2009-2010 Regular Season Grades: Forwards

by Anne

Continuing where we left off yesterday: the forwards.

#9 Derek Roy

80gm, 26G, 43A, +9, 19:22

All in all a somewhat typical season for Royzie. He took FOREVER to get his first goal of the season and he didn't amass as many points as he has in previous seasons. However, those previous seasons he and only a small number of other forwards were contributing and this scoring by committee style has knocked his goal totals down a touch. He was good more often than he was awful. He tied for first in GWG and had 3 OT winners.

Grade: B

 #13 Tim Kennedy

78gm, 10G, 16A, -3, 12:57

This being his first full season in the NHL, I'm going to go easy on Lil' Timmers. He was ok. He has signs of being better in years to come. Pommer, Royzie and Vanek all had just "meh" rookie seasons. He'll be better next season.

Grade: B-

#19 Tim Connolly

73G, 17G, 48A, +10, 18:37

Aside from his recent injury, Timmah was an iron man this season. He had an epic point-streak in December/January and lead the team in assists. There were several nights when he was the best player on the ice and was frequently the best forward. Remember how we said a healthy Timmah makes the Sabres better? True dat.

Grade: A-

#21 Drew Stafford

71gm, 14G, 20A, +4, 14:28

I think the thing about his stats I found most surprising was that he finished the season a + player. He's been better, he should be better and he's just not. I'm glad to see, though, that we stopped relying on him as a consistently top-6 player because he's not one. He's had a few solid games but not enough.

Grade: C-

 #22 Adam Mair

69gm, 6G, 8A, -2, 9:14

Remember when he was put on waivers? Yikes. I'm glad Mairsy is still here. He works hard, he took the waiver wire with professionalism and the Sabres are the better for it. He knows his role and he does it well. As a whole, the team fought less this season and tried to limit penalties as a whole. He did his job.

Grade: B

 #25 Mike Grier

73gm, 10G, 12A, -4, 15:47

Mikey had a very Mikey season. He has hands of stone and he's slower than molasses on a cold day but he's consistent! He was topnotch on the PK, a great veteran mentor for Tim Kennedy and just made everything better.

Grade: B+

#26 Thomas Vanek

71gm, 28G, 25A, +9, 16:45

Thomas, Thomas, Thomas. Yet another frustrating season in which you went bananas at the end. He should just always be told it's mid-March/early April. He seems to play really well then. However, his four-goal game could not make up for his endless stretches of goal-lessness. He was a + player, which has been a struggle for him since his +47 season.

Grade: B-

#28 Paul Gaustad

65gm, 12G, 10A, -7, 15:44

Tied a career-high in goals (set last season). His greatest contribution to the team has been faceoff wins, which he produced at 57.4% this season. Goose doesn't get much fanfare and got even less than usual this season. His +/- is a tad unsettling but bottom six players rarely have high +/-. I'm fairly confident that he, Miller, Grier and Rivs were responsible for keeping certain players in line and being held accountable. That topic didn't come up nearly as often this season as it has in the past two (non-playoff) seasons.

Grade: B+

 #29 Jason Pominville

82gm 24G, 38A, +13, 18:44

Pommer was the Sabres most consistent forward for most of the season. Once again, he played all 82 games this season. He hasn't missed a regular season game since he was a healthy scratch April 7, 2006. I really don't have much bad to say about his season. Like every other forward, his points total was lower than last season or the season before. It's the new system and I think we all have to accept that.

Grade: B+

#36 Patrick Kaleta

55gm, 10G, 5A, +2, 10:09

One of the only exceptions to the above statement about players scoring less is Pat Kaleta. He more than doubled his career high in goals and lead the team with 2 shorthanded goals. He had 148 hits in only 55 games. He was consistent and did his job as was expected of him. He even had a few fights and drew lots o' penalties.

Grade: A-

#37 Matt Ellis

72gm, 3G, 10A, -1, 9:03

Matty played a career-high in games and set a new career high in assists. Much like Mike Grier, he was consistent and has an incredible no-quit work ethic. I often describe his work ethic as "If I don't play well tonight, they'll feed me to the lions tomorrow." He was responsbile (12 PIM) and won some faceoffs. What more can you really ask?

