thesportsbuff

DStebb officially has more sources than Eklund and HockeyyInsiderr combined Now we just need him to confirm Grigorenko staying for the season!

Having this problem as well... in the 1560-1568 range only the first two channels actually show games. Not sure if it is a restriction of the free trial, or because my cable signal is weak (had this problem in the past). Either way I'd like to know if others are having this problem before I made any kind of commitment...

I hope you don't really think that. :P

I'm torn on it. I would prefer he stay in the NHL, but right now I think the team is leaning towards returning him to Quebec. Tyler Myers set the bar pretty high for the whole 9-game tryout deal. Grigorenko hasn't been bad by any means, but he certainly hasn't had an immediate impact the way Myers did a few years ago. But, that said, last night on the PP was the first time in three games that he had the puck on his stick long enough to make a play. Ultimately he ended up turning it over, which is bad, but he made some nice passes and the unit had good possession as a whole -- it was a good confidence boosting shift for him up until the turnover. I'd love to see him stay and get more ice time to see what he can really do, but I have to admit some of his passes have gone wild, he's made some mistakes, and overall has had little impact offensively. It's not realistic to expect him to step in and be a star player in his first five games, but I was hoping to see more out of him. I wish we had more than 5 games to decide. I like what I've seen overall, but I think most will agree: we need to see more of him, which means more ice time. If Lindy can't find a place to get him adequate ice time with skill players who can thrive off of his skill set, then what is the point? I know you can't just throw him to the sharks, but you're not going to get a great idea of his ability and his limitations in 5 games if you're babying him into the lineup. I think if the Sabres had to decide right now, he'd be back in Quebec. A couple strong performances could change that.

It's a moot point by now, but here is the video of the extended 5-on-3 Toronto had late in the first period. This video begins as Steve Ott takes the third penalty of the sequence. Pay attention to the powerplay clock, which is dead accurate in this video. This was a mistake made by the officials, not a matter of the display clock being wrong. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7gMDzUyS5c As you can see, Ott enters the box with :23 seconds left in the initial 5-on-3 (meaning :23 seconds left in Stafford's penalty). Once that clock expires, the 5-on-3 clock resets to :21 seconds, reflecting the remaining :21 seconds of Tyler Myers' penalty. The Sabres are able to clear the puck and you see Myers standing at the door as the 5-on-3 expires. Play comes back up ice -- Myers still standing at the door. The Leafs cycle around, generate a shot and eventually score a goal that would be waived off, all while Buffalo still has just three players on the ice. The most telling of all perhaps is the lengthy conferences at the timekeepers table and Buffalo bench -- Sylvester and Rayzor thought they were reviewing the goal, but I suspect this had more to do with managing the powerplay clock. Buffalo ices four players when play resumes after the No Goal is confirmed. Indeed it was. The Sabres' success that year speaks for itself, but there is a lot of emotional attachment as well. I was only 15 (then 16) during that Season and needless to say teens have a lot going on at that age. I enjoyed some of the best times of my life with some of the best friends of my life during that season. Not all of us talk anymore and those of us that do definitely aren't as wreckless and care-free as we used to be, so I guess I just always remember that season as the year that I "grew up" -- both as a person and a hockey fan. Connolly was my favorite player during those days, I guess I just never want to let go of that.

I got my jersey altered to a Hodgson :( But thinking of 05-06 Connolly still helps me sleep at night

I wish I had it DVR'd so I could timestamp accordingly, but I think your timeline is pretty close. All I'm saying is at 2:15 (based on your timeline) when the 5-on-3 should have ended (Both Stafford/Myers penalties expired, only Ott left on the penalty clock) nobody left the box. One player should have been allowed to join the play but didn't until several seconds later when Toronto scored and had it waived off. It wasn't until after this goal was waived off that someone finally left the penalty box. Toronto had an extra 30+ seconds of 5 on 3 when Buffalo should have had 4 skaters on.

