves to be their instead but reality is that there are plenty of candidates more deserving in the conference before any of the Sabres or Habs players.

Alex Tanguay has started the season by scoring eight goals and nine assists which is pretty good, problem is that Evgeni Malkin has seven goals and 23 assists...get my point.  Alexander Semin (called out Sidney Crosby and Thomas Vanek a couple of weeks ago) is off to an outstanding start with 13 goals and 14 assists.  I don't need to go on because I think you get the point.

As for the Sabres players on the ballot...Thomas Vanek is 8th in the forwards with 51, 621 votes, Teppo Numminen is 6th in defense with 47, 023 votes and Ryan Miller is 3rd in the goalie voting with 51, 135 votes. 

It is with great pleasure that I announce that James Mirtle has joined SB Nation as the Hockey Group Manager.  James has proven success in the hockey blogging world and is mentioned amongst the best hockey bloggers in the world.  If you are a fan of hockey blogs you probably know James, Paul Kukla, Greg Wyshynski, and Eric McErlain.  It was a big day when Die by the Blade became the first ever hockey blog on SB Nation, it was a big day when SB Nation added more hockey blogs, it was a big day when SB Nation upgraded to the new and improved SB Nation 2.0 and it's a huge day today for the future of the SB Nation hockey blogs.

If you don't realize how big this really is just go over to the other hockey blogs and see the reaction to this enormous news.  It's time to head over and join From the Rink, the newest SB Nation hockey blog...by James Mirtle. 

It look slike the Sabres will have one captain and they will stick to him...that man is newly acquired defenseman Craig Rivet.  It's not an entirely surprising pick but I thought they would stick with someone who has been around the team for a longer period of time.  They have also named Jason Pominville, Jochen Hecht, Jaro Spacek and Teppo Numminen assistant captains.

There is no doubt that a player like Craig Rivet will command some respect from his teammates and he will be a calming presence in the locker room as well.  It's not clear if this is a permanent move but it certainly appears that way.  I'm sure that Lindy Ruff will hold a press conference shortly to officially name Rivet captain and announce the opening day roster.

{Update}:  This is a permanenet captain as per Lindy Ruff press conference from the Arena.  The management and coaching staff decided that there would be one captain for the entire season and then they allowed the players to vote.  Rivet was named captain after the players voted him to be captain.

Listen to Lindy Ruff audio

Listen to Craig Rivet

The Buffalo Sabres fell to 1-3-1 in the Pre-Season with a 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild in Minnesota.  Unfortunately it was radio only so I don't have many details.  If you want to read the recap it's up at Sabres.com.

No highlights are up yet but they'll probably be ready in the morning at Sabres TV.

The goal scorers for the Sabres were Daniel Paille and Andrej Sekera.

The Sabres are right back in action tomorrow night against the Columbus Blue Jackets.  It's expected that the newest Sabre Matt Ellis will be in the lineup.  Face-off is set for 7:05PM.

The other teams view can be found here.

It's an interesting move to say the least but the Buffalo Sabres claimed Matt Ellis off of waivers from the Los Angeles Kings.  As I pointed out yesterday, it looked like there were plenty of forwards to fill roster spots.  Ellis is a guy that will certainly bring some energy to the team but he is not going to scare anyone with his offensive potential.  In a total of 70 NHL games he has scored a total of three goals but he is very good in his zone.  It's no secret that the Sabres struggled in the defensive zone last year, this may be a move that will help.

There could be numerous reasons the Sabres claimed him off of waivers.

• It is possible that the injury to Adam Mair is much more serious than we have been led to believe.  Ellis would be a perfect fit on the fourth line, either on the Wing or at Center. 
  
• He could be a temporary fix for the injury to Gaustad, instead of bringing up a young guy like Gerbe.  As good as some of the young guys have looked the coaching staff is probably not convinced they will be effective in their own zone.
• The Sabres may have claimed him and they are hoping they can sneak him through waivers to assign him to Portland.  It's clear that the Pirates roster is far from complete and the Sabres are trying to stock the team with a mix of veterans and rookies.
• There could be a trade in the works involving a forward or some forwards on the team.  Darcy Regier stated in the off-season that trading Afinogenov was a real possibility, it is possible that it will now become reality.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens next with this team.  I assume that we will see more players sent to Portland on Friday and we will basically see the opening day lineup on the ice Sunday in Detroit.

