Fiscal Responsibility

Tom Golisano is a businessman and I agree that he should be fiscally responsible. This does not mean that he should be a cheapskate though. Chris Drury, possibly the top unrestricted free agent on the team, if not the entire market, is a player that the Sabres must keep. He is the captain of the team, and he gives everything he can possibly give every single shift. You can see this in the way that he speaks, practices, and plays. He will block a shot, take a puck on the chin, then come back and score a goal. Usually, his goals are not just goals, they are clutch goals, and that is what makes Chris Drury so special. He is a winner. He always has been and always will be. That is why if Tom Golisano does not want to spend to the cap, don't sign Teppo Numminen, Dainus Zubrus, or even Daniel Briere. But let Darcy make an offer before July 1st that will make Chris Drury salivate so that he will be the captain of the Sabres for several more years. The Sabres have only had two other forwards like Drury that I can think of. Gil Perrault and Pat LaFontaine. Both of these players have their numbers retired, and if Drury wants to, he can have his retired as a Buffalo Sabre too. So Tom, I appreciate everything that you have done for the Sabres, but atleast open up your pocketbook for Chris Drury.

2007 NHL Draft

The 2007 NHL Draft will be coming up shortly. The Sabres do not have a first round pick as they traded it and Jiri Novotny for Dainus Zubrus. They do have an early second round pick which they received for Marty Biron. One of the top picks in the draft is expected to be Patrick Kane from Buffalo, although I expect him to slip into the mid 30's so that the Sabres will be able to draft him (not really). I do see the Sabres going after a center with their first pick, as the possibility of losing Danny Briere and Chris Drury looms. The pool of centers in Rochester is not deep either, with really only Clarke McArthur and Marek Zagrapan down the middle. I will have more draft coverage as the date arrives.

Here is a link to Draft News: http://www.hockeysfuture.com/nhl_entry_draft/

Free Agency

I was crunching some numbers, figuring in new salaries for Vanek, Roy, and Paetsch, and I was able to see that if the Sabres were able to trade both Spacek and either Kotalik or Hecht, that both Daniel Briere and Chris Drury would be able to be signed by the Sabres. This would be huge for next season. The players that the team brought in would have to be close to the minimum amounts, especially at forward. The replacement for Spacek could be around $1 million.

Lindy Ruff

I have been hearing talk that it is now Lindy Ruff's time to go because he cannot get them to win the Stanley Cup. I would love for someone to tell me how many other Buffalo coaches have won the Stanley Cup as a Sabre. I would also love to know how many Buffalo Sabres coaches have taken their team to 5 conference finals in 9 years. He and Darcy Regier have formed a great tandem. The community loves him, especially since he is a former Sabre player. He brings a "Buffalo mentality." Fans like him because they can relate to him. It is foolish to even hear people talk about not bringing back either Lindy Ruff or Darcy Regier. I cannot think of anyone else in the league that I would be more excited to coach my favorite NHL team than Lindy Ruff.

Sabres Offseason

I see a lot of changes happening to the Sabres over the offseason. Most of these are due to financial reasons and the salary cap. Daniel Briere will be gone. I am 90% sure that he will be taken away in unrestricted free agency. I have a feeling he will cost around $6.7 million per year, and I have a feeling that the only two teams that he would go to would be either Montreal, his native city, or Philadelphia so he can be on a young team and with his former roommate, Marty Biron. Teppo Numminen will either be gone, retired, or take a significant pay cut to stay on the team. Nathan Paestch is waiting in the wings to take his spot. I think Dainus Zubrus will also be gone, as he just bought a house in Montreal and I think that he will end up there for around $3 million. I expect Thomas Vanek to be back for around $3.8 million per year. I expect Derek Roy to be back for around $1.9 million per year. I expect Adam Mair to be back for around $690,000 per year. I think the Sabres might also resign Ty Conklin for about $550,000 per year. Then comes Chris Drury, who I think will be resigned by the Sabres. Drury is the captain of the team and the heart and soul of the club. He is a true fan favorite. I expect Drury, despite his regular season offensive numbers to be much less than Briere, to still be worth $6 million per year. I believe Drury will be wearing a Sabres "C" though in 2008, and I feel his contract will be 5 year $28-$31 million.
Two guys under contract that I believe are on the hot spot for a trade would be Ales Kotalik and Jaroslav Spacek, as I feel both are overpaid, and hopefully could be traded for young players or draft picks. A trade that I would love would be Ales Kotalik to Vancouver for Jannik Hansen, as I really liked him during the playoffs. I don't think Vancouver would be willing to do that though.

Thanks Sabres

Despite not winning the Stanley Cup, I would like to thank the Sabres for another great season. They let everyone in Buffalo be happy and hopeful about something. I look forward to watching the team next season.

