pi2000

They need to even out the conferences.

The Sabres were the lowest scoring team in the league last season, by a very wide margin (30 goals fewer than FLA, that's almost a goal every other game worse than the #29th ranked team). That said, they need offense. McDavid and Eichel are the best offensive players to enter the draft in a decade, so yeah I'd say getting one of those guys would jump start the rebuild, probably get them to where they want to go a lot quicker. That's not to say either of these guys will guarantee a Cup in the next 5 years, but they'll certainly help the Sabres be more competitive.

Norm Lacombe Shawn Anderson Jiri Novotny Joey Juneau Chris Gratton Erik Rasmussen Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre MIchal Grosek Drew Stafford Ville Leino Jocelyn Thibault Ales Kotalik Derek Roy Maxim Afinogenov Steve Bernier Christian Ruuttu Mikael Anderson Kevin Haller Taylor Pyatt Mika Noronen Dmitri Kalinin

ehrhoff out, gorges in tank on

south orange county

Good deal for the Ducks who are close to another Cup. Didn't have to give up a young stud D prospect like Vatanen or Lindholm.

...Buffalo ranked #2 to Chicago in TV ratings for LA/CHI game 7, handily beating out the LA market. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/kings--blackhawks-game-7-sets-ratings-record-for-nbcsn-154610280.html What does this say about Buffalo? Or, more importantly, what does this say about LA?

Played hockey my whole life, quit playing after 1 season of pro-hockey in Florida, moved to California and competed in triathlons for about 5 years. Finished up with an Ironman in 2005, had 2 young kids at the time, didn't have time to train, so got back into hockey playing advanced adult leagues. Now coach both of my boys teams here in soCal. Still workout everyday, gym, run, bike or hockey. I'm in the gym twice a week and do a little of every major muscle group each time I'm there. Spend most of my time on legs (squats, lunges and calf rasises), followed by a 15min stretch which works wonders. Between adult league, and my boys, I'm on the ice literally 6 days a week. I work from home fulltime as a network engineer, so I find time to workout in the mornings or lunch time before heading off to a local rink in the evenings. It's an addiction. If I don't workout I feel achy and depressed. The hardest part is trying to eat right and get enough rest to recover for the next day.

yay! The Buffalo Wings

Agreed. The tank didn't officially start until the launched Miller, Ott and Moulson. If you thought they were bad last season, just wait until next. Consider this.... here's some numbers since the trade deadline this season. record: 3-21 (2 regulation wins) This translates to a 12 win season in 2014-15. They had 21 this season. Shutout 3 times. Scored 1 goal or less 11 times... that's slightly less than half the games. Scored a total of 33 goals in those 24 games, 1.38 goals per game. At that pace they would score 113 goals over the course of a full 82 game season. They scored a league worst 157 goals THIS season, which is a whopping 40 goals fewer then the next lowest scoring team, FLA. Their leading scorer (on their present roster) is Cody Hodgson with 44 points. He finished 117th in the NHL points race. 117th! Tyler Ennis lead the team in goals with 21, ranking 84th in the league. Yay! Top 100!

Paille Sarich Tropp Regehr Ballard McCormick Moulson Pominville Briere Vanek Moore Pyatt Torres Leopold Miller Ott Roy Kostka

OK, here we go. - Ville Leino will NOT be bought out, they'll keep him around to get to the cap floor. - Sabres win the lottery, picking first select Sam Reinhart - no big name free agent signings, a grizzled vet or two, but they will NOT be major players in the FA market - players NOT re-signed / tendered: Konopka, Conacher, Scott, Tallinder, McBain, Sulzer - players re-signed / tendered: Ennis, Foligno, D'Agostini, Ruhwedel, Hackett - players possibly extended: Stafford, Pysyk, Lieuwen - at least one of the following are traded: Neuvirth, Enroth, Stewart, Ehrhoff, Weber, Pysyk, Armia and any of the young D prospects - the NYI's will keep their 1st round pick this year, deferring their 1st rounder in 2015 to the Sabres (The Isles need to decided by June 1st) - STL will not make the WCF, nor will they re-sign Miller (therefore they do not give their 2014 1st rnd pick to Buffalo) - that said, if they do NOT get the NYI's first round pick this year and do NOT get STL's 1st, Tim Murray will swing a trade to get a second 1st rnd pick in 2014 - Ted Nolan will rebuild his coaching staff from the ground up (Sacco will remain)

All this talk about one player this, one player that. Let me ask you this... would the BlackHawks have won those Cups without Kane? Sometimes one player, one GREAT player, is enough to put a team over the hump. Buffalo will have a shot this year and next to land 2-3 elite talents. If they don't screw it up, they'll be set for the next decade.

