MOVED

This page moved to www.sabreshockeyville.com

Sabres Schedule Wallpaper -October 2013-

My monthly Wallpaper if you didnt find it out there yet, have fun with it.

1920 x 1200

http://www.pepe-graphics.de/sabres/wp_sabres1200_okt13.jpg

1920 x 1080

http://www.pepe-graphics.de/sabres/wp_sabres1080_okt13.jpg

Sabres Schedule Wallpaper -April 2013-

Hey Guys and Girls,

here is the new wallpaper for the month of April. Since the chances are pretty good, that this will be the last Sabres Schedule Wallpaper until october, I thought I gotta honour Thomas Vanek for his great season.

Thomas Vanek - Sabres Wallpaper april 2013

1920 x 1200

Get it here!

Thomas Vanek - Sabres Wallpaper april 2013

1920 x 1080

Get it here!

Cellphone Wallpaper

IPhone - Older generation

320 x 480

Get it here!

IPhone - Newer generation

1136 x 640

Get it here!

Google Nexus 4

1280 x 768

Get it here!

Let’s talk about rebuild baby

The 2012/2013 NHL season, which actually is a 2013 NHL season only, has passed mit midway point and the Sabres aren’t looking like a team that is going to ride a bus through Buffalo come june in order to present a big trophy. In the past 2 years the Sabres started good, continued terrible and finished strong. This year it’s not really the case.

I really thought that I would never say that, but I have reached the “hopefully they lose every game” point. Not because I hate the team, not because I wanna see them get crushed out there, no, it’s because I want a high draft pick. In this years NHL Entry Draft, there are at least 3 players who could have an impact on an NHL team right away. MacKinnon, Jones and Drouin. I want one of those 3 players in a Sabre sweater next year. And the biggest chance to get one of these, is finished somewhere in the area of 30^th place.

I don’t wanna say the Sabres need a fresh start, but they have to change many things to be a contender. They added grit to the team prior to this season, however it didn’t really pay off. So let’s take a look at the Sabres Roster as of now. I will focus on the “bigger players.”

Unrestricted Free Agents

Robyn Regehr, Jordan Leopold, Adam Pardy, Jochen Hecht, Alexander Sulzer, John Scott

Here is what I would do. The Sabres gotta find a way to trade Regehr and Leopold. Apparently there have been scouts from LA watching a lot sabres games lately and Regehr seems to be the main target. If you can move Regehr for a pick and maybe a player that would be a great deal  for Buffalo.

Interesting side-note.  Jordan Nolan is a prospect of the LA Kings. Nolan? Yes it’s the son of former Sabres Coach Ted Nolan.

Jordan Leopold should be moved as well. Let’s hope for a pick in return here.

Adam Pardy could be resigned but same goes for Sulzer. Sulzer could be the cheaper DMen and is very reliable as well.

Jochen Hecht and John Scott will not wear a Sabres uniform next year. I wish the Sabres would find a job for Hecht somewhere in the organization. He has been a hated player this year but people should not forget what he did for this franchise.

Restricted Free Agents

Cody Hodgson, Mike Weber, Luke Adam, Brian Flynn, Corey Tropp, Jhonas Enroth

Sabres need to resign Hodgson, however I hope the GM is able to hammer down a deal that makes sense for both sides. I am hoping for a 2 or 3 year deal for Hodgson around 7.5 for 2y or 10.5 for 3y. Everything above that would be overpayment. Hodgson had a great season so far but don’t forget by the end of this season he still only has 139 NHL games and something around 75-80 points.

In January 2009 Jordan Staal signed a contract with Pittsburgh as his Entry Level  Contract was about to expire. He signed a 4y deal worth 16 million dollar with a cap hit of 4mio dollar.

At that point, Staal had 204 games  NHL for 91 points. At that point he was already a very good all-around forward, something you can not say about Hodgson yet. Staal was even nominated for the Selke Trophy along with Pavel Datsyuk and Ryan Kesler, which is awarded annually to the best defensive forward in the league. So if Staal got 4 million at that point, there is no way they should pay Hodgson much more.

Give Hodgson a 2 or 3 contract and reward him with the big contract after that.