Grade: B+

 #55 Jochen Hecht

79gm, 21G, 21A, +14, 17:11

Lead the team in +/-. Thank goodness he's back in his defensively-responsible mode. We definitely needed that from him this season. He was consistent and consistently solid. I liked seeing him and Pommer occasionally reunited this season. It made my heart all a-flutter. Same thing with Royzie and Vanek. Sometimes the old chemistry worked for them.

Grade: A-

These three players played only 10-20 games in a Sabres uniform (and are still with the team):

 #17 Raffi Torres

14gm, 0G, 5A, -3, 13:20

Go away. I don't like you.

Grade: D

 #42 Nathan Gerbe

10gm, 2G, 3A, +1, 14:38

I definitely like what I've seen. The 3G Network^TM (Gerbe-Gaustad-Grier) has been clicking. A huge sigh of relief to see him produce at the NHL level. Thank goodness.

Grade: B+

 #63 Tyler Ennis

10gm, 3G, 6A, +1, 15:20

He can score in the AHL and in the NHL. Gee, the 2009 AHL rookie of the year (Gerbe) and now the 2010 AHL rookie of the year (Tennis the Menace) actually playing well in their call-ups? Wa-hoo! Here's hoping things stay consistent and they don't suffer Chris Butler-like collapses when they inevitably make the club next season :)

Grade: A-

Overall this "scoring by committee" has diminished most players scoring. Having Ryan Miller in net still made it possible for us to win. Lots of players had scoring bursts at the end of the season which makes me feel little more optimistic about their ability to score in the post season.

Forwards overall grade: B+

What a relief!

by Anne

Seriously, thank goodness they won. The Sabres beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 in oooooovertiiiime for their first win after the Olympicbreak.

Thank goodness Vanek scored.

Thank goodness Connolly not only scored but made up for a bad turnover as well. Both of them are guys who do not quickly bounce back from mistakes and like to be streaky.

Thank goodness Mairsy scored just because he's Mairsy.

Thank goodness Torres got his first point as a Sabre on Timmah's OT game-winner. He was out there at a crucial time and he majorly came through for his new teammates.

Miller looked almost refreshed in his post-game interview; even Kevin Sylvester commented on his clean-shaven face.

The only real downside from tonight's game aside from the few mental  lapses is that Little Foot pulled his groin and will likely miss some time. With Goose hurt and Ennis mildly concussed, does Gerbe get a shot? He's not hurt, is he? Unfortunately, these are the moments when a player like Paetsch who's a crazy genie and can magically play defense AND forward comes in handy. Oh well. C'est la vie.

Tonight's win puts them back into first place in the division by one point. Woo!

Here's hoping this is the start of something good and they can keep this going into Sunday's game against the Rangers.

Catching Up

by Anne

There's much to catch up on.

• Adam Mair cleared waivers.
  

• I'm surprised no one claimed him.
  

• The Sabres have the option of sending him to Portland or keeping him in Buffalo. Happily, they opted to keep him in Buffalo as our thirteenth forward :)

The dog is thrilled.

• I lost forty pounds a few years ago and I've gained about half that back, so I'm getting back on track. Any and all unsolicited encouragement is welcome.
  

• The Kings "played" a game against the Blackhawks. They lost 4-1. It was not pretty. 
  

• Kopi scored, Dewey got an assist and then they all pooped the bed and rolled around in it. The game was close through the first and second, you knew it was going to explode in the third and unfortunately it was the Blackhawks who decided to start scoring. :/
  

• Drew Miller was put on waivers by the Tampa Bay Lightning, as was Tyler Arnason who reportedly signed a deal with a team in Europe and was subsequently suspended by the Rangers
  

• After the Kings "game" last night, it looks like there might be some shakeups in the lineups and Mr. Jones may get into the lineup soon. That's good. Terry Murray didn't rule out the possibility that he'd get in tomorrow. Who sits? Greener only played 14:30ish last night. Peter Harrold already sat out last night.
  

• If the Kings don't beat the Hurricanes tomorrow, I'm never speaking to them again.
  

• Because the Canes are unspeakably bad, Erik Ersberg may get the start the other night. I think Quickie needs a break. He's started all but one of the Kings' 18 games.
  

• Canucks play at St. Louis tonight, Pens play at Boston. Woooo!
  

