Two or less

Per ESPN's Scott Burnside, he is. Link- http://espn.go.com/c...oaches-hot-seat I have to disagree with him though. We all know the love-affair Terry Pegula has with Ruff and Darcy. If the Sabres do start off slow, i think they'll be quick to blame the inexperience at forward, bright prospects on the horizon and short season as not a good way to judge.

Check out this beauty goal by 7th round pick Christian Isackson from the University of Minnesota Gophers. This was Isackson's 3rd goal of the season. #1 Minnesota beat #2 Notre Dame 4-1.

Rewind back to July 1st, 2011 when Terry Pegula send a army to Brad Richards' agents office in Ontario. Teams camped out with hopes to have a chance to speak with Richards and his agent. It all seemed pretty chaotic. Nobody to this day even knows if we spoke to them, and if so, for how long? The madness which ended with the famous butttweet "so no richards" by one of the Pegula daughters. Pegula and Black have been committed to making Buffalo a destination for players to come play. From better locker rooms, to treating players like gods, to helping their families with anything and everything, to commitment to winning, and so and so. They somehow got Robyn Regehr to waive his no-trade clause to come to Buffalo. According to Pierre LeBrun, the NHL is adopting a NBA free agent rule, where from the end of the draft until June 30th, teams can meet and speak with upcoming free agents. This gives us (and any team interested) a chance to sell any upcoming free agent on coming to Buffalo. No more stakeouts at players' agent offices, but players can come, visit with our management and owner, and be sold on the team and city. If the money is right (cap reasons), who wouldn't want to play for Pegula? Just a thought, but i feel like this could really help us lure some top notch free agents. Link- http://espn.go.com/b...ore-cba-details

I've heard, the team can not reacquire that player by any means for the upcoming season. Not the length of the deal. Not that this would change your point, but figured i would add that bit of info.

Absolutely awful. My thoughts and prayers are with Dominic and his family.

While Regier downplayed his recovery and said he's "coming along", Paul Hamilton said on WGR that he's been told by a team source that Gerbe will start the season on IR. Hope John Scott has been working out.

haha gotcha. I guess i should of gotten it once you named Tarnasky. I do really like Brian Flynn.

Theres nothing you said there that is incorrect, but i believe Lindy Ruff would disagree with you. Unlike Tropp, Ellis can win you some faceoffs, is a sound player in his own zone, and is one of the better players on the squad along the boards. I also agree with you, however.

Why Varone? Besides a 3 month stretch last season, he's been pretty useless in the two seasons for Rochester. I still think he can be a decent player but he's very raw. We'll see Joel Armia play in Buffalo long before we do Varone.

LOL exactly. I saw a few people on twitter mock ESPN for their lack of coverage of the lockout ending, but, nobody really talked about NHL Network not having any coverage at all besides one sentence on the bottom line. At the least, they should of had an update at the top of each hour. The channel is beyond awful. Even On the Fly isn't that great compared to other sports networks primetime shows.

... For Rochester.

LOL! Speaking of former members, the guy i miss most is Carpandean. Anyone know where he's at? Hope the dude and his restaurant business are doing ok.

If you had a choice between more money or playing for the Islanders, which would you choose...? Easy decision.

Sabres roster is loaded as is. Adam and Porter have zero chance in my opinion of making the Sabres from the get-go. I could see Adam going to Sabres camp but send down prior to the 19th, though. In the short term, they can always play Drew Schiestel at wing, and call up Corey Fienhage from Gwinnett.

Thank god, as long as 37 is there, all is well in Sabreland! Wonder what kind of shape John Scott is in right about now...? lol

Best forum i've ever been part off, looking forward for another season of Sabres hockey with you guys (and girls). So glad we can talk about more then just the CBA and prospects now... Game On!

Not sure I agree with this. In the late 90's, there was a ton of busts, Euro and North America, probably because of lack of scouting but also teams were probably reaching on Europeans to find the next "Moginly" or "Federov". Kind of like how baseball teams today overpay to sign Japanese players, hoping to land that next star, even though most of the players who come over are average at best. I looked at roughly the last 10 years (more modern era), and it seems like teams have shied away from picking Europeans at free will, similarly to Sabres going a long stretch with all North American players. The number of busts still remained high - just most of them are North American players. I based it off where the player was chosen (all these are top-10 picks) and lack of scoring at the NHL level. Euros- Nikita Filatov, Boris Valabik, Lauri Tukonen and Marek Zagrapan (not top10) seem to be the only ones. Magnus Paajarvi is the next worst player in this time period, and he's just 21 years old and despite a horrid season, has 17 NHL career goals already. N.A.- Jack Skille, Zach Hamill, James Sheppard, Rob Schremp, Gilbert Brule, Benoit Pouliot, Nazem Kadri, Alexandre Picard, AJ Thelen, Hugh Jessiman and even goalies Al Montoya and Pascal Leclaire. Seems to me, teams are staying away from trying to shoot for the stars by drafting a Euro, but their missing at a similar rate as they did when they did draft unknown Europeans. During this time period, when teams did pick a Euro, most have been successful. List of the most successful- Ovechkin, Malkin, Mikkel Boedker, Landeskog, Hedman, Ekman-Larsson, Nic Backstrom (capitals) and Jakub Voracek.

Funny thing about starting the season on January 19th is, NBC Sports Network has a college basketball triple header planned. Not sure if they can get out of that commitment, but if not, you'll see zero hockey on mainstream television on opening night... i wonder if this is why the league was so desperately trying to start on the 15th instead? Apparently the free center ice was just a rumor. Doesn't appear that will be the case. Gamecenter Live however, may be, from what i have heard.

Nothing is set in stone, but the rumored date is April 5th. NHL proposed it, now NHLPA has to approve.

Speaking about centers, two teams to watch for if a trade is made I think is Edmonton and Colorado. Both teams are thin on defense and could really use some help. Edmonton has Gagner that has been rumored to be dealt for the longest time, and the Avalanche have Ryan O'Reilly. Just 21 years old, he scored 18 goals and had 37 assists last season with Colorado, got angry at the lowball Colorado offers prior to the lockout, so he signed a 2 year deal in the KHL. He isn't planning on returning to Denver which must have them fuming. In his KHL contract, he does have an out-clause if he is offered more money state-side.

The center position is very frightening for sure. And while I will not say this Sabres team should be good, but I feel like they can have an edge on many others and atleast make the playoffs. Regehr and Leopold should benefit from a short season. Much more rested. As should Ryan Miller. If our defense holds up, and Miller plays at the top of his game, we have a chance to beat anybody on any given night. Where will the secondary scoring come from remains a question.

I think no matter what, Brennan is in Buffalo for camp. Same goes to Foligno and Adam. I doubt they play any of the guys who are gearing up for camp even if some of these players may just be there short term and send back down in a week. Just guessing though.

Even if McNabb wasn't struggling in Rochester, he would have almost no chance at making this roster. Not a talent thing, but a numbers thing. There just ain't no room, and he doesn't need to pass waivers to play in Rochester. Decision much easier now though, with McNabb struggling a bit all season.

Per Bob McKenzie, Grigorenko will be at the Sabres training camp when it opens.

Well said!