Welcome Aboard, Jordan Leopold!

by Anne

Today the Sabres welcomed free agent defenseman Jordan Leopold.

Here's some random facts:

• He's from Golden Valley, Minnesota
• He was born August 3, 1980
• He went to the University of Minnesota
• He doesn't score a whole lot, but he usually chips in about 5-9 goals a season.
• He's an American defenseman, so he's automatically in my good graces. Instead of him having to earn my favor, he'll have to worry about losing it.
• He was hurt a lot last season.

Whatevs, welcome to the FailShip, Jordan.

                       
Personalized Glitter Graphics

               
And thus the Jordan Leopold tag is born.

Welcome Aboard, Travis Turnbull!

by Anne

I could talk about our marginal "playoff hopes" we have left, but screw that. I will instead welcome the newest passenger to the S.S. Buffalo FailShip: Travis Turnbull.

• Born July 7, 1986 in Chesterfield, MO
• Forward
  
• His dad, Perry, played eight years in the NHL for the Blues and the Jets, drafted #2 overall in 1979
  
• He has a sister named Tara who is a pole vaulter. This isn't really relevant but pole vaulting looks ridiculously hard so I wanted to give her props.
  
• Set a University of Michigan record for consecutive games played with 166. He never missed a game in his college career(!).
• He is 6'0", 193 lbs
• He was signed as a free agent to a two year entry-level contract
  
• He's actually already played at least one game with the Pirates but the Sabres didn't officially announce his signing until Monday so I held off on laying out the Welcome mat
• He loves Will Ferrell (this is highly relevant)
  
• He is majoring in "general studies" Awesome
• There's this really weird video on YouTube of some girl sitting in a car talking about how some video she made about Travis Turnbull was mean and he's not sketchy or gay. Whatevs he can be the sketchiest homosexual on the planet (which he is apparently NOT) as long as he plays well. Search his name on YouTube and you'll find it but basically that's all you need to know about it
  
• I am not planning on adding him as a Facebook friend. Or maybe I did already? I might have? Eh I'm over it.
  
• Matt Generous accepted my friend request and then I just noticed someone linked to my welcoming post on his Facebook wall. Thaaaat's weird.

These were longer last season when I didn't have homework to do.

Anyway, Travis, welcome aboard I don't have time to Google Image search pictures of him so if anyone has any doozies, send 'em our way.

Welcome Aboard, Matt Generous!

by Anne

Last year when we started acquiring new players I started searching for information about them, especially for players we signed out of college and I had absolutely no idea who they were. Who knew there was so much information about Derek "Noodles" Whitmore out there on the internet? Not me. I'm pretty sure his welcoming post was the longest I've ever done.

Anyway, on April Fool's Day the Sabres signed Matt Generous to a one year entry-level contract. Here is all the pertinent information I found about Matthew on Google:

• Matt Generous was born May 4, 1985 in Connecticut or maybe Massachusetts? I love conflicting information
  
• His parents are Susan and Edward
• He's 6'3" 200 lbs
  
• He also played Lacrosse so if the Bandits are hurting, he can help them out, right?
• He plays defense
• He's a right-handed shot!
• He attended St. Lawrence University
  
• He was drafted by the Sabres in 2005, 7th round 208th overall (take THAT 200th overall, Paul Gaustad!)
• He was named to some All-Academic teams in college
• I just realized I couldn't find his major anywhere on the St. Lawrence website. Admittedly, I didn't look that hard.
  
• Based on his point totals he's more of a stay at home defenseman, he's set a college career high in goals scored this season with eight
• This year he was named the ECAC's Most Outstanding Defenseman (Eastern College Athletic Conference)
  
• If he makes it to the NHL it'll be because of intangibles, according to hockeysfuture.com I love intangibles
• He'll be playing in Portland on an ATO and his NHL contract will begin next season
• I'm pretty sure we signed him to a one year entry-level deal but I've seen more than one unofficial source say three years so I'm not sure but the Sabres site and USA Today say one so that's what I'm going with
• I of course found him on Facebook and added him. No response yet, but I trust we'll be fast friends on the internet, right Matt? I thought so.