Adam Mair on Waivers

by Anne

Maxim Afinogenov.

Nathan Paetsch.

Henrik Tallinder.

Just a few of the players we have BEGGED Darcy to trade or waive over the last two seasons. Today, he decided to do just that. He put a player on waivers.

That player: ADAM MAIR?!

Why Mairsy? I just don't understand why he was in the doghouse. I understand that we were playing fine without him, but I assumed he'd be hanging out in the pressbox with Paetsch until his services were needed. Apparently not?

Nooooo!!!

Maybe Darcy is trying to clear cap space for something? Even if we're off the hook for Mairsy's entire salary, Paille and Mairsy's combined cap hit is only $1.91 million.

Sad times.

ETA: Even though he was waived, Mair still practiced with the Sabres this afternoon. Ho-kay?

Ennis Is In & Other Stuff

by Anne

As he mentioned earlier would happen, Darcy Regier has announced that the Sabres have signed last year's other Tyler to an entry-level contract. Lil' Tyler will have a lot of competition for the "little guy" on the team job. Frankly, we already have one full-time and one who will probably make the full-time this year.

That red-headed dude is just as excited as I am

Two other things. The Sabres Media Guide was released today. Its the same old stuff as usual. They've done away with the "favorites" section, but have added their "signature," or autograph, as it would seem. Adam Mair's looks like they forgot to ask him and the PR guy's secretary had to fill in at the last second:

So neat and tidy.

I love the picture the team chose to use for the NHL.com preview tab on the Sabres.com homepage. I'm assuming this is at a critical point in a shoot-out:

I don't think they normally lean this far out during a game
Grizz and Pie are having a serious chat.
Enlarge to see how creepy Matt Ellis looks.
I think he's looking at the jumbotron.

First pre-season game tomorrow!!

Mairsy Out

by Anne

Darcy Regier announced today that Adam Mair had arthroscopic surgery on his hip and will be out a minimum of six weeks.

Greeeeat. That puts Mairsy coming back a few weeks after the start of the regular season. The Sabres were in a similar situation last season when Paul Gaustad broke his thumb in the pre-season and missed the beginning of the regular season. That's why we signed Matt Ellis.

Now this means the Sabres have to have two or possibly three plans. A plan for the time between when Mairsy is out and when he comes back; a plan for when he's back; and a contingency plan for what to do if the guy that was called up deserves to stay up in the NHL.

Adam Mair being out might not be the kind of crisis losing Vanek and Miller was, but Mair is one of the longest tenured Sabres and one of the best at his job. He's a fourth line center, he hits, he fights, he plays with a lot of passion (sometimes too much...Chris Neil...) he's been declared by some writers to be one of the best pests in the NHL and he's taking Patty Kaleta right under his wing. Lindy Ruff trusts him, and his presence and leadership will be missed early on in the season.

Here are the lines without Mairsy as I envision them:

Vanek - Connolly - Pominville
Gerbe - Roy - Stafford (?)
Grier - Gaustad - Hecht
Kaleta - Ellis - Paille
13th: MacArthur

I'm assuming Matt Ellis will be slipped in there to fill in because he has a decent faceoff win% and, like Mairsy, he's hardworking and will be willing to do whatever is asked of him.

Get better soon, Mairsy!

I love this picture

Also, I'm blogging in class and basically not paying attention at all. This isn't good. I uploaded that picture while carrying on a conversation with my professor. I am a champion.

Just When I Thought There Was Nothing To Talk About

by Anne

You know, if Millsy used a tommy gun in net, I bet we'd win more
Is this some kind of retaliation?
"Now its Ryan's turn to do the shooting."



Patrick Kaleta, you sly devil you.



Could Adam Mair look less interested in this?
Does one of those girls smell bad? Haha



Mr. Jay would approve

They're really running with this Roaring Twenties theme for the Third Annual Catwalk for Charity to benefit Miller's Steadfast Foundation. Their sponsorship levels are: The Bee's Knees, The Cat's Meow and The Big Cheese.

Individual tickets are limited this year. Well they're also expensive so I don't know that I really want to freak out trying to get them. Hmmmm.....

Well looks like you all missed out, my friend Adam and I are going to see my Dad's show so, psh!

Oh yeah and Mats Sundin signed with Vancouver. Huh. Look at that. It's still Thursday and all pigs still have all 4 feet firmly on the ground.

