According to Sabres.com the Buffalo Sabres signed a purchase agreement with the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League (the transaction was unanimously approved by the AHL Board of Governors). The team also announced that with this purchase, their agreement with the Portland Pirates has ended.  This means that the Sabres will reunite with their old farm club and have their prospects closer to Buffalo.  For fans, this is awesome news, it means we can make the hour trek to Blue Cross Arena to check out the baby Sabres without paying a small fortune (woot!).

Now comes the decision of who will coach the baby Sabres? Kevin Dineen coached the Pirates from 2005 (when they were affiliated with the Ducks) to the end of last season, he was recently named the new coach of the Florida Panthers.  He coached prospects such as Mike Weber, Tyler Ennis, Nathan Gerbe, Luke Adam and Marc-Andre Gragnani.  Under his leadership Gerbe, Ennis and Adam have all won AHL Rookie of the Year and Gragnani won Defenseman of the Year this season.  Many suspect ex-Sabres Associate Coach Brian McCutcheon to be named coach (he coached the Amerks for 3 season before joining the Sabres).

Stay tuned for more!

Today has been like Christmas in June for Sabres fans.

Lets start with the Sabres being rated the third best franchise in the NHL by The Hockey News. Wait, did you say third, really??   I first heard this news while listening to WGR550 on my way to work and I swear I almost drove my car into a ditch.  The 30 NHL franchises were rated in 9 categories: Front Office, Regular Season, Future Watch, Playoffs, Draft Success, Franchise Value, Ownership, 2010-2011 Standings, and Attendance.  High scores in four out of these categories make sense, the other five, not so much.

Draft Success:

The Sabres have drafted very well for the last 10 years, drafting 20 players just between 2001-2005 drafts that have played in the NHL, 10 of which currently play for the Sabres.  Recently, we have picked up players like Nathan Gerbe, Tyler Myers, Tyler Ennis, Luke Adam, Braydon McNabb, Marcus Foligno, Mark Pysyk, just to name a few.

Future Watch:

See above…

Ownership:

Two words, Terry Pegula.  He took over as owner near the end of February and changed the entire vibe of HSBC Arena.  He, along with Ted Black and the rest of the management team have redesigned the locker room and have already implemented changes in the arena and during games through a fan suggestion box.  To say I love him would be an understatement, he is the best thing to happen to the Buffalo Sabres in a very long time.

Attendance:

This is a category the Sabres have not lacked in since the lockout.  In the 2 seasons following the lockout, tickets were a difficult thing to come by, but attendance lagged a bit the years the Sabres failed to make it to the postseason.  Sabres tickets became a hot commodity when Pegula took over the team with all remaining home games selling out (12 regular season games and 3 playoff games).

So what else happened you ask, well….

- Former Portland Pirates head coach, Kevin Dineen, was introduced as the new head coach of the Florida Panthers (sadface) on Wednesday.

- The Sabres signed 2010 1st round draft pick Mark Pysyk, a defenseman currently playing for the Edmonton Oil Kings in the     Western Hockey League.

- The Sabres announced they would not renew the contract of Associate Coach Brian McCutcheon.  If the sale of the Rochester Americans to Terry Pegula goes through, McCutcheon is expected to be introduced as the head coach.  If the sale falls through he would simply be released.

- The Sabres also announced plans for a draft party which will take place during the first round of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.

- WGR550 also started discussing who would replace McCutcheon.  Some names that were thrown around were current Sabres Player Development Coach Kevyn Adams and current Anaheim Ducks assistant coach Mike Foligno (YES!!!).  Both would be excellent choices and both have ties to the city already.  Adams grew up in Clarence and Foligno played for the Sabres from the 1981-1982 season until the 1990-1991 season.

- Locker room renovations are underway.  Follow this link to the Sabres website to take a looksie at what Mr. Pegula and Mr. Black have in mind when they talk about turning Buffalo into Hockey Heaven.

So now that the season is over, what should we talk about… the offseason, obviously!  Recently on WGR550 (the sports station in Buffalo for those of you that aren’t aware), the conversations have turned to offseason trades, which is a soft spot for us Buffalo fans.  Normally in the offseason, the Sabres don’t really do much, the extent of our offseason signings is normally a defenseman or 2 and possibly a 3^rd line forward and a back-up goalie (but we won’t be needing that this year ENROTH, ENROTH!!!!!).

This year, many people in Buffalo are expecting an interesting offseason now that the reigns are off as far as money and what Darcy Regier can/cannot do.  In the past, the Sabres have not traded draft picks very often or prospects.  The question everyone is asking, is will that change?

One of the more interesting conversations was whether the Sabres would or should look at offers for players such as Zack Kassian or Luke Adam, who are currently playing with the Portland Pirates and were 1^st and 2^nd round draft picks in 2009 and 2008, respectively.  The team in recent years would never have considered trading their young talent, but now it seems like everyone is on the table.

Personally, if the offer were a bag of pucks for Zack Kassian, I would take it.  It’s no secret I am not a fan of his and I was not happy when the Sabres selected him, he’s a reckless player who has no respect for other players on the ice.  My theory is that even if he somehow makes the team at some point, he’ll spend more time being suspended or sitting in the penalty box than actually playing.  Hopefully, the Sabres will be able to teach him and turn him into a player like Milan Lucic (who he has been compared), but I’m not optimistic.

In January of 2010, Kassian was suspended for 20 games by the OHL after a hit to the head of Matt Kennedy of the Barrie Colts.  In May of 2010 he was charged with assault after an incident outside of a bar in Windsor, Ontario.  At the World Junior Championships, played in Buffalo, he was suspended 2 games after a brutal blindside hit to the head of a Czech defenseman.  Just a few weeks ago, he was again suspended by the OHL for 4 games after he received an intent to injure match penalty at the end of a playoff game.  I think his record speaks for itself; he plays with reckless abandon, which is what the league is trying to crack down on.  When Patrice Cormier threw the dreadful elbow to the head of Michael Tam and was suspended for the remainder of the QMJHL season and the Playoffs, the New Jersey Devils TRADED him less than a month later.  Kassian is not a player I would want as a member of this organization, especially the direction is it now heading in.

Luke Adam is a completely different story.  The offer would have to be something pretty substantial to send him off.  He had an extremely successful year with the Portland Pirates scoring 29 goals and 33 assists.  He won AHL Rookie of the Year, won a silver medal with team Canada at the 2010 World Junior Championship (where he scored 8 points in 6 games) and made his debut in the NHL playing in 19 games and scoring 3 goals.  He is a center, which is something we are desperately in need of and he has shown amazing potential.

This is not to say I would not look at a trade offer if I was the GM, but the team has a history of developing young players (see Gaustad, Pominville, Miller, Roy…).  At this point, almost everyone and everything should be on the table, it’s about making the team better NOW, not 5 years from now.