if you're a beginner my advice as a former pro and current coach (jr kings) is to buy what feels most comfortable. if you're uncomfortable, it's less fun, and then what's the point? if $100 skates are most comfortable, go with them. as your level of play increases, you'll benefit from lighter more responsive gear.... but as a beginner, that will make virtually no difference whatsoever. i wouldn't recommend used skates. they may be broken in, but they're broken in to the original owners foot... so don't waste your money. comfort is key. skates.... go with bauer or graf, ignore everything else. 95% of folks will fit in either of those two brands. both are high quality and will last. I've seen countless pairs of eastons and ccm's break down after little as 2 months of regular play.... eyelets popping off, tearing, broken tongues, pressure points, etc... bauer and graf are the only skates you should ever consider. graf have slightly more of a forward lean and wider footbed. bauer runs a bit narrower but offer better arch support... so it depends on your foot shape. personally i use the bauer vapor line (last years pro-stock APX)... best skates I've ever owned. i would recommend nothing but skating lessons for the first 2-3 months.... 2-3 times a week, get out to public skate and just skate skate skate. puck control and shooting can be done off-ice. when you're on the ice, ALL your attention should be on learning your edges. edge work, edge work, and more edge work. if you can afford private lessons, then that will help accelerate your development, but by no means is it necessary. there are lots of good youtube videos w/ skating drills, and usahockey.com has lots of resources as well.... but your main focus initially should be on knee bend and wide stance. when your legs tire you lose your knee bend, so the more you skate and work those muscles, the more endurance and better form you'll have. http://www.usahockey.com/page/show/893676-learn-to-skate

Pysyk, McCabe, Myers, Ristolainen, Ehrhoff and Ruhwedel/Ekblad move Zadorov to forward, yes. Ristolainen is servicable, but I just don't see all-star potential there. Maybe an Alex Edler at best? Sekera. What happened there? He has 44 points (top 10 in D scoring), and is a +1. Shea Weber has 46 points and is a -9. I mean... really?

I'm just not that impressed with Ristolainen. What does he do out there that makes him a special player? He looks slow to me, slow footed, lacking quickness and top end speed. When he turns from backward to forward guys are blowing right by him. Sure he's got good size and can pass pretty well, but it's not like he's a shutdown guy or is generating any scoring chances. I see him as the second coming of Dmitri Kalinin. I also don't get why they didn't recall Pysyk instead... is he injured? I mean, I think Risto could benefit more from playing in Roch. Pysyk is more NHL ready IMO.

This guy has very good hands and skating ability. He's killing it in the OHL. With all the defensive prospects the Sabres have, I would consider moving Zadorov to the wing... ala Brent Burns.

well, it used to be you could move up no more than 5 spots. this year, any of the non-playoff teams can win the #1 pick.

I'm OK with Bennett or Reinhart. This is a wash. Next year however... McDavid or bust.

I like that they do the lottery immediately after the season ends. Gives us something to get excited about I guess. At the conclusion of the regular season, the 14 NHL teams not qualifying for the playoffs are entered in a weighted lottery to determine the initial draft picks in the first round, seeded according to regular season standing. The 30th-place team has the best chance of winning the lottery (25%) while the 29th-place team has a 18.8% chance of winning, with odds diminishing to a 0.5% chance for the 17th-place team. A single selection from the lottery pool is made, with the winning team improving its draft position to the number 1 spot, and no team dropping more than one place.

I wish they'd let players get custom paint jobs on their helmets

McDavid + Reinhart/Bennett + NYI first rounder + some FA's and prospects developing = a legit Cup contender (see Crosby/Malkin, Kane/Toews, Kopitar/Doughty, etc..) The league already as a salary cap floor and a draft lottery, this is as anti-tank as they should get. Just 10 years ago there was no lottery and no cap floor.... how fair was that? But I don't recall anybody complaining about it then. Parity used to be the priority. These proposed adjustments to the lottery are anti-parity. The worst team in the league only getting pick #6? Makes no sense.

Nobody is forcing the fans to buy tickets, watch the games on TV, or buy merchandise. If you don't like the product, then don't spend your hard earned dollars on the Sabres. Again, it's a free marketplace. If they believe the Sabres are a poor product, then don't sponsor them. If the Sabres draft McDavid next season and win a Cup at some point in the next 10, it will make one or two years of tanking worthwhile. It's smart business. And IMO the league would love to see a hockey crazy region like western new york raise the Stanley Cup, which is not likely to happen if they continue to field a mediocore team with no elite talent.

They should keep it simple and use 5 point buckets. ie, teams finishing with 60-65 points in one bucket, teams with 65-70 points in another bucket... and only allow re-ordering of teams within the same bucket. ie, Sabres finish all by themselves in the lowest bucket... they get the first pick. FLA, EDM, and NYI finish in the next bucket.... they get assigned picks 2-4 at random. Basically, just group teams by how bad they are. I don't understand why the league is so anti-tank. I mean, it's part of sport... if you're willing to sacrifice now to be rewarded years down the road, then so be it. That's a large part of fan interest in the game, taking solace that your last place team at least gets to add one potential stud for the next season... and there's not even an guarantee that player will pan out. But to finish last by such a wide margin, and not even get a top 3 pick is just dumb.