The Buffalo Sabres began their training camp in grand fashion Saturday at the HSBC Arena.  An adult street hockey tournament took place outside while the Sabres began their preparations for the 2008-2009 season inside the building.  They had a scrimmage game to please the fans and Mark Mancari scored two goals (does he have a shot to make this team?).  The scrimmage game played second fiddle to the unveiling of the new third jersyey and the big news afterward.

New Third Jersey Unveiled

We had a preview of the new third jersey on the site, we posted a link from the The Buffalo News.  It is exactly what we thought it would be but it looks even better when the players are wearing it.  I'm sure the fans cheered loudly when the players came out wearing the new jersey.  Sabres.com has a nice piece with pictures and a video.

Prices include sales tax

It's incredible how much the price of a jersey has gone up over the past couple of years.  How is anyone going to afford a jersey that will cost a minimum of $124 when the price of gas and food is so high?  It's going to cost $179 if you want a players name on the back of it...I'll stick with my Danny Gare jersey.

Darcy Regier signs two-year extension

This may be the biggest news that came out of the weekend.  I'm sure there are people who have strong feelings on this subject and I do as well.  Like Kevin from BfloBlog, I am a Sabres apologist.  I think Darcy Regier has done an outstanding job molding this team into what could be a Stanley Cup contender in the very near future.  Regier has made some mistakes but definitely not to the extent that the media and some fans want you to believe.  I'll say it one more time..."There was no way we could have kept Drury, Briere and Campbell", the only one they have made a mistake on is Chris Drury. 

Hank and Toni break up

Lindy Ruff spoke after practice yesterday and talked about his defensive pairings, ackowledging that Tallinder would play with Teppo Numminen and newly acquired Craig Rivet would play with Lydman.  The third pairing will be youngster Andrej Sekera playing with power play specialist Jaro Spacek.  He also stated that Mike Weber and Nathan Paetsch would both be given an equal opportunity to make the Sabres opening day roster.

It a great move to split up the Tallinder-Lydman pairing for a couple of reasons.  Last season it became painfully obvious that the pairing was not as dominant as in the past, in fact they were mostly ordinary.  Tallinder was the more consistent of the two so he plays with the older steady Teppo Numminen and Lydman tries to rebound from a bad season by playing with Rivet, the Sabres biggest off-season acquistion.

I agree that Sekera was the obvious choice as the sixth defenseman but I am surprised that Lindy made it public this early in camp.  It will be interesting to see how Paetsch reacts to the situation, considering he was once considered an automatic roster spot.  If some young guys develop in Portland there could be a chance the Sabres try to move Paetsch during the season to acquire more draft picks.

Injuries Already

It is only one day into training camp and the Sabres have already suffered some key injuries.  It appears they are not serious but it's not something you want to deal with already.

---Injuries: Thomas Vanek (pinched nerve in the knee) and Paul Gaustad (bruised shoulder) are going to sit out the exhibition games Monday at Toronto and Tuesday against Montreal in Roberval, Quebec. Vanek's injury actually happened during his physical Friday while Gaustad was injured in Saturday's scrimmage. ... Teppo Numminen did not play in the scrimmage but practiced after it. ... Adam Mair (knee) skated on his own and coach Lindy Ruff said he may be ready for the final preseason game and could potentially be in the lineup for the opener.

The above was taken directly from this piece on the The Buffalo News Sabres Blog, Sabres Edge.

I know it's hard to believe but the Pre-Season begins tomorrow against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre.  Feel free to join us for the open thread that will be posted about a half hour before the game starts.

It is a comforting thought for Sabres fans to know that Ryan Miller, Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville are all locked up until 2013-2014 and Derek Roy is locked up until 2012-2013.  If you're interested in some other players, Goose and Hecht are here till 2012.  That is a pretty good core of players that will be here for a long time.  The topic today is the signing of Jason Pominville and what it means to the team.