Recap Game 5 Sabres v. Ottawa

The season is finally over for Buffalo. What was supposed to be the Buffalo Sabres year ended up in heartbreak. Ottawa beat Buffalo 3-2 in overtime to win the series and move on to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in their franchises history. It also means that the Sabres lost all 3 games on home ice, two of them in overtime. In the 2006 series between the two teams, Jason Pomminville scored the GWG in overtime after going around Daniel Alfredsson, on the road in Game 5 as a #4 defeated a #1. This year, it was almost the exact opposite, with Alfredsson moving the puck past Pominville and scoring the OT GWG as the #4 Sens defeated the #1 Sabres in Game 5 of the series.
Buffalo started off quickly, then in the second period scored first on a goal from Jochen Hecht. Ottawa came back though, with Dany Heatley tying the game at 1, then giving Ottawa the lead as he found Jason Spezza for the goal on a 2 on 1. Maxim Afinogenov tied the game in the third period on the PP, and the game went in to overtime, where Alfredsson clinched the series.
I thought the Spezza line was very good, and that was Buffalo's downfall, as the line combined for all 3 Ottawa goals. Ryan Miller was very good again. Chris Drury played with complete desperation, and Maxim Afinogenov danced around the entire game. It wasn't enough though as the Sabres will not win the Stanley Cup this year.

3 Stars:
1st Star: Daniel Alfredsson
2nd Star: Maxim Afinogenov
3rd Star: Dany Heatley

Lineup for Game 5

Apparently Lindy Ruff is planning on keeping the same defensive pair, as he thought that Spacek and Kalinin played well in limited minutes. I have no problem with this. He then is going to play Drew Stafford for the injured Dainus Zubrus, which I have no problem with, although I think I would play both Dan Paille and Nathan Paetsch before I would play Stafford. Apparently Stafford will play on a line with Ales Kotalik and Adam Mair.

Preview Game 5 Ottawa v. Sabres

Buffalo needs a win to stay alive in the series and they will have home ice to try to do it on. They are coming off of a tough 3-2 victory in Ottawa in a game where I thought the team played very well. Ray Emery showed that he is still shaky. Ryan Miller showed he is still brilliant. Dainus Zubrus is expected to be out of the lineup for Buffalo. I expect Dan Paille to come into the lineup instead of Drew Stafford. He will be able to fill the penalty killing role left by Zubrus. In the last game, Jaro Spacek play just 9 minutes, although I thought he played well, and even though Dimitri Kalinin played less than 5 minutes, mostly just killing penalties, I thought he played his best game of the series. Because of that, I do not see the defensive pairs changing. I think the forward lineup will be:
Hecht-Briere-Pominville
Roy-Drury-Connolly
Vanek-Gaustad-Afinogenov
Paille-Mair-Kotalik

Dainus Zubrus

From what I have been hearing, it appears unlikely that Dainus Zubrus will dress for game 5. I expect the Sabres to move either Connolly to center Vanek and Afinogenov or Gaustad or Kotalik moving to that center. I do not think Lindy Ruff will move Derek Roy off Chris Drury's line, as they were effective last year in the playoffs and were effective in Game 4. I assume that either Dan Paille or Drew Stafford will enter the lineup for Buffalo. I personally would like to see Paille, as I feel that he would fit the role of a 4th liner better, as while as being able to take Dainus Zubrus' spot on the penalty kill.

Recap Game 4 v. Ottawa

Ryan Miller was great. This time, most of the other skaters were too. The Sabres held on to a 3-0 lead to win the game 3-2. The team killed off penalty after penalty, as the penalty kill has picked up over the last few games. The team started out quickly, scoring a goal 9 seconds into the game after Chris Drury picked off a Andrei Meszaros pass and gave it to Derek Roy for a deflection top shelf. In the second period, Ryan Miller made a great save while shorthanded, and Buffalo picked up the puck and ended up drawing a 5 on 3, which led to their first PP goal by Maxim Afinogenov. The Sabres added to their lead when Chris Drury took a Tim Connolly pass and shot it by Ray Emery. The Senators came back quickly at the end of the period, with goals by Dean McCammond and Peter Schafer. In the thrid period, Lindy Ruff shortened the bench and though the Sabres took penalties they were able to kill them off and won the game 3-2 to make the series 3-1 Ottawa going home to Buffalo.
In my opinion, Buffalo played with effort, heart, and passion. They played as a team. Chris Drury led by example, playing his best game of the series with a goal and an assist. Tim Connolly had a good game. Afinogenov played well despite being benched for most of the third period after his line gave up a goal. Afinogenov played just over a minute in the third period, Vanek played less than 30 seconds in the third period. Dainus Zubrus also missed a lot of time with an injury. Dimitri Kalinin and Jaroslav Spacek both played less than 19 minutes, while Brian Campbell played almost 30 minutes. Buffalo was also doing a great job blocking shots. It was a good game by Buffalo.

