Watching the Winter Classic pre-game shows, I have a strong opinion;
Buffalo has earned the right to host the next NHL Winter Classic. Here are a few reasons why I feel strongly about Hockey Heaven getting the next "Ice Bowl":
* The first ever WC sold 75,000 seats. Huge economic and PR impact for the NHL
* Buffalo-Toronto is the NHLs top TV market with 7+ million households.
* Record ratings on NHL NBC affiliate, WGRZ-TV. Sabres games fetch huge ratings, while non-Sabres games routine earn top three overnight Neilsen ratings.
* '11 World Juniors sold out.
* Buffalo sold out the 2004 NCAA Frozen Four Championships.
Mix in some " Pegula Magic" to an already successful model, and you've got the makings for the biggest and best Winter classic in NHL history.
I've reached out the the Sabres and to the management at WGRZ-TV. Lets create a HUGE hockey buzz and demand that the NHL deliver the Winter Classic experience back to Buffalo, NY.
Are you ready, Hockey Heaven??!
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Corey Tropp suffered a concussion while playing for the sabres on 12/9. Since then, he's ben with the Sabres, recovering from his injury. His NHL salary has been counting against Buffalo's cap due to the fact that he was injured while skating with the NHL club. Ditto Colin Stuart (foot).
Today, the Sabres sent Tropp back to Rochester, which signifies that the winger is healthy and ready to resume playing. Nathan Gerbe was activated for the Sabres' Saturday game vs. Ottawa. Zack Kassian was the healthy scratch so that Gerbe could play.
Zack Kassian has not been returned to Rochester.
Tyler Ennis has been skating with the team, and is nearing his return from his ankle injury.
Tyler Myers likely will make his return to the starting lineup this week, too.
Coach Ruff will skate his team at 11:30am at First Niagara Center. Ryan Nugent Hopkins, Taylor Hall and the Edmonton Oilers will be in town on Tuesday night.
Its long overdue for the Sabres to piece together a 5-7 game win streak. They dangle precariously from the precipice of the brink of The Falls. They are closer to the basement tan they are to a Playoff spot.
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I'm hearing the name Sam Gagner associated with trade talks. Buffalo and Chicago are real possibilities for the former London Knight.
Gagner is only 22, however, has played the past five seasons for Edmonton. He's a 5'11 190 centreman with soft hands and fast feet.
Gagner was originally drafted by the Oilers along with Andrew Cogliano to add skill and scoring to their lineup. The Mississauga native's career started out strong for the Oilers, however, has tailed off lately. His offense has suffered at times recently due to his role changing on the team. He's played with new linemates on a regular basis. The emergence of young guns Hall, Eberle, and Nugent-Hopkins to name a few.
Gagner will score you goals 5 on 5 and on the PP. Gagner makes $2.275 million this season and he will become RFA on 7/1.
Gagner tore up the OHL with his London Knight bro, Pat Kane.
Another Oiler who's name is connected to the Sabres is Shawn Horcoff. The big centerman played with Ryan Miller at Michigan State University. Horcoff is all business.
Horcoff has scored 8 goals and added 13 assists in 37 games this season.
He has scored 150 goals in the past 10 and a half seasons in Edmonton.
Horcoff is 6'1 and 210, and he earns $5.5 million this season. Ditto the next three seasons.
Horcoff has leadership skills and has scored 23 points in 35 NHL playoff games in his career. He was a key contributor on the 2006 POilers team that lost the Stanley Cup to the Carolina Hurricanes.
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The Sabres played 14 games in December, tying November for second-most in a month this season.
Buffalo’s 53 December wins are the most the team has had in any month since the lockout.
The Sabres are 53-33-10 (.604) in December in those years.
The injury riddled Sabres ran the physical and emotional gauntlet in Decemeber.
14 games. 8 at home. 6 on the road.
Lindy Ruff's team limped out of Movember and into December, sporting a 13-10-1 record.
When Butler beat Enroth in the shootout on Saturday night, the Sabres ended the month of December with a mediocre 17-17-4 record.
