Weirdo trade day.

I think the Flyers just wanted to make things more interesting today or something because they went all crazy and traded away two of their BIG name guys. Granted, getting Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds in their place isn't shabby at all, but wow. It came out of nowhere it seems. Jeff Carter went to Columbus (odd) and well, I think hell is breaking loose in the Flyers fanbase. If the Sabres did something like that it would be crazy. There is some talk here and there about Robyn Regehr coming here from Calgary if he will waive his no trade clause, and then someone said someone wants Roy, then it was Weber, it's like geez. No one will know what happens till it happens, so it's crazy to even listen to much of anything that is just rumored.

I was just hoping we could get rid of Tim Connolly (long time coming people, let's just do this ok?) and maybe a few others and pick up Parise (haha I can dream can't I?) and then things would be nice and sunny. If Mike Richards would have came to Buffalo that could have been nice, a new shiny captain all ready to go, no assembly required! Man. Oh well, who knows what will happen for the Sabres as of this moment, but it will just get crazier as July 1st approaches and after.

Oh and Boston won the Stanley Cup. Eh. I like Timmy Thomas, he's amazingly talented and awesome. The rest of the team...nah. I felt bad for Vancouver just like I feel bad for every team that makes it that far and loses. Oh well, that's how it goes.

Draft day is tomorrow and I will be going to HSBC arena for the first time since January for something hockey related. I am excite(d). :) Schedule was also released today, and the Sabres DO NOT PLAY THE BLACKHAWKS AT HOME THIS SEASON, ONLY AWAY. Ok, grand, how do I get myself to Chicago in January huh? Lammeee. Now I will not see my western conference boys up close for a whole season. Sucks, sucks, sucks.

Locker room renovations? Really?

Granted, I always thought the locker room was pretty shabby, but come on. Is that really going to help? Is the morale going to be so boosted by that, that a guy will come in and be like "oh wow, awesome new room! lemme score a goal tonight!"...no. It will not really matter. It might help a little I guess, but it should be bottom of the barrel priorities. How about WHO'S INSIDE the locker room first? I'm sure that will have to be worked on in the summer also. Whatever effort was put in by this team this season was just not enough to advance, same story as last year.

I commend this man for trying to make the place better for the guys, really. It does deserve to be up there with other teams in terms of how nice it is and blah blah, but the team also has to show it's the caliber to actually deserve it. Things are getting better, but they are far from there yet. I hope this summer with new ownership can shed some light on some things, like getting us some new faces, as we have quite a bit of free agents, and signing some of these same guys would make for no advantage come October. Some should stay, but more should probably go. I understand people being proud of the fact the team even MADE the playoffs when we were counted out wayyy before that for any type of post season run. More needs to happen though, it needs to build season by season. The season after you should make the 2nd round, and go up from there, not stay stagnant. If that is happening, something needs a shake up, whether it be coaching, players, etc.

Do you see teams keeping a coach year after year after failed attempts at playoff runs or if they were cut short? No. A lot of times that coach is out of there before the team even cleans out their lockers. I don't think Lindy Ruff is necessarily a BAD coach, but maybe his style or coaching is not working for this core of guys, or maybe just some of them. From the looks of the press conference this morning though, it seems Lindy will be here to stay for some time longer, so who knows. I just feel something must change before October, and something more than the adding of a guy like a Brad Boyes or the like. It seems to be just a patch on a situation, then the guy ends up gone sooner or later anyway. We have had some guys here for forever it seems, and the results seem to stay the same. It gets me frustrated to no end how no one ever seems to want to stir the pot with this team ever. Make a move that will be like "wow, this team is really looking to do something" yeah, how bout that? Pominville, Vanek, Connolly, Stafford, etc. are not rookies anymore. There is no growth and development for them to hit, they are where they are probably going to be for the rest of their careers, they are not like Ennis and Gerbe. What you are going to see at the highest (and lowest) is what you can expect if you keep them on the roster. The big men in the suits will have to figure out if this is the core they want, is that what they think will make this team get somewhere someday. Granted, a lot of guys are signed for a bit and will probably not be moved, but regardless, in my opinion, Connolly would need to go. Lalime also, and maybe even Montador, Grier and especially Niedermayer. Some of those spots need to be filled in with new guys, and then if next year takes a nosedive because of it, you work from there. But it seems like they want to stay wayyy too safe just because these guys have been here for so long. Come on, mix it up will ya? Geez.