THANK YOU!!! I noticed this last night! It was BS but the company I had over didn't believe me, and we didn't have the fortune of DVR. So glad I didn't have to dig very far into this thread to have my suspicion confirmed. Stafford took the first penalty with a little over 6 minutes to go in the first period. Just 20 seconds into that penalty, Myers shot it over the glass, making it a 5-on-3 for about 1:40. The Ott penalty came with roughly 20 seconds left in the FIRST Sabres penalty (Stafford's), and therefor about :40 left in Myers' penalty. Because the Sabres had three overlapping penalties, Stafford could not leave the box when his penalty expired, as it was still a 5-on-3 situation. However, I watched the clock from the first 5-on-3 hit double zeros, and then reset to a :20 second 5-on-3 (now Myers & Ott penalties being clocked). But when the clock hit :00 again, signifying the end of Myers penalty and the second portion of the 5-on-3, they still would not allow a Sabre to leave the box. Either Myers or Stafford was standing at the door ready to join the play, but they either were not permitted to or were confused and didn't want to take a penalty. Toronto gained at least an extra 30 seconds of 5 on 3 play during this fiasco, and actually scored a goal, although it was waived off eventually.

I'm sure the Leafs will have some pre-game festivities for the home opener, but 25 minutes worth seems extensive. Wonder if she meant 7:15? PS Happy birthday Spndnchz

To follow up on this, remember that at any given time you can set your schedule for upcoming days. I generally take 5 minutes every Sunday and set my lineup for the whole week. If an injury comes up or whatever you'll have to make adjustments accordingly, but at least this way you don't have to check it every day and if you're not able it, it's not a big deal. Just a heads up because some new players might not know.

Weird. Someone probably got lazy.

It's a valid concern, but I just think we have too many forwards on the roster and on the brink of making the roster for a "Stoll for Leopold" trade. Also, I know Ott is playing wing now, but I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up playing down the middle. You also have McCormick and Leino who allegedly can at least "sort-of" play center if it came to it. We have several "bottom six" forwards who can take play center. Granted none of them bring what Stoll brings to the table, but I just don't see a depth center as a large organizational need overall anymore. As for the Hodgson/Ennis/Grigorenko situation.. imo none of them are third line centers, so I'm not sure how the Sabres will handle this. I heard Grigorenko is/was playing in a third-line type role in camp w/ Ott and Leino, so maybe he will continue that role in the NHL, but Ruff has a lot of options. I'm not saying I would do it, but you could feasibly put Ennis back on the wing if Grigorenko impresses enough to warrant the move. I believe it was Kris Baker who said on WGR on last week that Grigorenko was one of the first players in a long time that he can't envision playing the wing. He said he was too natural of a center for a coach to to "ease him in" on the wing.

Haha I had someone on my timeline retweet this clown this afternoon as he was going on about the Sabres and Stoll. I was hoping he'd faded away by now. In theory it makes sense.................well, not really. I mean yea the Sabres have a lot of defensemen to figure out what to do with, but it's not like we have a whole lot of room at forward either. Especially with Hecht back in the fold and Grigorenko potentially making the roster -- it's almost a "good" thing that Tropp is out for the season because based on his play last year, he'd be in line for a roster spot too. So simply put, we don't really have room for Stoll, and with now THREE young centerman who project to develop into #1/2 centers, I'm not sure how high center is on our list of priorities anymore.

nice draft boys. i really like my team. i overslept my alarm a little bit and missed my first two picks, but couldn't be happier with who yahoo gave me. Both Kovalchuk and Kessel were on my Top 10 list, and being that I picked 16th (& 17th), pretty lucky those two were available imo.

If only 30,000 tickets sold meant "30,000 people buying tickets to the game" and not "10,000 people buying multiple tickets to sell them on Stubhub for 3x face value because they know Buffalo loves their hockey."

Nope -- checked all my spam folders, both in my e-mail client as well as in the web browser version.

That makes me feel a little better. I had suspected such was the case when I couldn't even get a set of 2 for that game at 12:05 when I finally got my pre-sale code. But, you never know -- maybe that one set of four remaining went at 12:04? I will be living in a world of "what if's" for quite some time. There are still lots of tickets available for other games, but as I said, my friends and I had already made plans for this one. It will take some coordination and planning to figure out another day that works for everybody. My e-mail history with Buffalo Sabres... lol

So I guess I jumped the gun a little bit in my criticism of the Twitter post -- evidently the "Social Media Pre-sale" and "Sabres Insider Pre-sale" were different promotions, contrary to my belief that the Social Media pre-sale replaced the Sabres Insider pre-sale. So I can't be mad at twitter guy. But how I can get 10 e-mails in the last week from the Buffalo Sabres, only to NOT get the one with the pre-sale code in it.... what? It is very disappointing. Not quite Winter Classic disappointing, but disappointing none the less. I had already made plans with some friends to attend the game. Armed with cable internet, a pre-sale code and good computer skills, I figured snatching up the tickets would be a breeze. Now I have to go pass my disappointment on to my buddies as well.