For all their toil, trials, and tribulations, the Sabres were are less than acceptable 4-7-3 in December. Ten points earned out of a possible 28 is dreadfully unacceptable.
You can't win a Playoff seeding in December. However, NHL teams surely can lose a Playoff berth with a crappy month of December.
They finished Movember 7-6-1 (15 points earned), and 6-4 (12 points earned) in October.
2-6-2 in their last 10 ain't gonna get this team in the Playoffs
Wonder why the team is in a world of hurt right now? It cannot score goals. Factor out Vanek and Pominville, and what do you have? Zero goal support for the goaltenders. Enroth's 44 save gem on Saturday night was worthy of a two points in the standings. instead, the team struggled to score two goals to support Enroth.
Vanek and Pominville are currently tied for 9th overall in NHL scoring with 39 points apiece.
Vanek has 18 goals and 21 assists, while Pommer has 12 goals and 27 assists.
In December, Vanek scored 6 goals and added 6 assists.
Pommer scored 3 and added 10 assists.
26 and 29 accounted for 9 of Buffalo's 28 goals scored in Decmeber. They'd have scored more had it not been for opposing scouting reports which read like this:
Stop Vanek and Pominville, and you will beat the Buffalo Sabres.
No secondary or tertiary scoring has been killing Buffalo. Roy, Stafford, Adam, Hecht, Boyes, Gaustad have been quietly inconsistent and it puts added pressure on the D corps and goal tending.
The Sabres need to make a move for a closer. They are in desperate need of a goal scorer who can light the lamp against all odds.
Good Riddance, Long December.
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You think the Sabres have problems?
Check out the Flyers.
I just watched Ilya Bryzgalov's presser from the Winter Classic.
"Universe" breached his coach's confidentiality by announcing to the world that Sergei Bobrovsky, not himself, would be starting the Winter Classic on Monday.
Thanks, Greg Wyshinski
My dear friend, Tim Panaccio, was in the scrum and he writes on csnphilly.com:
Bryzgalov, with his usual self-deprecating humor, admitted the Flyers have a better chance to defeat the Rangers on Monday without him in net.
“I have great news and even better news,” Bryzgalov announced during the first of five scrums he did with the media.
“Great news, I’m not playing tomorrow night. Good news, we have a chance to win the game.”
He was dead serious.
His coach, Peter Laviolette, wasn’t amused. Why? Because Laviolette had not spoken to his goalies yet – only to Jeff Reese, who told Bryz he wasn’t starting.
“I haven’t spoke to either of the goaltenders yet but I plan on speaking to them after I get done with you guys,” Laviolette said.
Bryzgalov has not been focused during three of his last four starts while Bobrovsky has won three in a row and given the Flyers huge wins in Dallas and Pittsburgh.
If I were Peter Laviolette, I'd park the aloof and disrespectful Bryzgalov in the press box for a long time. Bryz is a better stand-up comic, social commentator than he is an NHL goaltender. Have you caught his act on HBO's "24/7"?
The guy is a full-on wing nut!
Earlier this season, Bryzgalov choked away a big lead in a game vs. Winnipeg and he ended up losing the game 9-8.
He was a mess in his post game presser
The Flyers used a three headed, dysfuctional goalie monster to barely defeat the Sabres in seven games last April. Despite Philly's terrible goaltending, the Sabres could not put the kill shot on the Flyers. Flyers owner and GM Paul Holmgren vowed to correct their fatal flaw of their team. They hastily paid Bryzgalov $51 million. He has been erratic and unpredictable at time this season.
Panotch has spoken with Bryzgalov's teammates today and they are not amused with his inconsistency and his antics.
Scott Hartnell flat out said what other players have been mumbling: that this should be a “wake-up call” for Bryzgalov to get focused on being the goalie “he can be.”
Veteran defenseman Kimmo Timonen supported Laviolette and didn’t mince words, either.
“As a coach, I would do the same thing,” Timonen said. “You reward players who play well and work hard. It doesn’t matter if Winter Classic or whatever. Doesn’t matter. You get some playing time and it’s better for everybody.
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