Action shot. Woooo!


Lookin' snappy, Matt
(both pics from the St. Lawrence University website)

Congrats on your contract! Welcome to the Sabres!

ETA: According to the Maine Hockey Journal the Sabres have signed a player named Travis Turnbull and he's reporting to Portland today. Once its official I'll find some homework to avoid doing and find some time to look up stuff about him.

Welcome Aboard, Three New Players

by Anne

Ok So I figure I'll kind of acknowledge the three players we've signed recently.

First on our plate:


Colton Fretter

• Born March 12, 1982 in Harrow, Ontario
• Parents are Doug and Susan Fretter
  
• Plays right wing
• Shoots right
• 5'10" 187 lbs
• Drafted in the 8th round by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2002
• Attended Michigan State University where he majored in kinesiology
• Jagr is/was his favorite NHL player
• He hits hard

• He's never played a game in the NHL
• His nickname is "Fretz"

Up next we have Colin Murphy

• Born April 11, 1980 in Fort McMurray, Alberta
  
• He's 6'0, 195 lbs
• He attended Michigan Tech University
• Plays Left Wing
• Shoots L
• His nickname is Murf
• He hates waiting in traffic
• He has a son named Easton
• His favorite TV show is Grey's Anatomy
• His favorite movie is 8 mile
• Played last three seasons with the Toronto Marlies
  
• He fights a lot:
  

• He has also never played a game in the NHL

Finally we have Tyler Bouck:

• Born January 13, 1980 in Camrose, Alberta
  
• He was drafted 57th overall in 1998 by the Dallas Stars
  
• He plays Right Wing and/or Center, different sites listed him as both
  
• Shoots Left
  
• Spent most of his career in the AHL but has played 91 games in the NHL
• In the NHL he has 12 points (4+8) with 93 PIM
  
• Most significantly, Tyler was the Captain of the Portland Pirates last season, so he'll be staying with the fanbase there, and I'm betting the Pirates fans are glad to see him stay. I think its a good move by management
• Played Junior hockey for the Prince George Cougars
• He owns a ferret named Glenn Close
  

That last fact may or may not have been completely made up, you be the judge.

I think I'm in a Facebook group declaring that Kris Letang does not have a Facebook profile and people want to take down the profile that claims to be him. One of the Sabres' prospects I'm friends with invited me to join. The reason I'm uncertain is that both the name of the group and group description are in French. Based on what freetranslation.com told me, I deduced the previous mentioned belief.

So Bryan McCabe is apparently willing to waive his no trade clause to consider a trade to certain teams. This is going to be a quite a different Maple Leafs team that in was in 07-08. Will they be better without Sundin if he doesn't come back? No, of course not, but they seem to be playing it smarter with the contract situations which is the first step in a slow, steady rebuilding process (cough Tampa Bay cough).

YO did anyone else see the smack talk Sean Avery laid down on the New York Rangers when he was being introduced as a new member of the Dallas Stars? He basically said that he was excited to be going to a team that was a lot better than the team he had just left. WOW. I mean, I don't think New York is great but ouch, Sean Avery, ouch.

I will say only this about the still as yet unresolved Pommer extension situation: I'm really afraid of what will happen with offer sheets if the Sabres decide to wait until then to sign him. In the past few days its crept into my mind that Larry, Darcy and Tom might be considering parting with Pommer. That thought makes me feel positively ill. Then I remind myself how public and vocal they were about taking care of his contract in this off-season before his market value sky rockets. I hope to Bob he isn't thinking about leaving us. :(

POMMER DON'T GO!!!!

No, Anne, you said August 25th. I'll push it back. Labor Day (this way its after classes have started and I won't have as much stress) is when I'll start openly fretting about my #1's contract. JJP DON'T LEAVE ME! IT RHYMES!!

IF POMMER BROUGHT BACK THIS HAIRSTYLE WOULD THAT SPEED TALKS ALONG?
I THINK WE CAN CONVINCE HIM THAT HE LOOKED HIS BEST WHEN HE ROCKED THE WHITE MAN FRO!!

I stil need 25 things don't I? I'll work on that.

