Shutdown Pair

Category: NHL

  • Sabres Win Pre-Season Opener

    It wasn’t pretty, but the Sabres got the win last night against the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1.  Gaustad and Gerbe scored in the third to take the lead and assisted on the other two goals, and Kaleta added an empty netter to seal it.  Brandon Sutter was your Canes goal scorer.  It definitely looked like a pre-season game for most of the first two periods, with Buffalo giving up chance after chance.  Jhonas Enroth (playing the second half) made some fantastic saves, and new guy Drew MacIntyre was solid.  We also had our first look at Leino in a Sabres uniform, and he looked pretty good.

    The Sabres play the Habs tomorrow night, possibly with some more of the regulars in the lineup.  I know some of the junior players are returning to their respective teams.  Hockey is back, and it feels great!

  • Teppo Numminen!

    Man, it’s like Terry Pegula and Ted Black are mindreaders.  I love the idea of Teppo as a coach here, even at the end of his career he was always a steadying and calming influence on whoever he was paired with.  He could always clear the zone (oftentimes when no one else could) and I obviously found his story pretty inspirational.  Anybody that would fight back from multiple heart surgeries to keep playing is someone I’d want influencing my young defensemen.  Good luck, Teppo!

  • Target: Buffalo

    Shield yourself against trolls this year guys

    It’s already started.  It may have started last year, even.  Tweeters and bloggers who left Buffalo alone, or held them up as an example of a team doing the best it could with less are disappearing.  Media members and pundits who ignored the Sabres are paying attention now.  Terry Pegula made sure of that.  Not all of the attention is positive, though.  Some folks have an agenda, or are simply grumpy morons.  They are trying their best to rile you up, mock the spending spree Terry is on, belittle the players on your favored team.  Do you know why?  There are two possibilities.

    1.  They are a fan of a team that is a Have.  Terry, Ted and Darcy are doing everything in their power (and copious wallet in the case of Mr. Pegula) to ensure the Sabres join that club.  Everyone hates the Nouveau Riche.

    2.  They are a fan of a team that is a Have-not.  Maybe their owner is a cheapskate, maybe they are non-existent.  The Pegula Sabres represent everything they hate about the big money teams.  Long-term deals to free agents, cap ‘circumvention’, and fans that are having fun with it.  We should all be miserable with them, you see.

    It’s hard to blame them – how long ago was it that Buffalo fit into that second category?  We decried every huge contract the big money teams signed, then found a way out of.  We saw free agents that grew up in our system signed away for stupid money, and told ourselves it was OK, they weren’t worth that money anyway.  Our pipeline has talent, we’ll do it the hard way.  Well, the tables have turned.  Buffalo has a solid pipeline of talent coming up, AND they were the ones signing guys for stupid money.

    So what should you do?  Taking pity on the haters doesn’t work, because their minds our made up – anything you say to them will just confirm how messed up and WRONG you are.  It’s probably best just to ignore them and enjoy the ride.  Nothing will infuriate them more.  BUT, sports isn’t fun without a rivalry, so remember what was said.  There’s nothing better than gloating later when an idiot is proven wrong.

  • Sabres, Tyler Myers Agree to Terms on a 7 Year Deal

    From a Sabres.com tweet.  No financial data out there yet.  WOO!

    edit:  7 years, $38.5million.  $12mil in first year (10 in bonus, 2 in salary).

  • You Gotta Wear Shades

    As in, the future is bright, man.  I watched a good portion of the Traverse City Tournament championship game that the Sabres prospects played in last night, which they won 5-2.  The most amazing thing to me, despite the Rangers-centric broadcast, is how much praise the Sabres were getting.  Our boys were being treated like the class of the tournament, the team the others were benchmarking themselves by.  It might even be right to do that, as they won several games in fairly resounding fashion (6-3, 6-3, 5-2).  There was one loss sandwiched in there but overall they were the class of the tourney.  Fun to watch.

    The other fun story from yesterday was the Season Ticket delivery.  Buffalo invited several of my fellow bloggers along for the ride, and you can read about Kate and Heather’s takes on it at their sites.  I need to ensure my email address ends up in Ted Black’s hands.  I want in next time!  I have very cute kids who could accompany me!  Seriously though, what an amazing adventure they had, and it’s great publicity for the Sabres to boot.  Good job, guys!

  • The Importance of Tyler Myers

    Ryan Lambert went trolling again, and I’m biting.  Tyler Myers is reportedly close to signing a contract (now variously reported as 6 or 7 years) for $5.5 million a year.  Most people seem to think this number fits in with the new NHL landscape, but not Lambert!  He thinks we should be storming HSBC Ar-uh, FN Center because of the money committed to Myers (possibly), Leino and Ehrhoff.  Never mind that the core of the team also includes Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek.  Is it risky to give a contract like that to a player so young?  Sure.  Buffalo is playing a different game now, and the risk is worth the reward.  Myers plays the toughest minutes of any Buffalo D, he plays PP and PK, he’s getting tougher with each passing year, and he’s got better teammates on the backend.  He’s important, and they are paying him like he’s important.