Apparently I Do Love Adam Mair

by Anne

It must be love when I see this and go "awww".

The swinging pendulum of my affection for/fear of Adam Mair has been well documented.

My distaste for people with explosive tempers is really unfair considering that even though I rarely get truly angry, I have a tendency to completely explode if I do, so how can I hold that against Mairsy? I'm pretty sure I would've been marching down that hallway as well, because I never know when to quit either, Adam.

He does have a great smile:

I'm assuming that's the table's centerpiece they moved for the interview
That is one of the ugliest table decorations I have ever had the misfortune of laying my eyes on

In case you were wondering, Adam Mair is good at math, so he has a complicated system of deciding which ages mean what these days and he wants us all to know "age is just a number"... Ok, Adam Mair is basically saying he's single and open to ladies of all ages. Mairsy is for equal opportunity for all women... in his pants. Don't hate, copulate.

Hopefully Marisy and his chest hair (see above photo), who some how managed to escape with an even +/- in last night's game in just under 11:00 of ice time, can rally the troops and we'll only lose by 4 tonight instead of 5.

Ooooooooooooooooookay

by Anne


Miraculously there are still four Buffalo Sabres that have not been declared legally deceased in my world:

These 4 players saw a grand total of 14:48 of ice time, and all of those minutes belonged to Ryan Miller

In WCB news, Rick Nash scored a goal! I'm not really sure who his team was playing against, but they must be TERRIBLE. He had a breakaway during the game, but didn't score. Gee, I wonder if that other team realizes that he's in the Top 10 list of players in the NHL you DON'T WANT TO ALLOW TO BE SET UP ON A BREAK AWAY. I mean I wonder WHAT'S WRONG with that other team that they were UNABLE to control him. It's really FORTUNATE for them that their goaltender was able to make a save.

On an unrelated note, Adam Mair, who I've heard might have recently ceased to exist because of events I am not privy to, apparently loves live theatre. Thereby adding even more confusion to the ongoing conflict within me between "Adam Mair is kind of Scary" and "Adam Mair is Kind of Totally Badass."

Here's hoping this "Team from Buffalo" I've heard rumored can get their act together to at least not be TOTALLY HUMILIATED tomorrow in Pittsburgh.

Sabres Win! Pirates Win! The EARTH Wins!

by Anne

Why does the Earth win? Because when my teams are doing well, I'm convinced it means that the Earth is functioning as it should.

This afternoon I said to my Mom "I'm not glad Pominville and Roy haven't been scoring lately." and WOOOOOO!!! Vanek! Vanek! PIE! ROYZIE! POMMMMERRRRR!!! Kaleta and Paille were so unexpectedly slick on PieYAY's goal!!!

MILLSY WITH THE SHUTOUT! YAY! YAY! YAY! Timmy got a point in his first game! Yay!

Who-?


There he is again, who IS that guy?



Bahahahahahahhahahahahah Adam Mair
hahahahha what an EXCELLENT face

The Pirates won their second game in a row against the Norfolk Admirals 5-3! Kennedy, Darche and Mancari each had a goal and 2 assists!! Somehow Gerbe had 0 points and was -3 ... uhhhhh... that's ok Nate, we can't all have great nights and continue our point scoring streak, RIGHT, TK?!?!!!!

WCB Watch

Ethan Moreau scored 2 goals to end Edmonton's 5 game losing streak!!! Yay!!!

Work it, Grrrrrl


YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!

Marty Turco is fired as my Dallas WCB. I can't handle watching him give up 5 goals over and over and over again. Should I pick Fabian Brunnstrom or I might pick Jere Lehtinen because he was born in "Espoo"??

Sharpie scored in Chicago's shootout victory over Columbus in which Nasher had an assists and NINE shots on goal, adding to Columbus' 51 total shots on goal. Huet seemed to face a lot of shots but not too many of them were really worth much.

J.P. had an assist in Nashville's 3-2 shootout win over Florida!!

JKee had 0 points in a 6-3 loss to the Pens, but YAY Pens!! They needed a road win, they've been struggling lately. Looks like Sid's "undisclosed" injury isn't that serious because he had 2 points (0+2) on the night and over 22 minutes of ice time.