Today I'm hopefully getting a new tattoo and seeing Wall-e, but unfortunately that means something will come up and I won't see it.

If I buy the Jonas Brothers new album on Tuesday, does that make me a weirdo? I kind of like them. If I were like 15 right now I guarantee you I would've been OBSESSED and Kevin would've been my favorite.... even though I couldn't remember one of their names today. It was Joe, btw.

One year ago today I adopted my KITTEN, our fearless mascot, Oscar.

Before him, I for real HATED cats

Damn it Feels Good to be a Gangsta

by Anne

Ok, by no one's definition am I a gangsta. Not even a gangsta's friend, I'm not even someone a gangsta would put a hit out on. I'm just not righteous enough.

Moms and I saw Mamma Mia last night and I actually enjoyed it. It was surprisingly more emotional than I anticipated. I was expecting ridiculous fluff, but Meryl was in it, so how could it be anything but sweet? There was a stretch in the middle where they could've done without one of the 8 songs they had in a row, but it was fine.

I keep forgetting to mention that I've seen that dude that hosts "Power Play" like 3 times in the last couple of weeks. Well it's either him or his doppelganger. Just FYI he's more attractive in person, like he's got like a really great body which you can't really tell on the show. However, he has this perma-expression of disgust on his face, like something around him smells bad. If that's just the way his face is then, whoops! Sorry dude whose name I don't feel like looking up!

I feel as per usual, I should acknowledge that we've signed a new player, yet there's been so little fanfare and he's signed a 2way contract, so I don't feel as jazzed. However, seeing as how I have no new "Tim Connolly: The Guy You Can't Take Home to Mom, But Mom Might Take Him Home To You" stories, I suppose this will have to do.

Welcome Aboard, Mathieu Darche!

• Born November 26, 1976 in St. Laurent, QC
• He was not drafted
• He plays LW
• He's 6'1", 210 lbs
• He signed with the Blue Jackets in 2000
• Has played for Columbus, San Jose and Nashville, most of the time with their AHL affiliates
• He's spent most of his career in the AHL, last season he appeared in a career high 73 NHL games - before that the most he had played in one season was 14
• In 2005-2006 he played in Germany
  
• Last season he had a career high 22 points (7+15) while playing for Tampa, which made him like their 5th highest scorer, ha. No, but he was 9th, in all seriousness. Our 9th was Pie-YAY and he had 35
• We signed him to a 1 year 2-way deal which means he'll probably spend most of his time in Portland, but they do need a big brother there, so Gerbe can have someone to hide behind when he's hurling insults at those pesky Hershey Bears, we really don't have much grit down in Portland at the moment, especially if Kaleta and Weber make the move to the big time
  
• His brother plays for the Kansas City Chiefs, he's a long snapper
  
• He's not even slutty so I can be pacified if we lose Timmy. His GF forum says that 1. He's a good guy 2. He's married and 3. He's "amazing" That is NOT what I was hoping for
• HE PICKED US OVER SIGNING WITH OTTAWA. I SUDDENLY LOVE HIM. GOOD BOY, MATHIEU!
• He has a degree in Commerce... what exactly does that mean?
• He was only the 154th player out of the Candian University Hockey system to be signed to the pros
• He had 125 hits last year, around 15 minutes of ice time per game and played on Tampa's PK, which was ranked 18th (ours was 11th, FYI)
  
• He was -14, but for Tampa, that's good. Dan Boyle was -29, Vinny was -17
  
• After the deadline he played the enforcer role sometimes on a line with Vinny Lecavalier
• Umm, that's about all I can find out about him.
• He's a Sabre now so he's way cooler than every other player on any team... except Iggy
• He would've been able to shower with Ryan Malone this season had TB re-signed him. Ouch. That one's gotta sting. I hope he'll be able to come to terms with that.
  

BTW, we need some players who are better at winning face-offs because we ranked 25th in the league in Face Off Win % with only 48.6%. That's BAD..... although Pittsburgh came in dead last, and Detroit came in #1. Interesting.

Mathieu is ready for training camp to start


From when he played in Germany
Maybe he and Yo-yo can swap stories about romps through the German countryside?

Have a good Saturday everyone!