Mike Weber should be resigned as well. Currently has a cap hit of 950k. Reasonable for a new contract would be a cap hit that is somewhere around 1.0 – 1.5 million dollar.

Luke Adam will probably a part the Sabres would like to throw into a deadline deal. He has no future in Buffalo.

Flynn, Tropp and Enroth should all be resigned as well. Tropp and Enroth could be both in the same area as Weber.

Free Agency

I have 3 main targets for this years Free Agency.

Ryan Clowe, Rob Scuderi and David Clarkson.

Ryan Clowe has not scored this year but still is a nasty forward like Steve Ott. He still has a scoring upside and could be a nice fit in Buffalo.

Rob Scuderi has won 2 cups with LA and Pittsburgh. This guy could be the veteran the Sabres need on D if they trade Regehr and Leopold.

David Clarkson, is a big forward that has improved his offensive skills a lot in the past. Can you imagine a line of Clowe-Ott-Clarkson in Buffalo. They would be the fan facourite line from day 1.

Another player I would trade away is Nathan Gerbe. However his value might not be that high at the moment so maybe he needs to be waived after this season.

However it is likely that San Jose and th Devils will try to sign their players or trade them. Especially since the Devils don't wanna lose another player for nothing, like Parise last summer.

If that's the case, Sekera could be in the mix as well.

2013 Entry Draft

My Main Target is Jonathan Drouin. This kid has put up insane number sin the QMJHL and continued to do so, even when Nathan MacKinnon was injured. So he isn’t just feeding of him, he creates fantastic plays himself.

My 2013/2014 Sabres Team:

LW	Vanek, Thomas	6.400.000
RW	Pominville, Jason	5.500.000
LW/RW	Leino, Ville	4.000.000
C	Grigorenko, Mi.	925.000
LW/C	Ott, Steve	3.200.000
C/LW	Ennis, Tyler	3.062.000
C	Hodgson, Cody	3.500.000
RW	Kaleta, Patrick	1.250.000
LW	Foligno, Marcus	900.000
RW	David Clarkson	4.000.000
LW	Clowe, Ryan	2.000.000
LW	Jonathan Drouin	925.000
C	Kevin Porter	900.000
RW	Tropp, Corey	1.500.000
D	Myers, Tyler	6.000.000
D	Ehrhoff, Christian	4.000.000
D	Sekera, Andrej	1.750.000
D	Weber, Mike	1.500.000
D	Pysyk, Mark	900000
D	Scuderi, Rob	3.000.000
D	Sulzer, Alexander	725000
G	Miller, Ryan	6.250.000
G	Enroth, Jhonas	1.500.000
	Salary Cap	63.687.000

2013/2014 Lineup

Vanek-Hodgson-Pominville

Drouin-Grigorenko-Leino

Clowe-Ott-Clarkson

Foligno-Ennis-Kaleta/Tropp

Myers-Erhoff

Sekera-Weber

Scuderi-Pysyk

McNabb-Sulzer

Miller-Enroth

Sabres Schedule Wallpaper -March 2013-

Hey Guys and Girls,

I know this season has been terrible so far but I hope you still wanna know when the Sabres play. So here is the new Sabres Schedule Wallpaper for the month of march. If you follow me on twitter, you already knew who the coverboy would be this month. Let's hope he will bring many cups to town ...

Mikhail Grigorenko - Sabres Wallpaper March 2013

1920 x 1200

Get it here!

Mikhail Grigorenko - Sabres Wallpaper March 2013

1920 x 1080

Get it here!

Cellphone Wallpaper

IPhone - Older generation

320 x 480

Get it here!

IPhone - Newer generation

1136 x 640

Get it here!

Google Nexus 4

1280 x 768

Get it here!

Lindy Ruff fired

I dunno what to say, I dunno what to think. The Buffalo Sabres have fired Lindy Ruff. 562-452-84-78. Those numbers will be Lindy Ruff’s final numbers as a coach of the Buffalo Sabres. You always knew, that one day, he will not be the coach of the Sabres, but now that the day has come you are still stunned.

I could use this moment to say that the Sabres have been an up and down team for the past few years. That they have played terrible this year and that Ruff is the one to blame for it. I am not going to do that.  I wanna use this post to say thanks to Lindy Ruff.