    I debated about whether to even post this, as it’s not like Lambert is going to be convinced of anything.  The only thing that will convince him that Regier is right to do this is to have Myers dominate the league this year (and hey, maybe for the next 6 or 7 too).  With Myers and Regehr (most likely to me) taking the toughest assignments, that will leave Ehrhoff to think offense.  Leino is a wild card, but he has some dynamic players to work with on the top two lines.  We don’t know what will happen, but it’s going to be an exhilarating ride.

  • Myers Close to an Extension

    Hey, more awesome Sabres news!  According to the venerable Bob McKenzie over at TSN, Tyler Myers (along with the Islanders’ John Tavares) is very close to signing a 6 yr contract extension, worth around $5.5mil per year.  If true (and if there’s anyone out there I’d trust for this, It’s Bob McKenzie) that’s a great number for Myers and the Sabres, and it clears out one potential bit of drama for next offseason.  I for one certainly don’t want to have any Stamkos-esque “hey what if we sign Myers to a huge offersheet?  I’ll hang up and listen” garbage from other fanbases.  Tyler has quickly become one of the faces of the team along with Ryan Miller, and is a key component in making and keeping this team a Cup contender.  I may seem like a broken record saying this, but I can’t wait for the season to start!

  • Now, I love Jarome Iginla…

    …but as Scott points out a BSN, this is “Iginla for Pominville!” rumor is a big pile of nothing.  This all comes from a HockeyBuzz blog post by Garth, who says things like (not linking those guys, it’s the Stafford post if you must see it):

    I’ve been told that Pommer ($5.3 million cap hit, next three seasons) and Reggie ($2.75 million cap hit, next four seasons) would be a likely trade package to Calgary for Iginla.

    I would not be surprised at all if Buffalo were to trade Ville Leino to Calgary as part of an Iginla trade. Leino’s six year, $4.5 million UFA contract came as a shocker to all observers. Perhaps Regier grabbed Leino as a pre-emptive strike, at a value price, when he knew that he Buffalo was not a consideration to land Brad Richards on July 1. Leino is the proverbial “ghost man on first” right now. Regehr and Ehrhoff were introduced at pressers in Buffalo. Why hasn’t Leino been introduced to the people of Pegulaville?

    Now.  I probably owe my renewed love for hockey to Calgary and Jarome Iginla, as I had fallen away from the sport for a few years before the lockout (save going to the games a few times due to my buddy’s free Adelphia tix).  I loved watching the cup run the Flames made, and Jarome Iginla’s style of play is exactly what I love.  But that was years ago now.  Iggy isn’t a spring chicken, and I’m not sure trading two young, talented players for one older, more talented player with a rapidly approaching expiry date, is a good idea.  I wouldn’t kill them for it, but it would be a mark against ’em.

    What kills me is the Leino part of this, well, wouldn’t call it a rumor, more of a hope or speculation.  This isn’t the NBA, where sign-and-trade deals are a thing, and I think those are a thing because of the really odd salary structure they use (or did use, before they locked out).  Seems like a HUGE risk to sign a guy as trade bait, so I’m inclined to believe Darcy figured Richards was pretty set on NYR, and went after the next best guy he could get.  Also, who said Leino’s contract was ‘a value price’?  Anyone?  It may end up being one, the way Roy’s is now, but I can’t recall seeing ANYONE who thinks it is now.  Then there’s also the whole “Sabres need centers” thing.  Would be odd to trade him because of that, too.  The “Why hasn’t he been introduced?  HMM?” aspect might be the silliest.  Maybe the guy wasn’t available…he might be in Finland.  He might be lounging on a beach in Aruba.  It seems odd to immediately jump to ‘OMG he will be TRADED for IGGY asdfasdf;lksadjf’, but then again, I don’t write for HockeyBuzz.

  • First Niagara Center? Ok.

    I still think a ‘Center’ sounds like a place to shop, whereas an Arena is for battle, but hey, you could see the writing on the wall with HSBC pulling away from the regular person banking business.  Not sure how long it’s going to take for me to break out of the ‘heading down to the Arena’ habit.

    Anyone else kind of hoping there’s a Derek Roy bachelor pad hidden in the renovation plans?  Years after he retires, they find a door that no one is sure where it leads.  They open it to find a room filled with mattresses, empty wine coolers and an all-glass shower in the middle.

  • Poll: How do you handle the Versus games?

    Yet again, Buffalo is a popular choice to appear on Versus (soon to be renamed), the NHL’s main television partner in the United States.  For Sabres fans who love Rick Jeanneret, that leaves us a bit put out.  The solution is to (as the radio partner of the Buffalo Sabres, WGR550 will tell you) is to turn down the TV and turn on the radio…but do you actually do that?  I am curious as to how many of you do, so answer in the poll below:

    [poll id=”3″]