Archive for July, 2010

Whether it was the lack of available talent in free agency; or the handcuffing of the league by Ilya Kovalchuck with has brought movement in the league to a standstill, the Buffalo Sabres have had a relatively mild and slow off season. As July 1 rolled around and no deals for Henrick Tallinder and Toni Lydman present, you knew that we were going to watch players walk away from this organization once again.  The Sabres were able to bring in two free agents in Jordan Leopold and Rob Niedermayer.  But thats it.  Since June 9, when the Chicago Blackhawks won [...]

Sports on television.  Amazing. Color.  Wow; it looks like real life. Digital Cable.  Less fuzzy. HDTV – wow that looks awesome.  Is that the grass growing? With technology pushing the envelope we are now entering the world of 3D Sports.  Can it work?  It has already seen some success – but it will all depend on how it is presented. I talked with Sue from DucksDailyBlog, Frank from TheRatTrick, and Nathan from Predlines.  All had differing views on it. Frank attributed the gimmick to the FoxTrax glowing puck.  Needless to say he didn’t like my idea.  I am beginning to [...]

The arbitrator decided Kennedy’s numbers and play was worth one million dollars.  Evidently since that price is lower than $1,611,180 the Buffalo Sabres are not able to walk away from the deal and must accept it.  Tim Kennedy had 26 points last season, and played essentially on every line at some point during the year. He had flashes of brilliance, and showed his age sometimes as well. This year though he knows what to expect and how to prepare for it, I expect to see Kennedy’s numbers increase  which means he will be asking for more money the same time [...]

When most players hear they are headed towards arbitration, its because either the team or the player feel they deserve more of a bargain, or more of a payout. This summer, arbitration will decide whether or not the New Jersey Devils and Ilya Kovalchuck attempted to circumvent the current CBA and compromising the league with the seventeen year, $102 Million contract. Shortly after Bill Daly, NHL Deputy Commissioner, rejected the terms of the contract, all parties involved voiced a brief opinion on the contract, and then said they had no further comment until the issue was resolved.  Typical legal mumbo [...]

You know those random thoughts that one gets while reading things on the Internet.  Yep, just had one.  And this time I thought about how much alike the Sabres and Spam are. Pause for dramatic effect…….Now that I have you wondering whether I am talking about the precooked meat product (its not even real meat, but a meat product?) or the electronic type? Both actually. Take the precooked meat product made by The Hormel Food Corporation. The Sabres are like SPAM because both organizations sell a product that no one is certain just what it’s made of? The Sabres are [...]

One of the topics of discussion on many sports talk shows around the nation, is if the fact that Kovie-gate went on for as long as it did. We finally got word that he signed in New Jersey, so I thought, great, now that he has a home, other teams are going to make a move or two now, and we can get on with the business of getting ready for training camp. The the league stepped in and said, wait a minute, Ilya Kovalchuck is still an unrestricted free agent, as the deal brokered violated the CBA.  Tough move [...]

Patrick Kaleta will be a Buffalo Sabre for another two years.  If his career keeps progressing the way it has been, I am quite content continuing to bring back one of the biggest pests in the league. The smartest thing the Sabres have done in the past few years was part ways with Peters, I think Kaleta provides much more in the ways of grit and definitely scoring.  I am also glad to see one of the Sabres RFAs avoid arbitration. Kaleta spoke about this process on WGR before reports of the deal became available, and he said that from [...]

Tim Kennedy and Patrick Kaleta will go before the arbitration judge later in July. According to WGR550.com Kennedy’s will be on July 27th and Kaleta’s will be held on July 29th. Hopefully Kaleta’s ten goals do not inflate his salary too much. Both should be relatively cheap and both will most likely be resigned by the Sabres. ***Update 7/21/10 3:38*** Patrick Kaleta has agreed to a two year deal with the Buffalo Sabres. The details of the contract have yet to be made public. We can however speculate, given past contracts and Kaleta’s injuries as of late, I think it [...]

This really doesn’t have anything to do with the Sabres, however I will attempt to bring them in as I go along. Twitter has in many ways taken the internet world by storm. Since its launch in 2006 there are more than 190 million people tweeting. Everyone from the family doctor to Lee Evans of the Buffalo Bills have joined in on the phenomenon. This is great news for the NHL as more and more players are slowing coming around to joining their colleagues, agents, and fans on Twitter. Many current and since retired hockey stars are popping up all [...]

Free agency is only a couple of weeks old.  For the most part, Darcy Regier has settled in for an off season of fun, sun, and relaxation hitting the proverbial snooze button on making the team better. The free agent deals the Buffalo Sabres have completed so far, with the exception of Jordan Leopold and Rob Niedermayer – have done nothing to help the Sabres, but everything to help the Portland Pirates.  I just have to sit and wonder if Darcy is more interested in winning a Calder Cup as opposed to the Stanley Cup. It seems pretty consistent, that [...]