Did Rivet Make That Big Of A Difference?
Oct 31, 2008 NHL
A terrible, terrible effort all around last night. Nobody to move the Lightning players out from in front of the net, bad passing, and general lazy skating. Ruff held a meeting before practice today, according to WGR, and after which it appeared he had juggled the lines. Mike Weber was out, not surprising considering Tallinder was back last night. That also may be explained by the fact that Connolly practiced, centering Pominville and MacArthur. Vanek and Roy were with Kotalik (which has worked for short stretches in the past), Goose had Paille and Kaleta and Mair was with Stafford and Afinogenov. Hecht, Ellis and Peters all practiced but you may have your forward scratches for Saturday right there if Hecht isn’t ready yet.
Speaking of Saturday, Ovechkin is still out for the Caps, back home visiting his ailing Grandfather. Alexander Semin has picked up the scoring so far this year, though, so you can’t discount the Capitals. 7pm start time at HSBC Arena…if they begin the game the way they have for the past few, expect the natives to be restless.
Tags: alexander ovechkin, Alexander Semin, buffalo, connolly, Drew Stafford, ellis, gaustad, hecht, Hockey, kaleta, kotalik, lightning, macarthur, mair, Maxim Afinogenov, NHL, ovechkin, paille, peters, pominville, roy, ruff, sabres, tallinder, tampa bay, the kaleta, Thomas Vanek, weber
Gameday - Senators at Sabres
Oct 27, 2008 NHL
The Ottawa Senators are in town tonight for a 7pm game against the Buffalo Sabres. Patrick Lalime is getting his 3rd start, and was stellar in the first two. Also, Mike Weber is up from Portland in place of Henrik Tallinder, who is day to day with a deep laceration on his leg (ask Jay McKee about that one). I should actually get to see a whole game tonight. Let’s go!
Tags: buffalo, Hockey, lalime, NHL, ottawa, sabres, senators, tallinder, weber
The Sabres Roster Is Set
Oct 8, 2008 NHL
The Buffalo Sabres roster is now at the league limit of 23, thanks to Mike Weber being sent to Portland and Paul Gaustad starting the season IR due to his thumb injury. Weber could still be sent freely to the Pirates, and there were 8 defensemen still on the roster, so he was the obvious choice. You know they will be bringing him back asap if there are injuries. He can go be our Rivet for the Pirates until needed.
Tags: buffalo, Hockey, NHL, pirates, portland, rivet, sabres, weber
Sabres Win In OOOOOOOVERTIME
Sep 28, 2008 NHL
Thanks to the AP.
Ales Kotalik scored a minute into the overtime period to complete the rally, as the Sabres beat the Leafs. Toronto scored 2 power-play goals in the third period, but Buffalo responded with two of their own to tie it with 5 seconds to go (Gaustad!). I missed all of that, or course, after Thomas got tired an wanted to leave after the second period. :) Kids! Oh, and of course, we forgot the camera.
I thought Ryan Miller had a great game. Both he and Pogge (the Leafs rookie) were standing tall, Pogge in particular in the first as Buffalo came out firing. Speaking of firing, Craig Rivet will very quickly become a fan favorite if he continues to fire punches the way he did last night in his scrap with Ryan Hollweg. The RAV line had a good night, Max had assists on all 3 goals, Roy scored the Sabres first goal, in part due to he and Vanek working in tight to the net.
You could tell that Lindy was trying to get a feel for some of the youngsters, especially the ones the team will be relying on this year. It seemed like Sekera was on the ice all night, one second short of 30 minutes of ice time. Part of that might’ve been Mike Weber getting a game misconduct for a cross-check to the back of the head on a Leafs player. Gogulla and and Zagrapan also had a good number of shifts. Tyler Myers played well, he had maybe one play that was bad, and was very solid the rest of the time. Seeing him work up close, he skates VERY well for a guy his size. I like his game.
The Sabres play at home again tonight, against the Minnesota Wild. I’ll probably have the radio on as I watch football tonight.
edit: I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention The Kaleta! and one monster shift in particular, he nailed 3 Leafs players and drew a penalty when someone came over to him and retaliated.
Tags: buffalo, gaustad, gogulla, Hockey, hollweg, kaleta, kotalik, maple leafs, myers, NHL, pogge, rivet, roy, Ryan Miller, sabres, sekera, the kaleta, Thomas Vanek, toronto, weber, zagrapan
Orpik: Forget I said anything…
Jul 1, 2008 NHL
From John Vogl at the Buffalo News:
I just got off the phone with Darcy Regier. The Sabres will not be in the final running for the services of Brooks Orpik.
“We did have conversations,” Regier told me. “I don’t expect to be a part of that going forward.”
Uh, I guess that leaves a trade still out there…or seeing how Weber/Sekera/Paetsch/Numminen maybe can fill the final two spots on the blueline.
Tags: buffalo, Hockey, NHL, numminen, orpik, paetsch, sabres, sekera, weber
Sabres and NHL News
Jun 3, 2008 NHL
Most of this was heard on WGR on the way home.
Buffalo will NOT be offering Dmitri Kalinin a contract this offseason, according to Darcy Regier. Not too surprising, considering the minutes Weber and Sekera were getting.
The announcement for the new AHL affiliate will be coming within “days”, and is thought to be Portland (last I heard).
Barry Melrose may be taking John Tortorella’s coaching job with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Who will ESPN roll out every few nights during the NHL regular season now?