ONo didn't play in the Wild's match up with the Coyotes and Peter Mueller was underwhelming.

Olli Jokinen's face reads: "Eh, I suppose you'll do for a hug."

Speaking of Olli Jokinen, doesn't this picture, one of a series of pictures featured on Coyotes.com, make you want to be a 'Yotes fan?

If you buy season tickets, you can ALL be as cool as Olli Jokinen



WHERE DO I GET THOSE TICKETS?!?!

Iggy registered 0 points in the Flames win over the Kings BUT he did win all 3 faceoffs he took. Kings' WCB Matt Greene also did not appear on the score sheet as per usual. but had a couple of hits and at least 1 blocked shot. In an interesting change, or rather, lack of a change, the Kings two goals were scored by the same person. Also the same person got both primary assists and another player got both secondary assists. This is made even more unique in that one was on the power play and one was not.

LOOK! THEY'RE IN A PICTURE TOGETHER!!
MY 2 TOP WESTERN FAVORITES!!
and Todd Bertuzzi....
BUT LOOKIT IGGY AND GREENER!!!


Ok, Iggs, we need to talk.
The game is easier to play when your knees are not touching the ice.
Food for thought.
Chew on it, let me know what you think.

Bills play tomorrow!! Here's hoping these winning vibes carry over to football!!

Adam Mair's Straight Talk Express

by Anne

From Nick Mendola at WGR550.com:

Mair was fined the league-maximum $2,500 for an incident in the hallway connecting the Sabres and Senators dressing room after Buffalo's 5-2 loss to Ottawa.

When asked what he was trying to communicate to the Senators, he said, "We don't play those guys until January, so I wanted to wish them a Happy Halloween."

What did they say back?

"I think they said Merry Christmas."

The Buffalo News' John Vogl asked if Mair was trying to talk to Chris Neil or Jaarko[sic] Ruutu?

"It's Halloween for everybody, John."

Ha, Mairsy.

My pendulum of emotion has swung back from "AHHHH!!!" to "Love."

A bromance for the ages...
Except for that chick...

Aaaaaaand Adam Mair is Back to Being Effing Terrifying.

by Anne

If you read this blog a lot you might know that my opinion of Adam Mair swings wildly between "Yay! Adam Mair! I love him! He's all grrrrr and piss and vinegar! Yay!" and "AHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

Read it and thanks to Die By The Blade for posting it:

"Emotions ran high, especially between Buffalo's Adam Mair and Ottawa's Chris Neil.

"After Neil, Mair, the Senators' Jarkko Ruutu and the Sabres' Patrick Kaleta got kicked out of the game at 18:12 of the third, Mair came down the hallway near the Ottawa dressing room, still in uniform, calling for Neil.

Ruutu went out and a scuffle started. It was quickly broken up, but the episode could lead to suspensions or fines. It didn't help that the incident was caught on TV or that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was in the building."

Good Lord. Its funny but please don't get suspended Adam, that would just be stupid, as stupid as Chris Neil.

OMG what a waste of... WAIT, WE WON?

by Anne

WHAT THE HELL THAT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME AND I CAN'T BELIEVE WE WON

ROYSIE AND STAFFY AND VANEK AND MAIR!!!

YAY!!

If this had been October 2007 we would've just rolled over and died.

NOT THIS YEAR!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

THAT WAS TOTALLY WICKED

by Anne

I watched that game on like a 2 hour delay, so basically after it was 6-0 in the 3rd, I checked the final score and fast forwarded to the Islander's and Grizz's goal.

I'd really like to know what was going on with the "Adam Mair is in the dressing room. Now Adam Mair is at the bench. Now he' gone to the penalty box. Now he's back in the dressing room."

My "Hahaha ILU" Award of the game goes to Ales Kotalik for being on his back turtle style for Mair's and Pommer's goals in the 2nd. Watching a player sliding on his back and celebrating a goal at the same time is one of the funniest things ever.

Mad love for Britney (2 goals) Paille (2 assists) Staffy (5 shots on goal OMG YOU HAD SO MANY GREAT OPPORTUNITIES AND YOU PLAYED SO WELL, YOU BRONTOSAURUS,YOU ILU) and Lala (Some WICKED sweet saves and ALMOST a shut out, haha).

