Mair’s Office Open 3 More Years

Adam Mair signed a 3 year deal with the Buffalo Sabres today.  He sees most of his action on the ‘energy’ line, but may see an increase in minutes next season as the Sabres look for more grit.  It’s great to see him back, he’s a favorite of the rowdy fans in the section 327 nosebleeds at HSBC Arena.

Drury Negotiating with Sabres now

From WGR550, it is reported that Chris Drury is talking contract with the Sabres now.  More info as it is known.

Let’s go guys…

The rumor is Drury and Briere get their offers today.  I would really like this to happen.  Let’s just go ahead and do it, okay?  Thanks.

 edit:  Briere has an offer, not sure on Dru.  *fingers crossed*

NHL Entry Draft…Local Boy Makes Good

South Buffalo native Patrick Kane is the likely first overall pick in this year’s NHL Draft.  The Chicago Blackhawks have that pick, and if they pass on him the Flyers are very interested at number 2.  Kane is generously listed at 5′10″ and 160 pounds, which was a concern for some teams.  However, there are enough smaller players (such as the Sabres’ own Daniel Briere) that his stock hasn’t dropped.

Sabres Qualify Five

The Sabres announced that they have tendered qualifying offers to five unrestricted free agents.  The players are Thomas Vanek, Andrew Peters, Derek Roy, Daniel Paille and Nathan Paetsch.  The Sabres can match any offer other teams make to these players, or receive draft pick compensation if they choose not to.  Good to see some progress, even if it isn’t with Drury or Briere.

Ruff and Regier return to Sabres

The longest tenured Coach/GM partnership in the league will continue on as Darcy Regier and Lindy Ruff agreed to terms with the Buffalo Sabres.  Managing Partner Larry Quinn made it a point to mention both took a hometown discount.  It was also noted that the team planned on spending more money than last year, which is huge.  Terms like ‘fiscal responsibility’ had been thrown around recently, leading some to believe the payroll would go down this year.  Now we need to get Drury, Vanek and/or Briere taken care of.

More Bettman Idiocy

Despite low ratings for the Stanley Cup finals, teams in non-traditional markets with terrible attendance, and recent bad memories of a lockout, Gary Bettman wants to expand the NHL into two more markets.  Kansas City and Las Vegas are both in the running for a 31st and 32nd team.  Which is AWESOME, I mean really, who doesn’t think of Vegas and KC when thinking hockey, right?  Never mind that the city of Nashville may have to buy up unsold tickets for the Preds next year thanks to a clause in their deal about attendance (averaging under 14k).  That’s assuming that Balsillie doesn’t move them to Ontario.  Never mind that Carolina had problems selling out their building in the playoffs last year.  Can my favorite sport please stop being a laughingstock now?

Anaheim wins the Stanley Cup

Well, it’s better than Ottawa winning.  I only caught the 3rd period last night, but the Ducks were just throttling them.  The Sens even had an own goal in the 6-2 beatdown.

“No, I’m going to break his…damn neck.”

That is just a snippet of the comments from NFL Player’s Association head Gene Upshaw, upon hearing that Bills Hall of Famer Joe DeLamielleure was laying into him again about the pensions and care given to former NFL players.

A guy like DeLamielleure says the things he said about me; you think I’m going to invite him to dinner? No. I’m going to break his … damn neck

This was in the Philadelphia Daily News.  Joe D has long been fighting for better pensions and medical assistance for the older players who helped build the league.  As an example, DeLamielleure gets a pension of $800 a month for 13 seasons with the Bills and Browns.  Even NOW, current players make less than one-third of the annual pension of a Major League Baseball player.

 But their benefits still fall short of other leagues. A player retiring after 1998 with 10 years of experience would be eligible for an annual pension of roughly $51,000 at age 55. MLB players with 10 years of service would retire with $175,000 per year in benefits starting at age 62.

It is worth noting that the average lifespan of an NFL player is less than 55 years.  Many of the ones that do make it that far have suffered at least one serious injury in that span, often more.

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Random Image!

We have Random Images on the front page, now.  That’s all, I guess.

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