Many of you wanted to see him gone as of late and if the step they made today is the right one, will be shown in the future. However there is 1 thing you can say about Lindy Ruff. Lindy Ruff is bleeding blue and gold. With every fiber of his body he is suffering if the team plays bad. He wanted to win the Stanley Cup. Now you can say that everyone in the NHL wants that, but if you look at Lindy Ruff, he wanted to win it with Buffalo. You could have told him. Lindy go to Pittsburgh or Detroit and win a Cup and still he would have said: “I wanna win it in Buffalo”.

Lindy Ruff would always defend his team and take the blame first. If one of his players would go down after a dirty play like Drury back when he got hit Neil, Ruff wouldn’t just shut up and let the league handle it. When Miller got ran over by Lucic and Tootoo, Ruff addressed the media and found strong words to address the situation.

Fans from other teams would always say Ruff is always whining while we in Buffalo knew, he is fighting for the team he loves, for the team he wants to be successful with. This success was not there in the past few years and that lead to the step the Sabres made today.

Ruff is no longer the coach, but I will have mixed feelings. It’s said to see him go as I always thought he loves my team as much as I do, while it’s exciting to look down the road and what future might have in store for the Sabres.

The Sabres didn’t only lose a coach today, they lost an icon. Maybe one day Lindy will be back in the #Sabres family in a different position. I would welcome him with a smile.

Booing is not the answer

Although the Buffalo Sabres improved their play a little over the past 7 days, they are still losing games and they still making simple mistakes over and over again. The people at the FNC made their voice heard after the 2^nd period against the Boston Bruins on February 15^th. After a terrible period that saw the Bruins going off leading by 1 goal, the Sabres were booed off the ice. In the third they came back and won 4:2 against the enemy from Massachusetts.

So now that opens a question. Is booing something fans should do, if they aren’t happy with the way the team is playing? Steve Ott responded on Twitter.

“I know it's easy to Boo plays from the stands but ill tell you its really inspiring when the crowd chants "Lets Go Buffalo" #Sabres #7thMan“

Steve Ott developed into a fan favorite very quickly in Buffalo but some fans did not like this comment with joy.

Is booing a thing that forces the team to hit another gear? If you ask me, the answer is easy. It is “No”. The Sabres beat Boston, but they did not do it because of the fans booing them off the ice. They did it because they were mad at themselves and wanted to win this game badly. So as a fan should I keep my mouth shut when things go down the hill? This answer is easy as well. Once again it is “No”.

However, and that is the important part, you need to know when to do it and how. The 2^nd period against Boston was really really terrible and at that point it was understandable. But here is what I didn’t like. When the team came back on the ice, the FNC was dead silent. And that’s not how it should be. The appropriate way would have been, Boo them off the ice, but support them starting with the 1^st second of the third period. Don’t give them that stupid “win me back first and show me that you can play good” attitude. That is something 5y old kids do, but that’s not something a fan should do. I know the people are mad, because they payed for the tickets, however you buy the ticket for a hockey game, and when you do it, you need to be aware that they could win or lose 8:0.

But support is an overall problem at the FNC this year and has been in the past. The FNC (former HSBC Arena) has always been one of the opponent friendly arenas, because there isn’t much noise. The opponent is not scared by any means.

Right now the Sabres trail Winnipeg at home by a score of 2:1. They have played bad. And many many boos could be heared. However not once did I hear “Let’s Go Buffalo”. Granted they play bad and had to take the 0:1 with 60 seconds played, that’s still no reason to not cheer for your team once. If you think supporting the team is only needed if they play good, you probably should visit a sports team in the future.

As a fan you support your team in good times and in bad times. You can be mad, you can let them know it, but you still support them even if the score is 0:4 as hard as it is. That’s how it should be. Being a fan isn’t something you sign for good times only. So I hope that this will change in Buffalo in the future. I am not saying support them every day every second even if they lose 15 games in a row. But at least show them that you still believe in them.

It’s often said “my sports team is like my baby”. So tell me would you stop believing in your kida if they have a few bad weeks at school? You would be mad, but you help them get out of it. And you gotta do the same with a sports team, if you consider yourself a fan.