I'm not sure if I want to give mad love for Kaleta, Mairsy and Rosie for getting thrown out of the game, but that fight was awesome. Not only did we OWN the game, the boys in blue and gold OWNED that melee. And it made Rick happy, so WOOOOOO!!!!!!

That's all I've got for right now. There's a cat who missed his Mommy to pet, dinner to eat, reading to do, and puppies that have tummies that need some serious rubbings. Check ya later.

Aaaaaaand Adam Mair is back to being terrifying
AND I LOVE IT


This is what happes when you mess with Patty Kaleta
Yeccchhhhh

ETA: While in Shippensburg, PA, there was a girl randomly in a Danny Briere Sabres tshirt. It was REALLY random. Hockey is completely MIA in that part of Pennsylvania. It's 2 1/2 hours to Philly and 3 hours to Pittsburgh. Football RULZ Shippensburg and the surrounding area.

ETA #2: From NHL.com, "That was my first short-handed goal at any level of hockey," Vanek said. "It was good." Awwwwwwwww! Britney, ILU!!!

TGIF, Pommer and Mairsy

by Anne

Did PieYAY not eat all his vegetables, is that why he didn't get to go? Maybe he didn't finish all his homewor Adam Mair is a benevolent dictator of PieYAY's social calendar, and its really all for his own good, right Mairsy? Right.

Oh and I'm gonna be a DUDE right now and say "high-five, Pommer!" your lady is quite the looker. Well done, Pommer! A gentleman as foxy as he is deserves and equally foxy lady.

I lol'd like crazy when they show Adam Mair talking to the big drag queen looking dude, in deep conversation. I WOULD GIVE MY LEFT LEG TO BE IN ON THAT CONVO.

Mairsy is crossing his arms all tough-like to be like "Yo, I am A MAN...

...but how do you get your lipstick to stay on through dinner, I'm just dying for some advice."

ANOTHER POINT FOR ADAM MAIR. This is looking to be a close race for #5.

Fun fact of the day: There are 48 blog posts for this blog tagged with "Jason Pominville", well, make that 49.

Next is "Anne is Crazy" with 38.

This is an excellent indicator for the kind of repartee you encounter when I man the keyboard. Woman the keyboard?

FRIDAY!

Third Jerseys and I Don't Love Adam Mair as Much as He Deserves

by Anne

The Carolina Hurricanes have decided to be the coolest kids in school and unveil their 3rd jerseys before everyone else does. NO ONE LIKES A SHOW OFF, CAM WARD.

Eh.
Its ok.

I really don't like the blocks on the bottom of the sweater, Its been in uniform designs before and I just don't like it, I prefer stripes or just solid color. The logo is apparently the Hurricane's usual secondary logo. That's fine, its ok, I don't think its particularly appealing or interesting, but whatev, our secondary logo is kind of lame too:

Hopefully the Sabres third jersey that's floating around the internets with the original logo is the real 3rd jersey and the Sabres' 3rd jersey won't be "Brought to You by the Recently Deceased Letter B" this season. I'd say as far as 3rd jerseys go, I'll give the hurricanes 3 stick taps out of 5.

Moving on.

Guys I am such a REBEL! I am skipping my first class EVER...this semester. I just don't understand those people that never skip classes for which attendance is optional. If the professor can't be bothered to take attendance, I can't be bothered to drag my nearly comatose butt out of bed and drive myself to class while still mostly asleep. Its really for the safety of the commuters of Western New York that I'm staying home. I'm all about the greater good here, people. Besides, all we're doing is going over the study guide she posted on like Monday and we already went over in class on Tuesday and we've got like 6 things we need to remember for this test. I LOVE being in a class intended for Freshmen when I've already completed college. Its both totally awesome and incredibly frustrating all in one happy package. We spent most of the first class talking about how important attendance is and how we need to make sure we get a good GPA because employers look at that stuff... yeah, probably not. Toss in the 8:00 am start time and I am just all a-twitter with college-y glee.

Wait, this is a HOCKEY blog? Oh yeah:

I've been reading about the Sabres' pre-training camp skates at the Pepsi Center and it is, of course, making me all girly and squealish with glee to know that ITS TRUE, HOCKEY IS COMING BACK!! It wasn't just a rumor Brian Engblom started when people were questioning why he continues to "rock" that hairstyle, its really coming back!!!

