Author: Chris Ostrander

Last Minute Sabres Royal Blue Jersey Concept

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The Sabres will arrive at the end of a long, winding path to once again wearing royal blue jerseys when the officially unveil their uniforms Tuesday morning.

It’s an event that fans have been clamoring for years and the organization is finally adjusting course 24 years after first abandoning their original color scheme.

The Pegulas and Sabres have made it awfully easy to take shots at their ineptitude recently and it’s easy to assume that these new jerseys will fall flat. However, knowing that Eric Bodamer’s guidance on the Winter Classic and 50th anniversary uniforms created such great designs and the added background of years of fan requests, I’m confident in saying there’s no way this thing goes sideways on them. Assuming Bodamer was part of the design process, his work with Adidas outweighs the Sabres recent jersey design missteps. Continue reading →

Ranking the Potential NHL Lottery Winners

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The NHL’s second draft lottery drops tonight with the eight eliminated Stanley Cup Qualifier teams holding equal 12.5% odds to land the first overall selection.

Maybe it was just me, but the minute the league announced that they’d be using placeholder spots for teams in the qualifying round, I knew one would wind up winning a top three pick. That feeling of inevitability wasn’t due to suspicion of foul play or some sort of fixed lottery but simply from knowing this league has perfected over complicating practically everything.

In and of itself, awarding lottery odds to eliminated teams wasn’t a poor choice. Given the gift on hindsight, the league probably would’ve been smarter to do a single drawing with the original odds once the qualifying round was done. Splitting the lottery was an odd choice which really only opened the door for complaints from fanbases (and probably some GMs) around the league. It will only become more unpopular if one of the stronger teams in tonight’s drawing wins the first pick.

The drawing itself if rife with potential controversy. You can expect a wave of negative reactions if Toronto, Pittsburgh or Edmonton win this evening. Even the Rangers, fresh off picking second last year after some lottery luck, would be a fairly unpopular result. There are also some very obvious Sabres-related pitfalls that could come out of tonight. A Leafs win would be, let’s say, inconvenient. As would a Panthers win. Really any Eastern Conference win would create challenges for the Sabres. With that in mind, let’s rank the potential lottery winners based on how it could affect the Sabres and though the additional lens of my personal preferences. Continue reading →

The Instigator Podcast 8.32 – NHL Playoff Preview Extravaganza

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The NHL will officially be back in just a few short days and we’re running through the qualifying round matchups on this week’s show. We touch on each series and point out what to watch for and who we’re favoring in each matchup. We also offer up our picks for Cup finalists despite the many pitfalls that the combined layoff and unusual nature of this year’s playoff format creates.

 

The Instigator Podcast 8.31 – The NHL Award Prediction Show

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We dive into the NHL awards finalists on this week’s show. Offering up our predictions on who we think will take home hardware at the end of this season. We even sprinkle in a few thoughts on who should win in a few cases where we think the voters may go in a different direction. Along the way we offer a brief NHL Qualifying Round preview, with a deeper dive coming next week and we also chat a bit about the Blue Jays and Buffalo as a potential home for the club.

The Instigator Podcast Interview Featuring Julie Stewart-Binks

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Julie Stewart-Binks, host of Drinks with Binks and Call it a Night with Julie Stewart-Binks on fubo Sports Network joined the show this week for a wide ranging conversation that touched on everything from the NHL bubble, qualifiers and Premier League soccer.

We discuss how COVID-19 has altered the landscape for how sports are going to be broadcast in addition to how her shows have been affected by coronavirus as well. Along the way we touch on NHL hub cities, the pros and cons of how sports may return and get a deeper look into the two shows Julie hosts on fubo Sports Network.

You can catch Drinks with Binks on the fubo Sports Network on Friday’s at 8:00 or 24/7 on www.fubosportsnetwork.com as well as Pluto, XUMO, The Roku Channel, Samsung TV Plus, Vizio, and to subscribers to fuboTV. If you want to learn more about fubo and fuboSN, visit www.fubosportsnetwork.com or follow them at @fubosports on social. Also, be sure to follow Julie on Twitter and enjoy the show.

The Instigator Podcast 8.30 – NHL Return to Play Schedule Reported as CBA Extension Looms

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With new news being reported about the schedule the NHL will be following for completing the 2019-20 season, we run through the key dates for the coming months on this week’s show. This includes the schedule for the qualifying round and playoffs, when the offseason will begin and when the 2020-21 season is set to start. We run through the entire schedule and how it could affect not just the end of the 2020 season, but how the coming year could look due to fatigue, rust and other extenuating circumstances. Also on the show are segments on Lindy Ruff’s hiring in New Jersey, Judd Brackett being hired by the Wild and the report that Rick Dudley won’t be coming to Buffalo.

The Instigator Podcast 8.29 – Who Should the Sabres Pick at 8?

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The NHL Draft Lottery yielded a surprising yet utterly predictable result for the first overall pick. On this week’s episode we discuss the fallout from a placeholder team winning the top pick and Buffalo’s outlook at eighth overall. We also touch on Rick Dudley surfacing as a potential hire for Kevyn Adams’ front office and a new wrinkle in an interesting summer for the Pegulas.

 

The Instigator Podcast 8.28 – Draft Lottery and the Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2020

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A quick episode this week highlighting the looming draft lottery, what the Sabres have in store in the top 10 of this year’s draft and a brief conversation on Alexander Mogilny missing out on the Hockey Hall of Fame yet again.

The Instigator Podcast 8.27 – The Fallout of Jason Botterill’s Firing

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It isn’t controversial to say Jason Botterill’s job should have been in jeopardy given the Sabres results during his tenure. But just weeks after giving him a vote of confidence, the Pegulas abruptly fired him and replaced him with Kevyn Adams, a decision that left many scratching their heads. What followed was an unprecedented house cleaning that saw scouts, development coaches and Rochester’s staff let go. We discuss all of this and look ahead at Adams’ difficult task on this week’s podcast.

The Instigator Podcast 8.26 – NHL Return to Play & The Sabres Enter the Offseason

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We’re back with a new episode after a long layoff but it feels like we never left. The Sabres have missed the playoffs once again, the GM (and owner!) put his foot in his mouth and a player insinuated that he’d like to be traded. In addition to touching on the Sabres post mortem, we run through the NHL’s return to play plan. While we generally favor the playoff format, we cook up a couple of different takes for the draft lottery.