Sabres Links: Sabres hope on-ice play mirrors area, Latvia’s passion for hockey, McDavid impresses as usual

Sabres Links

• Pierre Lebrun wrote about the Sabres hopes for the on-ice play to catch up to the work being done off of it in downtown Buffalo [ESPN]
• Hockey is a defining passion for Latvians who voted Zemgus Girgensons to the All-Star game [Yahoo!]
• Girgensons had a thank you message from the Columbus in English and Latvian [Sabres TV]
• A look at the Sabres by the numbers: most tell us that the team isn’t very good [Buffalo News]

Around The League

• Bryan Murray will likely step down as Senators GM after this season, and will pick his successor [Ottawa Citizen]
• Connor McDavid and Dylan Strome shined at the CHL Top Prospects game [NHL.com]
• Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin will both miss the All-Star Game with injuries [TSN]
• The Calgary Flames are a step closer to buying the Stockton Thunder, possibly planning on moving them to the AHL [The Record]