1st Star: Ryan Miller
2nd Star: Chris Drury
3rd Star: Derek Roy

Preview Game 4 Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres need to win to not be swept in the Eastern Conference Finals. They will need a much better effort than the Game 3 1-0 defeat, in which he seemed Ryan Miller was brilliant, and maybe 3 other players showed up to play. The Sabres need good play from Jaroslav Spacek and Dimitri Kalinin, who in my opinion have been awful this series. Also, Danny Briere needs to show why he is a co-captain. A Sabres victory would send them home down 3-1 with new life. A Sabres loss would send Ottawa to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in franchise history. It sounds like Lindy Ruff is not going to change the lineup, but I would not be opposed to having Stafford, Paetsch, and Paille thrown in the lineup. We will see tonight at 7pm.

Recap Game 3 v. Ottawa

Ryan Miller was unbelievable. The rest of the team was unbelievably bad. Ottawa won Game 3 by the score of 1-0 on a Daniel Alfredsson tap in goal. Ryan Miller tried to play the rebound off the back boards, but instead of covering the puck, it hit his glove and bounced backward, giving Alfredsson an easy goal. Ottawa dominated the rest of the game and the only reason that the score wasn't 10-1 was because of Ryan Miller. Buffalo had an early chance one minute into the game when Danny Briere was in front of the net all alone, but he held onto the puck and eventually lost the pick with Emery down on the ice. The Buffalo Power Play was as bad as it possibly could be, managing zero real scoring chances.
In my opinion, Miller was Buffalo's best player without a doubt, probably the best player on the ice. Tallinder, Lydman, and Nuemminen were solid on defense for Buffalo. Afinogenov and Pominville were probably Buffalo's two best forwards. Everyone on Ottawa was very good, and I believe Ottawa's defense made more saves than Emery, led by Anton Volchenkov.
I feel that it is time to get Daniel Paille, Nathan Paetsch, and Drew Stafford all into the lineup. I think taking out either Spacek or Kalinin, or maybe Paetsch at the forward and take out Gaustad, Mair, and Kotalik. I would have no problems with any of these moves. During the game, Derek Roy moved to the left wing of Drury and Zubrus, and Tim Connolly moved to center of Vanek and Afinogenov.

1st Star: Daniel Alfredsson
2nd Star: Ryan Miller
3rd Star: Ray Emery

Preview Game 3 Sabres v. Ottawa

I have not heard of any changes up front for Buffalo, possibly Ales Kotalik going to the Drury line and Gaustad going with Connolly and Mair. Also, Connolly could go on the Drury line and it could be Kotalik, Gaustad, Mair. Also, after Henrik Tallinder was cross-checked into the boards, he is questionable for game 3. If he can't go, I would assume Nathan Paetsch would play. Whatever the line up wins, this is as must win as any game could be.

Briere or Drury

Going into the playoffs, I thought that the Sabres would only keep one of the two co-captains. I now definitely think that the Sabres will only keep one of the co-captains, because I think Chris Drury has made at least an extra $1 million during the playoffs. He and Daniel Briere are both worth between $6 and $7 million on the open market in unrestricted free agency. I believe that the Sabres gave Daniel Briere a chance last year, so that will make it their priority to sign Chris Drury, an extremely self-motivated player, to a long-term contract, maybe 5 years $30 million. It will be interesting to see what happens in the offseason, as the Sabres also have Thomas Vanek and Derek Roy to sign, though they are restricted free agents.

Recap Game 2 v. Ottawa

The Sabres lost game 2 against the Ottawa Senators 4-3 in double overtime to fall behind 2 games to zero in the series. This is the first time in franchise history that the Ottawa Senators won the first 2 games of any series. Joe Corvo scored the GW goal in the second overtime after a clean faceoff win by Jason Spezza over Chris Drury. The puck hopped just before it got to Ryan Miller and he was unable to pick up the bounce. It was Ray Emery's first overtime playoff victory in five tries.
Buffalo seemed to dominate the majority of the game, but could not get bounces, and shot blocking from Anton Volchenkov kept the puck out of the net. Buffalo thought that they had scored very early in the game on the power play, but the goal was disallowed after the NHL ruled that Thomas Vanek batted the puck into the net. This play did seem inconclusive but apparently there was enough to overturn the call. Buffalo did not let that stop them though, as Vanek took Maxim Afinogenov's pass and scored the first goal of the game. Jochen Hecht followed that with another goal to make it 2-0. Ottawa would not escape the first period without a goal though, as Daniel Alfredsson scored his 8th goal of the playoffs. Mike Fisher would tie it on the PP to make it 2-2, then Wade Redden scored on a 5-3 advantage to make it 3-2 Ottawa closing out the second period. Buffalo fumbled around with the puck for most of the third period, but with 6 seconds left in the period, Danny Briere slammed a rebound into the empty net to send the game into overtime. This was Briere's best game of the playoffs in my opinion. On the goal, Thomas Vanek who played a great game, made a great play, fighting in a battle along the boards, getting hit and almost losing his helmet, but regaining his composure to fly to the front of the net and screen Emery. Overtime was a back and forth battle, but Ottawa finally prevailed in the second overtime. I thought Miller was very good. Even though I am a fan and I thought he may have been Buffalo's best defenseman throughout the playoffs, I thought Dimitri Kalinin was awful for the second straight game. Buffalo now has all but a must win game Monday in Ottawa.