The Sabres finally got their man. It has been speculated for almost a year now that Darcy Regier wanted Steve Ott from the Dallas Stars and today he finally sealed the deal. The team announced they had acquire Steve Ott and Adam Pardy from the Dallas Stars in exchange for Derek Roy (HE’S GONNNEEEEEE!!!!!). After the Sabres drafted two centers in the first round of the NHL Draft a few weeks ago, on top of the acquisition of Cody Hodgson at the deadline and the rise of Tyler Ennis as a center, the need for Derek Roy diminished. He was in desperate need of a scenery change and will hopefully get something out of this move. I feel its my obligation to wish him good luck, so yea, enjoy Dallas Royzie, and vice versa Dallas fans.

Now onto the important part, Steve Ott. On top of adding tough guy John Scott last night, the Sabres got a little bit tougher and even got some skill in return. Ott is listed at 6’0″ and 190 pounds and scored 11 goals, 28 assists for 39 points. Oh, and he also racked up 156 PIM in 74 games. Ott seems excited about his start with his new team and hes also got a brotherly connection here in Buffalo. As many people have talked about today after the trade announcement, Mike Weber and Steven Ott were billet brother back in their junior days. So I guess You can look at this as a family reunion of sorts, aww how cute! Ott is an agitator, just like Patrick Kaleta, but with more skill. Imagine how annoying they will be together…

» Continue reading “Sabres Acquire Ott, Pardy From Stars For Derek Roy”

Well hey, everyone said you wanted Darcy to do something and guess what people, he did. Is it the something you expected, probably not. Why would we need yet another defenseman? The reason is because he’s John Scott, he’s 6’8″, he’s not afraid of ANYONE (yep Lucic, I’m lookin’ at you sir) and he was signed to a completely reasonable contract on a day known for excessive contracts.

Darcy announced this evening the Sabres had agreed to terms with Scott on a 1 year $600,000 contract. While this is a deal for a player on the first day of Free Agent Frenzy, it seems a little crazy to sign a defenseman when there are already 8 under contract for next season. Granted, Scott will probably play in maybe 20 or 30 games, unless the defense is again ravaged by the injury bug. The need for players like Scott has diminished drastically over the years, but for a team lacking toughness, it wasn’t a completely terrible idea. Welcome to Buffalo, Mr. Scott!

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.

The Sabres have made their first off season signing official today by announcing Alexander Sulzer has agreed to terms on a one year extension. Sulzer was acquired at the trade deadline last season from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for defenseman Marc-Andre Gragnani.

In the final months of the season, Sulzer appeared in 15 games and amassed 8 points, 3 goals and 5 assists. During many of his appearances he played alongside fellow countryman Christian Ehrhoff before his untimely injury.

It should come as no surprise thtaulzer was signed to an extension. He played very responsible defense in his time with the Sabres last season. He was one of the few players that showed up during the pivotal game against Toronto at the end of the season, scoring two goals. Now he’s no Tyler Myers or Christian Ehrhoff, but he will be a key member of the defense corps come October. Hopefully this is the first step in the Sabres trying to sign their RFA’s and UFA’s this offseason. It might also be a sign they are leaning towards more reasonable contracts… Yes Ville Leino, I’m looking at you….

Now that the rosters are officially finalized for the IIHF World Championships, the Buffalo Sabres can say that do have some representation at the tournament. Backup goalie Jhonas Enroth will suit up for team Sweden and defenseman Andrej Sekera will play for team Slovakia. Both have represented their respective teams internationally several times through out their careers. Lets take a look back at their records during international tournaments.

Jhonas Enroth

Enroth has been playing for Swedish international teams since he was 17 years old. Enroth won a bronze medal at the 2004-2005 U18 Tournament. In 3 games, he complied a 1.33 GAA and a .942 SV%. He followed up in the 2005-2006 tournament with 5 starts and a 1.81 GAA and a .943 SV%. Jhonas continued his international domination in two consecutive U20 World Junior Championships, winning a silver medal in 2007-2008 and being named one of the top three players on a team (along with Patrik Berglund and Kristofer Berglund) in that tournament.

Andrej Sekera

While Sekera doesn’t have the extensive resume Enroth has, he has still been very impressive during his international efforts. He played for team Slovakia at the U18 tournament in 2003-2004, appearing in 6 games he scored 2 points (1G, 1A) and was assessed 18 PIM. In two U20 World Junior Championship appearances, Sekera added 3 goals and 3 assists to his international totals. After the Sabres either missed or were eliminated from playoff contention in 2007-2008, 2008-2009, 2009-2010, and now 2011-2012, Sekera will join the World Championship team. In the 08-09 and 09-10 tournaments, he was named one of the top three players on a team.

Its been an interesting week for some ex-Buffalo Sabres players. Some are having some stellar first rounds, others… not so much. Lets take a look at how some of our old players are faring with their new teams and in the first round. First, the good.

Paul Gaustad
Oh Goose, I miss you (please come back!!). Gaustad, now a member of the the Nashville Predators, had a pretty decent first round. In Game 1 of the series against the Detroit Red Wings, he scored the first goal of the series, that was also his first ever playoff goal. Goose also continued his face-off prowess, winning over 50% in all but 1 game of the 5 game series.

» Continue reading “Ex-Sabres Watch”

The Buffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins will face off in what will be the final game of the regular season and a lackluster final game it will be. Both teams have nothing to play for, with the Bruins already clinching the Northeast Division and the 2 seed in the post season and the Sabres being eliminated from post season contention after a loss to the Flyers two nights ago.

If there is anything right in the world, Jhonas Enroth will play tonight’s game in its entirety. There is no need to play Ryan Miller in this game, no need to risk injury, no need to make him more tired than he most likely already is. There is nothing on the line in this game and Enroth deserves a chance to play.

Marcus Foligno and Corey Tropp were returned to Rochester today as they are no longer needed in Buffalo. Its better to get them playing time and let them have a chance for postseason play, even if its not NHL postseason play. Both Foligno and Tropp provided and injection of energy for this team and now they can go back to Rochester better players and give the Amerks a better chance at the AHL Playoffs. Once tonight’s game is over, Brayden McNabb will also return to the Amerks.

» Continue reading “Sabres Face Bruins In Season Finale”

In the words of a very famous rabbit, thats all folks. The push for the playoffs came to an end for the Buffalo Sabres last night in Philadelphia after a 2-1 loss to the Flyers. If the Panthers had managed to come back and beat the Capitals last night, there would be very different conversations floating around right now.

It was heartbreaking, to say the least. The Sabres took an early lead on Ville Leino‘s 8th goal of the year, yep thats right people I said EIGHT… Either way, Leino scored late in the second period and it looked like the Sabres were going to pull off another miracle. This team is normally very strong when carrying a lead into the third, but this time they just couldn’t hold on.

Marc-Andre Bourdon tied it up on a booming shot from the blue line that found its way through a screen and past Ryan Miller. That was just around the 6 minute mark of the third period, meaning that should have been plenty of time to pull together and get something done, considering this game meant EVERYTHING for the season to continue. The Flyers responded with physical play that left the Sabres scrambling. Matt Read iced the game with his 24th of the year with 4 minutes remaining in the period.

» Continue reading “Buffalo Sabres Eliminated From Playoff Contention”