Well Buffalo fans, its time to turn those spell checkers on, or off depending on how you want to look at this. The Sabres owned 2 picks in the first round this year. With the first selection at 12, they took Mikhail Grigorenko. After this selection Darcy went over to Jay Feaster of Calgary and convinced him to give up the 14th pick in exchange for pick 21 and 42. Then with that pick Darcy and Co. surprised everyone when they selected Zemgus Girgensons. Both big kids, both impressive centers, can anyone recommend a good realtor to Mr. Derek Roy?

» Continue reading “Welcome to Buffalo Grigorenko and Girgensons!”

The Buffalo Sabres will open the 2012-2013 season on Saturday October 13th, the second day of the season, against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Its also important to note, there are no crazy long road trips this season, the longest one without a home game is only 4 games. However, from the middle of February to the end of the season, the Sabres are predominantly on the road. They will play 2 road games, then a home game, 2 more road games, then another home game. After that little swing, there are 4 separate 3 game road trips with 1,2, and 3 home game breaks in between before they finish the season off with 2 homegames against the Rangers and the Bruins.

So now that I can officially be super stoked about not only opening night, but also getting to see my second (or third) favorite team, lets take a look at some of the highlights of this season.

» Continue reading “Sabres Announce 2012-2013 Season Schedule”

The Buffalo Sabres announced last night that they have agreed to terms on an entry level contract with 2011 first round draft selection Joel Armia. In a completely shocking turn of events, the terms of the contract were not released, but it was a 3 year deal. If anyone had to guess, it would probably be somewhere in between Tyler Myers’ and Tyler Ennis’ entry level contracts money wise, since they were the 12th and 26th selections in 2008. Armia was selected 16th overall in 2011.

It’s also important to note that Armia was the first player the Sabres selected since 2006 that was not either Canadian or American. In the 2006 draft 3 North American skaters and 3 European skaters were selected: Dennis Persson (Sweden), Jhonas Enroth (Sweden), Felix Schultz (Germany) and Mike Weber (United States), Alex Biega (Canada), Benjamin Breault (Canada). After that draft the Sabres stuck strictly to North American skaters, until Armia.

He has completed his second season with Porin Ässät of the Finnish Elite League, scoring 18 goals and 20 assists. In 102 games, Armia has amassed 36 goals and 31 assists. In those two seasons, Armia was the youngest member of the team. He has also represented Finland at the international level playing the the IIHF U20 World Junior Championships for the last two years. In 7 games at the 2012 tournament he scored 5 goals and added two assists.