Just think! Soon, we'll have more to talk about than season predictions and crappy 3rd jerseys! THERE WILL BE MATTERS MORE PRESSING THAN MATS SUNDIN TO TALK ABOUT!!!

Pommer acknowledges his contract situation but IS HANDLING IT BETTER THAT SOMEONE I COULD MENTION, BRIAN CAMPBELL. True, the situations aren't exactly the same because Pommer is due to be an RFA next summer, but after the Campbell contract debacle, I'm pretty sure things will get straightened out within the next month. Jason Pominville, in spite being labeled gullible by Danny Briere, seems that he possesses the wherewithal to ensure that non hockey things won't affect how he plays hockey, Brian Campbell. Of course, what the hell do I know about contracts and Brian Campbell's mental conditioning? Not much, let me tell you THAT.

In somewhat Jason Pominville related news, my shortlist of potential #5 favorite Sabres is down to:

Thomas Vanek
Craig Rivet
Andrej Sekera
Adam Mair

John Vogl must've heard about my difficult decision, so in his entry in yesterday's Sabres Edge, he offered this tidbit:

*Adam Mair is a bona fide leader of men. Obviously, there aren't coaches in offseason workouts. But somebody has to take charge. On Tuesday, Mair did a lot of the lifting. He was giving younger players pointers, showing them how to trail at the blue line or cut across at the right time. He's underrated in every aspect.

WHAT? An underrated, tough, leadership-minded forward? AKA MY DREAM MAN? Ok, maybe not my dream man, that title is reserved for George Clooney (the Paul Gaustad of Hollywood, FYI, think about it, its TRUE), but STILL, my hockey dream man? Hmmmmm, I previously expressed my support for Mairsy when he was named an alternate captain after much insistence on my part, which was I'm sure the deciding factor, right Lindy? However, he tends to fall through the cracks in my heart. He does lots off the ice to support the community, working with the SPCA and participating in the SabreKidz Picnic this past summer, and when negotiating his contract in 2007, he declared he fully intended to stay in Buffalo, and then he did just that. ROCKIN'.

Why has Adam Mair been so wholly neglected by me?? I really have no idea why. He's been a Sabre for like 7 years (he was on the cover of that 2002 NHL Preview thing my sister found), he's the "works hard and doesn't expect a lot of fanfare" style player. AND he walks around tossing out dangerous words like "Stanley Cup" and "Win" and "Hockey" during interviews. He's the strong but silent REBEL who pushes the envelope. He's good with the younger players as reported by John Vogl and is visible in some mic'd up footage from 2 seasons ago where he's working with Staffy that might still be floating around the dregs of the Sabres video archives. All in all, what's not to love about Adam Mair? Really, nothing.

I shall aim to remedy this neglect this season. I vow to spend more time verbally lovin' up Adam Mair, and please remind me if I forget to.

How far can our love go, Adam Mair, how far?

Let's Revisit the 2002 Buffalo Sabres, Shall We?

by Anne

This afternoon, Mary Kate was going through some boxes at our storage space and in amongst the packaging she found this gem:

HOT. STUFF.

What is that exactly, you're asking? It is the Sabres' season preview from when they opened the season on October 10, 2002.

I'm not sure if this teddy bear was drawn this afternoon or in 2002.

The camera never knew such love.

From left to right we have Eric Boulton, now an Atlanta Thrasher, Rayzor and a babyfaced Adam Mair. Heading into the 2002 season, this was our 4th line. This year's equivalent would be like Kaleta, Petey and, actually, Mair, appearing on the cover of the season preview. No Cap'n Stu? Jay McKee? Marty Biron? No? Random. Oh how times have changed since the lockout and near bankruptcy... or have they?

In some ways yes. Check out this headline:

Wha-? Bucky actually speaks rather fondly of Ted Nolan in this article.

He also talks about how Lindy needs to evolve his managing of the team. This article is basically a "Lindy Ruff is OUTTA here" package for the fans. Another article starts listing all his "record team accomplishments" at the time, in terms of games coached and won as well as playoff stats. Hahaha. He's like doubled those numbers to date but 6 years ago, they were team records too.

Ah, good old Bucky, using the same headshot for at least the last 6 years.