Tags: buffalo, Hockey, kalinin, lightning, melrose, NHL, sabres, sekera, tampa bay, tortorella, weber
Teppo’s in Town!
Mar 19, 2008 NHL
My son will be thrilled! Teppo Numminen was seen at HSBC Arena yesterday, with his equipment. He gave a simple “I’m back” comment, and Lindy Ruff said his health is being evaluated. If he can get in game shape, I’d love to have him around these young D-men to offer his experience.
edit to add: I always love these age comparisons (from the BN article):
Mike Weber was only 2 months old when Numminen played for Finland in the 1988 Olympics, while Andrej Sekera and Michael Funk were 1-year-olds. The recent Rochester call-ups have a combined 44 NHL games. Numminen has played 1,235, including 154 with the Sabres the previous two seasons.
We get it, Teppo’s OLD.
Tags: funk, Hockey, injury, NHL, numminen, ruff, sabres, sekera, weber
Gameday - Sabres at Penguins (updated)
Mar 12, 2008 NHL
The Buffalo Sabres travel to the Igloo to face the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight, and they do so without Andrew Peters. Peters was suspended for one game for hitting Colton Orr while he was on the bench. Peters was retaliating for a hit that Orr put on a Sabres player that put him into the bench as regulation time expired. On the injury front, Steve Bernier and Michael Ryan both practiced but at this point their status for tonight is uncertain. Kalinin is out for 1 to 2 weeks, and Spacek longer, so Mike Weber will be on the ice.
Buffalo currently sits 4 points behind Philly in the standings, and Philly plays the Maple Leafs again tonight for the back-end of a home and home. You can just go ahead and fill in al the typical sports cliches about it being ’crunch time’ or ‘must-win’ on your own, don’t need my help with that by now.
Update: No Sidney Crosby tonight, he is sitting with that ankle injury that kept him out the past several weeks. Connolly may sit with the continuing hip soreness, getting The Kaleta back in. Bernier will play.
Tags: connolly, crosby, Hockey, injury, kaleta, kalinin, NHL, orr, penguins, peters, pittsburgh, ryan, sabres, Spacek, Steve Bernier, the kaleta, weber
Another Worrisome Shootout Loss for the Sabres
Mar 11, 2008 NHL, They Said It
Despite a parade of Rangers to the penalty box (including a full 2 minute 5 on 3), the Sabres could not pull away from the Rangers, and it cost them as they lost another shootout. That puts the team’s record at 2-9 in the skills competition. Miller is letting in 50% of shots taken on him, last year it was more like 20%. Vanek and Pominville were the Sabres goal scorers.
It was a costly game for the Sabres’ blueline as well, with Spacek and Kalinin both leaving with ‘upper body injuries’, and Paetsch was down for a while after a hit from Sean Avery but returned. Coach Ruff:
(Spacek’s injury) looks a little longer than shorter. “Dmitri, it’s going to be period of time for him, too. Probably a shorter period of time than Jaro.
I don’t think (it is season-ending injuries) with either guy. Again, either guy could be weeks, though.
Tallinder is supposed to be back on Wednesday, but this means Mike Weber will be getting another shot with the big show most likely. And can we please put the kaleta back in??
Tags: Hockey, injury, kaleta, kalinin, new york, NHL, pominville, rangers, ruff, Ryan Miller, sabres, Sean Avery, Spacek, the kaleta, They Said It, Thomas Vanek, weber
Soup to Nuts: Campbell Calls Off Negotiations
Jan 15, 2008 NHL
You can guarantee every Sabres blogger is going to bust out the soup puns. I apologize in advance.
Brian Campbell told the media that he will not be negotiating a contract extension for the rest of this season. He says that he wants to concentrate on hockey and it’s not fair to the team or him to continue at this time and possibly cause a distraction. He will be heading to his second All-Star game.
Let’s do some comparisons. Campbell is currently 8th in the league in scoring (with Zdeno Chara). Chara has a cap hit of 7.5 million per year, by the way, though he is more of a physical presence than Soupy. Others of note: Rob Blake (6mil but is 37), Wade Redden (6.5mil) and Kimmo Timonen (6.33mil). You can assume that some team that wants to make a splash in free agency (Washington has been thrown out there) will make Brian an offer in that range.
Looking ahead to 08/09, the Sabres have Paetsch, Lydman and Tallinder locked up for that year and the next, and Spacek will be in his final year. Kalinin, Campbell, Numminen and Pratt are all UFAs. Weber and Sekera are both in Rochester, and could get a shot at a roster spot. If Campbell goes, I can’t imagine them not keeping Kalinin. I’m not saying anything on Teppo until we know if he will A: ever be healthy again and B: want to come back to this team.
Outside the defense corps, Ryan Miller will be the next big deal to be done. Mike Ryan is the only forward that will be a UFA, MacArthur, Gaustad and Paille will be RFAs. I really have no problem at this time with the Sabres signing any of those guys to a longer term deal, although if losing Ryan means more time for MacArthur, I’d do that in a heartbeat.
So that’s next year. I’m not sure what arbitration will look like, but after getting burned by that a few times, I’m sure the Sabres management will avoid that as much as possible…right?
Tags: B-Lo Sports, brian campbell, campbell, chara, Hockey, kalinin, lydman, macarthur, NHL, numminen, paetsch, pratt, redden, Rob Blake, ryan, Ryan Miller, sabres, sekera, signing, Spacek, tallinder, timonen, weber