Really? That kind of just made me 100 times more upset than I was before. I just checked my junk mail and spam folders, there's nothing there. The e-mail didn't come to me.

I'm just jealous. Just attaching this file so you guys can look at the fancy e-mail they sent me yesterday.

I know a lot of you are season ticket holders who don't care about the trials and tribulations of the "average fan," but today's pre-sale has left a sour taste in my mouth. Long story short, I'm mad because I didn't get the tickets I wanted, but my anger is a little more warranted than just some guy who wasn't fast enough at the mouse. Last week I got two e-mails mentioning a "Sabres Insider Pre-Sale" on Monday the 14th. If you re-call, last season I was torn to shreds on this message board for my belief that all the "Sabres Insiders" bonus stuff should be exclusive, to, well, Sabres Insiders, regardless of how simple it is to become one. But I guess if an Insider shares the code and a couple thousand extra people get in on the pre-sale, it's not too big of a deal. The code is bound to spread around with the way the internet and social media works these days. I got another e-mail Sunday afternoon. It reads, "Buffalo Sabres Insider Ticket Pre-Sale begins tomorrow at noon! Watch your inbox tomorrow morning for your password!" So I'm thinking this is awesome. I'm going to get my pre-sale code Monday morning, hit the pre-sale at 12:00:00:00:00:01 and have my tickets to the Philly game --- one problem: no e-mail. I checked my e-mail at 11 am. Nothing yet, but no biggy -- there's still lots of time. 11:45? Nope. 11:50? Still nothing. At this point I'm assuming the code will go out directly at noon, or that they've experience some difficulty and it would be here soon. 11:59? Now I'm getting worried. 12:00 rolls around... still no e-mail. I'm refreshing constantly, having even opened my Google Mail account in my browser thinking it may show up there before it showed up in my Mac e-mail client. I decided to load up Twitter, thinking some of my Sabres family on there were bound to be "Sabres Insiders" and be waiting on the same e-mail I am. Only, to my surprise, I instead see this: Buffalo Sabres ‏@BuffaloSabres IT'S ON! Use the code "Sabres13" for access to the social media PRESALE on individual game tickets using this link: http://www.sabres.com/presale So yeah. Apparently while I'm sitting here with my thumb up my ass waiting for this non-existent e-mail with my mythical "Sabres Insider" Pre-sale code in it, the ###### in charge of ticket sales decided to tweet the code to their 115,000 followers and call it a "Social Media Pre-Sale" instead. By the time I got logged into the system with the "social media pre-sale code," it was 12:05 and tickets to the Philly game were long sold out. So great job. Now a lifelong Sabres fan, one of the first 18,000 back after the last lockout, won't be attending the season opener. Thanks to a false ticket promotion and fair weather fans who were no where to be found after the last lockout (oh wait -- until AFTER the 05-06 run to the conference finals, then they started piling back in numbers!!).

Come on, that was a good one. :blush:

Anyway, as the OP brought up, I think it gives the Sabres an advantage. Not "advantage" in the sense that Buffalo would be the only team benefitting from this, but the Brad Richards situation was a perfect example. If you are one that truly believes the Pegula family could sell free agents on Buffalo if given the chance, then here is their chance, for every top name free agent. Brad Richards locked himself a room on July 1st and made teams wait in line to meet with him. Meanwhile, other teams were contacting all of the other big fish while these GMs are standing in line waiting for a player they might not even get. Under the new CBA, all these teams would be able to meet with him privately on their time and give him their pitch. Whether or not we'd actually be able to lure a free agent to Buffalo through these interviews is a different question, but certainly it would give us a better chance to at least be able to get our name in the discussion.

I know it's a bad contract, but you never know. Maybe Leino will have a great (half) season and convince us/management to keep him. May I refer you to Tim Connolly's career stats -- he has lots of experience with 48-game seasons.

Wait -- why, again, is that such a bad date?