If y'all recall this was NOT a good time for the Sabres. This off-season saw the League take over ownership of the team when the Rigases were arrested, they missed the playoffs and they did almost nothing during free agency. They missed the playoffs the season before and had bankruptcy issues. THEY ALSO DRAFTED POMMER THAT OFFSEASON BUT NO ONE MENTIONS THAT?!?!!!!!

Also, there was a lot of dramz because someone who was trying to buy the team was tight with Ted Nolan and there were rumbles that if that sale went through, Ted Nolan would be back and I guess people were down with that? I think they were just looking for a change because things were going from bad to worse.

There are many references in this preview to how much Lindy loves Adam Mair

"Ruff immediately fell in love with Mair's gritty, momentum-changing style. Making Mair even more attractive to the coach is the fact that he was acquired in a trade with the Los Angeles Kings for former first-rounder [Erik] Rasmussen, whom Ruff could never cajole into playing passionate hockey"

Lindy's distaste for players who play without passion runs deep, Dmitri Kalinin. I love Mairsy even though he's scary. He's quite reliable and I would definitely pick him to defend my honor in a joust.

Another difference between then and now. Please enjoy this hilarious quote:

"[Hockey observers] watched closely when a marketing campaign to drive season-ticket sales pretty much fell flat in the community."

OMG. What a *HEADDESK* moment. Dear diary, for Christmas I want a time machine so I can go back to the off-season of 2002 and convince my parents to buy season tickets. Love, Anne.

However, some headlines could easily be inserted in this year's preview and no one would find anything amiss:

Back when Afinogenov showed "promise" and before Tim Connolly "Had his brain nearly leak out his ear".

Just swap out "Campbell" for "Sekera", "Afinogenov" for "Gerbe" and "Connolly" for "Kennedy" and most of the article is still relevant.

That picture is actually Tom Barrasso, but make it Millsey and John Vogl can just copy and paste for this season


This article (by Bucky, of course) talks about the plans to increase goal-scoring and eliminate the neutral-zone trap. Once again, Bucky, copy and paste and toss in a paragraph about goaltender equipment size and you're all set.

There weren't an OVERWHELMING number of hilariously bad predictions, but I'll just touch upon a couple.

"Don't forget the guys waiting in Rochester, like 22-year olds Ryan Miller and Norm Milley,"

Good old NORM MILLEY! What a GUY!..........(WHO THE BLEEP IS NORM MILLEY?)Here's his Wikipedia page. Thank goodness we didn't hold our collective breath on that one. Who's this "Ryan Miller" guy they mention a grand total of like 3 times but only in passing?

"Satan might be on the verge of breaking out as a bona fide NHL superstar."

Oh lord, no. No no no no no. He might do well in Pittsburgh this season, but "superstar" he ain't. Thanks for trying to make us feel better, Tim Graham. We'll probably be saying the same about Vanek soon. Ugh. I LOVE YOU SABREBRITNEY1!

"Fellow prospect Norm Milley impressed the Sabres for the second straight training camp, but Kotalik was a little better."

Really? Nahhhhhh, Milley is the BOMB! HE'S OUR #1 GOALTENDER? WHY ARE WE COMPARING HIM TO KOTAL- oh Norm Milley. That guy again?

"Kalinin... could develop into one the league's elite stay-at-home defensemen."

WOW. In what universe did that ever seem possible? Maybe he'll THRIVE in New York...

Just make the obvious name and number substitutions:

"The Sabres also would prefer to reduce Biron's heavy workload from last season when he tied the team record for games played with 72. He was ridden so hard because the Sabres couldn't trust former backup Bob Essensa."

I HOPE someone copies and pastes that paragraph this year.

There was much optimism that the '02-'03 team would improve up on the poor performance of the '01-'02 team and let me just say, they could not have been more wrong. They did MUCH WORSE in '02-'03 than the previous season. In '02-'03 they went 27-37-10-8. The season before they were 35-35-11-1.

Alan Pergament called Nick Lidstrom Nick "Lindstrom" in an article as well. SHAME! SHAME! The Red Wings had JUST won the last Cup too. You should be EMBARRASSED, Alan Pergament.

Good times. Here's hoping that the '08-'09 Sabres really DO improve from last year.

P.S. What is up with that Blue Jackets prospect just deciding to call it quits?