The signing of Pominville assures the Sabres that their top four forwards are now locked up. Vanek and Roy seem to mesh well together and Hecht and Pommer mesh well, all four players will be here for at least another four years.  The other player on both lines is interchangeable although the likely candidates are Tim Connolly, Ales Kotalik, Maxim Afinogenov and Drew Stafford.

The more important part of this signing is that the Sabres are locking up their young talented players.  It's kind of funny to see all the players the team has signed recently and how much money they have had to spend doing it.  Is it just me or has Bucky been very quiet lately?  Sabres management has proven to everyone they are committed to winning and they have a plan in place, best of all they don't care if the media agrees with their plan.  It's time we all applaud management and their commitment to putting a winning team on the ice.

Buffalo Sabres owner Tom Golisano announced today that Managing Partner Larry Quinn and Chief Operating Officer Dan Dipofi were granted minority ownership in the team.  This isn't completely shocking because Golisano had already taken a step back from the team last season and it's assumed he will step back even further this season.

The question that everyone is asking is, what does this mean for the team itself?  The answer is, not a whole lot.  I expect that the team will continue to operate in the same fashion it has since Goolisano bought the team back in 2003.  Tom Golisano always said that he was not a hockey guy but he was a business man.  The team will continue to operate accordingly.

The bigger question is regarding Larry Quinn.  It's no secret that Larry Quinn is not well liked by some members of the media and some less informed fans.  Quinn gets criticism for making bad decisions regarding the teams finances but the reality is that if they don't operate that way they will probably be playing somewhere else.  Quinn is definitely the person making the final decision when it comes to player contracts but he is also the person that is in charge of making sure the team makes money.  I guess I understand a little bit more than some others because in my day job I am management and sometimes you have to make tough decisions on people.

This is certainly a story to keep following but it's not really a big deal at this point.  What are your thoughts on this move and on Larry Quinn.

It seems that it's about that time when major publications start to make predictions on the upcoming season.  It's virtually impossible to predict the season while it's happening but it is impossible to try to do it in August.  That doesn't stop these major publications from trying, especially when the hockey news has pretty much run dry.  The options are limited, you could leave all the pages of the publication blank, you can try to make up false rumors or you can predict how each team will do in the regular season.  Here are a couple of early predictions as to how the Sabres are going to fare this season...

Here are The Hockey News predictions via Sabres Edge the blog from The Buffalo News

THN's East                 THN's West

1. Montreal                 1. Detroit

2. Pittsburgh              2. San Jose

3. Washington          3. Minnesota

4. Philadelphia          4. Dallas

5. Ottawa                     5. Anaheim

6. Rangers                  6. Edmonton

7. New Jersey             7. Chicago

8. Carolina                  8. Calgary

9. Tampa Bay             9. Nashville

10. Boston                 10. Phoenix

11. Buffalo                11. Vancouver

12. Florida                 12. Columbus

13. Atlanta                 13. Los Angeles

14. Toronto                14. Colorado

15. Islanders             15. St. Louis

They have the Buffalo Sabres finishing in 11th place behind teams like the Rangers, Devils and Hurricanes.  I haven't put enough thought into the season yet to really give a fair preview but I will publicly state that the Sabres will finish better than 11th place in the Eastern Conference. 

For the record Mike Harrington posted this originally and agrees that The Hockey News didn't do a very good job assessing where the Sabres will finish this season.

McKeen's did their picks for the season as well and they don't give the Sabres much of a chance either.  I was able to find this info by visiting the site of James Mirtle.  The Sabres are listed at 11th by McKeen's as well.  I may be missing something here but this was a team that started the season really poorly after one of the most tumultuous off-seasons ever but they managed to almost make the playoffs.  They have almost the same team but they added a stay-at-home defenseman that is sure to help out Ryan Miller, why would anyone think this team is going to get worse?

What are your thoughts on the Sabres season?  Is a prediction of 11th place in the Eastern Conference fair or unfair?  Share your thoughts in the comments and let us know what you think.