Ok, that was super long. But yeah, that's what I had to say about all that.

This doesn't seem too good.

I agree with Bucky Gleason's latest Buffalo News column. Oh boy. Yeah I don't see how all this adds up, but I do know that we lost a pretty hard worker in Tim Kennedy. He is young, he hasn't had that much time in the NHL, but it seems like it really didn't matter about his skills (or lack thereof, or whatever) it was over a minuscule amount of money in NHL standards. They get rid of TK and turn around and get this Shaone Morrisonn guy (ok, there are WAY too many unnecessary letters in his name) that I have never heard of. That's the thing though, the Sabres always want to spend money on these guys that you are like "huh, who?" or who are kind of washed up already. They also let go of anyone with any promise, and hold on to guys who are just dragging the team down.

I could go on and on about the Tim Connolly's and Drew Stafford's and all that, but I seriously don't know what to think at this point with this management team. Maybe Tim Kennedy wasn't the player you wanted to hang on to the very most, but was there really a BIG reason to get rid of him? Just let him sit there and not play? You guys are making no sense with this one. It's just business until we all turn around and see Tim Connolly or Derek Roy signed until the end of time (which I think will be the case because, maybe sounds childish, but some of the big guys play favorites it seems). If you tell me that Tim Connolly will be gone after his contract is up, and that maybe you will think about letting some of these other guys explore greener pastures before they are too old to do so, then maybe I will cut you some slack. The thing is, I doubt that will happen. Will we have the same "core" forever and just tread water for the next 10 years? I don't want to say yes, but I feel that is correct. The management makes these little crappy moves like this will help us, but will it? Will saving $200,000 on Kennedy help us bring in someone to turn the whole team around? Of course not. Is this just some silly little thing because they are pissed off Timmy wanted a little more money? Probably. Don't get so defensive dudes, it is afterall "business" like you said.

I don't want to be not even in Sept. yet and feeling like the upcoming season is a bust, so I will just hang out and see what happens. We do have some new guys that could help out, could change the dynamics a little bit, hopefully for the better. I just get very frustrated by the dumb moves that are made here sometimes. I really wonder sometimes if anyone in this organization wants a stanley cup. They need to start looking at the bigger picture here, or it will be a long off season, again.

Sooo...yeah.

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.

Is it October yet?

Yeah, I miss our team of buttheads right about now, but I also miss hockey in general. July 1st can also be a pretty fun day, but I want the actual PLAYING of hockey back please. Having to start one of those cross off the days calendars in June is pretty pathetic, but hey, I'm not above it, and I did it. So hmpfffff.

I was also trying to figure out what games this season are games I just HAVE to be at, like can not miss ones, and have come to the conclusion that I will need to have money for the home opener plus money for tickets to see the Blackhawks the one time they come here, which just happens to be a few days later. So yeah, I will be a ticket buying machine it would seem. I would also like to see them play a few other teams, but they are teams they will play at least twice I think, so that's ok.

Development camp starts for the newbies next week, and that can be fun too I guess. I'm thinking of going up to NU maybe Thurs. because it's in the evening, or Friday morning if I can maybe get some people to go with me. I really want to see this Mark Pysyk in action and see what he's all about. Plus another 40 some guys getting their skills on. Or something like that...lol.

The draft party at the arena was pretty cool, it was nice to be back in HSBC again, and the locker room tour was pretty awesome as well. I can't believe Robi is still in that neck brace though :( I hope he gets better over summer and can be 100% once the season starts back up. It was cool to be on the floor and sit on the players bench and all that other stuff. No ice makes it kind of ehhh, but still cool. I still don't understand how they hop over those boards though, geez. I mean, my dad kept saying "there is ice, which is higher than this floor, and they wear skates which makes them taller, and they are taller than you to begin with" lol. All of which is true, BUT I am taller than Nathan Gerbe, so what about that huh? He must literally have to hop over the boards. Or, as my dad noted "they can just use the door sometimes" which is also true...haha. So yeah, that was a fun night for sure.

Hockey, just come on, come back. This summer time crap is bull. I want my cold weather back (or at least COOLER weather) and the sound of the fans in the arena, and the pucks hitting the boards and the chill in the arena and the goal horn and blahhh. Now I'm really sad. Booo. :(

I hate you summer.