Saturday, July 10, 2010

What's been going down?

Not a whole lot, or a whole lot, depending on how you look at it.

Resigned:

Lalime--I don't think I gave the dude enough credit. I sometimes was like ehhh why are you doing this??? But you know what? The dude tries, he really does, and he has heart. I'm going to look forward to seeing what he can do for the team this season. Welcome back Patty!

Cody McCormick--Don't know a whole lot about the guy, but I do remember he did pretty well when he was up here for the short time this past season. It's one of those things where you have to see him play more to see what he's really about. More grit is needed in certain areas, so I think that's what the Sabres were going with in signing him. Also I hear rumors it may be because Adam Mair is on the way out (but I don't know this, the rumor mill is mighty vicious if you ask me...).

Mike Weber signed a one year qualifying offer and Corey Tropp signed a 3-year entry level contract. Mike Weber has been floating around camp forever it seems, but I still know little to nothing about him. I'm sure (maybe?) all this will lead up to something in the future, but for now, it is what it is.

We also signed Rob Niedermayer a couple days back and that was the big talk. He is the younger brother of Scott Niedermayer (which confused me that day...lol) and he won a stanley cup with the Anaheim Ducks in 2007. I don't have much say on the situation because it is always hard to tell how a player will mesh with a team and what will end up happening until the season actually starts and the players all play together. Hopefully this will bring good things to the team and something more of a stable leadership, because I really think the Sabres lack that at times.

Went to development camp yesterday to check out some of the younger talent and see how they play. Gerbe, Ennis and Myers were the ones with a little bit more experience than the others obviously, but they all seemed to get along really well and play well together. A bunch of kids came in to sit in on the practice yesterday, and they were amped, it was so funny. They were screaming and stomping their feet, I'm sure it made the guys on the ice feel like it was a real game...haha. Pretty fun times.

I don't know if the Sabres are looking to make more moves (I would HOPE so), but who ever knows. The management makes me nuts half the time (like they do for a lot of people it seems) because they are often scared of testing waters. Maybe the moves they did make will be the right ones and things will go really, REALLY well this season. Cause that big, shiny, silver cup seems pretty damn cool to me.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

July 1st is kind of scary to me.

People are talking it's like the Christmas of the NHL, but to me, it's scary. I mean, you get used to a set of guys making up your team, and then it is broken up and new people are added and it's weird.

Toni Lydman is off to Anaheim (I'm not sad, sorry) and Hank the tank is going to New Jersey (but he gets to play with Parise and Brodeur on his team, come on, that is awesome) so we say goodbye to some. We got a man by the name of Jordan Leopold, and I don't know much about him. I read he has been prone to concussions (hmmm) and really doesn't have any big, good stats to talk about. So we shall see. It's 3 years, so I just hope he doesn't end up the Raffi Torres of defense, because that will suck for 3 whole years. Oh well, time will tell.

Nothing really big happening with the Sabres camp though. I mean signing that one dude is just, eh. I want big action, but I have to realize I am a fan of the wrong team if I'm looking for that type of thing. I just can't believe that like 5 Blackhawks are gone, and I think 3 of them went to Atlanta or something like that, with Kris Versteeg going to Toronto and Adam Burish off to Dallas. That team was all shook up, geez. Their cap was crazy tight though, and with Kane and Toews needing to be under lock for a long time, there was just NO wiggle room for them. Sucks, but at least those guys got the cup and the love from the city before they left. Atlanta is going to have a brand new team come October, that's for sure.

The rumor mill goes crazy out of control during times like these though. I've heard that they are in talks with Torres to sign him for like 3 more years or something (hope this is FALSE) and that Lalime isn't going anywhere and that the Flyers want Kaleta. I also heard the Flyers wanted Tallinder and Lydman before they went to those other teams though, so it's all so crazy. No use in getting all nutty about it until it's finalized, so we'll have to see what else happens for the Sabres. Hopefully something good....maybe? Eh.