Sabres acquire Boyes

Chris Ostrander1 Comment

While you were sleeping, the Buffalo Sabres sent a second-round draft choice to St. Louis for Brad Boyes.

Regardless of his $4 million cap-hit, this is a fantastic pick up for Buffalo. Boyes brings a veteran presence and a ton of offensive upside. Sending a second-rounder is even better because they have yet to enter the dreaded, mortgaging the future phase.

In addition, Boyes is signed through to 2011-2012, even better.

OK, I have come down off the high of reading this news for the first time. As for my true reaction, I am still pumped. This is exactly the type of guy most Sabres fans have probably been clamoring for since, I don’t know, 2007. Boyes is a big-body who can play wing or center all while being capable of logging minutes in every situation.

I am about to write my full deadline breakdown for the Sabres, check it out.

Craig Rivet claimed by Columbus

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Craig Rivet’s time in Buffalo is officially over. He was claimed off re-entry waivers by the Columbus Blue Jackets today (per TSN).

Sabres fans can breathe easy knowing that there is now a spot on the roster for another player. I, for one, am sorry to see him go. He was a wise acquisition in 2008. Unfortunately, injuries and the speed of the game hampered his ability.

Hopefully he will get some minutes with the Jackets, he certainly deserved a better fate than sitting in the press box watching Andrej Sekera turn the puck over all night.

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Also picked up on waivers today: Marco Strum (LA to WAS) and Nick Boynton (CHI to PHI).

A few players of note who were put on waivers: Rob Schremp (NYI), Pascal Leclaire (OTT), Ty Conklin (STL) and a few other guys that don’t really matter.

Penguins acquire Kovalev

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After a quiet day of no trades on the 23rd, there have been a pair of deals made today.

After Anaheim picked up Dan Ellis (see post below) the Pittsburgh Penguins have traded for Alex Kovalev. Why?

They only gave up a seventh round pick, so hey certainly didn’t overpay – although I’d be willing to debate that point too.

What perplexes me about this deal is that the Pens just picked up a very good left winger in James Neal. I suppose they needed to fill their one-way Russian player quota since Evgeni Malkin is out for the year.

The only way his makes sense is if Kovy regains his form from 2008 while playing for a competitor. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was being a typical Red by dogging it in Ottawa.

For the Sens, the firesale continues as they look to completely retool thief roster. The only two left to be moved are Chris Neil and Chris Phillips. I wonder when they will be shipped out?

Anaheim acquires Dan Ellis

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The Anaheim Ducks made their, NHL leading, tenth trade of this season this morning.

The Ducks sent goaltender Curtis McElhinney to the Tampa Bay Lightning for goaltender Dan Ellis.

This is an interesting move on a few levels. First, McElhinney has shown throughout his career that he is the type of guy that you call up from the AHL in a pinch. He is not an every game starter nor he is a solid backup. The Lightning have thief starter in Dwayne Roloson and I would think that Mike Smith will be brought back with the big club as his back up. Expect to see McElhinney in Norfolk for the duration of the season.

As for Ellis, he is now caught in a bit of a logjam in Anaheim. Unless Jonas Hiller’s bout with vertigo is more serious than expected, I would think Ellis will be stuck in the press box or in the minors until the Ducks choose to move (or not resign) Ray Emery.

So, the Ducks now have two NHL-ready netminders who will likely keep out a few more goals than the tandem of McElhinney and Timo Pielmeier.

Personally, I was hopeful that the Sabres would snag Ellis to act as a backup for Ryan Miller for the rest of this season and into 2011-12. It has certainly been a trade season filled with players who I would have loved to see Buffalo get.

Lets chat about the in-arena experience, shall we?

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A lot is made of the lack of noise made at HSBC Arena during Sabres games. I feel I have a solution.

Quandary. How to make these people actually make noise.

I am on the bandwagon labeled ‘appalled’ at the lack of energy the fan base puts out on a game-to-game basis. This problem is two-fold. Part of he responsibility lies with the game presentation department to produce an experience that will captivate the fan base during breaks in the action, there are times when you may say this is lacking. However, there are times when it is not. The other half (maybe even 70%) lies with the fans. Sure, the game presentation people could absolutely kill it and still get no response from the people in the seats. This is why I get frustrated at games, because of my fellow fan. Continue reading →

Pegula taking over is so awesome

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When I first heard that Terry Pegula had interest in the Sabres I was cautiously optimistic. So often you hear rumors, more often than not they are completely ridiculous. I credit getting hooked on this story to the reporting that Bucky Gleason did on staying up on the entire process.

After watching yesterday’s press conference I have never felt more love for the team I have followed for longer than I can remember. Continue reading →

Craig Rivet waived by Buffalo

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The Buffalo Sabres placed Craig Rivet on waivers this morning. I learned the info via Bob McKenzie’s twitter account. In addition to Rivet, former Sabre Ales Kotalik was waived by Calgary along with Nik Zherdev (PHI) and Marek Svatos (NSH).

Kind of crazy to see Svatos waived. The Preds poached the winger from St. Louis when they signed him out of the KHL earlier in the winter.

It is about time that Rivet was given some sort of out. He has been stuck in the press box for quite some time, he deserved better than the fate he was receiving.

I wonder what will come of the Rivet situation? Do they send him to the AHL? Or are they confident a team like Montreal, Vancouver or Toronto will claim him? Either way, the next 24 hours could be interesting to watch.

Do you really need a franchise goaltender?

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Since Ryan Miller came down with Dan Cloutier syndrome on Sunday, a lot has been made about the fact that teams are succeeding without “franchise goalies” – at least with some of the more naive Buffalo radio hosts.
 

Many think that a franchise goalie will not win you a Stanley Cup.

Jhonas Enrtoh’s place with the Sabres

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It is a shame that so many people refer to Buffalo as a “hockey town”. Reason being, there are a TON of ignorant fans out there.

After watching Jhonas Enroth play a strong game against Montreal on Tuesday every jackass with a keyboard or a telephone was voicing their support of Enroth over Miller. I guess they fail to see the glaring weaknesses in the kid’s game, or the fact that Ryan Miller remains a top-10 goalie in this league.

Some see Jhonas Enroth as the future in goal for Buffalo. I see him as a way to build towards the future.

Continue reading →

Chris Kelly to the B’s

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The Bruins are officially loading up for their Cup run.

They added Chris Kelly from Ottawa for a second round pick in this year’s draft. A great trade for the Bruins as they add a great checking line player who has some offensive upside. In other news, it seems rather imminent that Tomas Kaberle will be shipping up to Boston (:P) before February 28.

Once again, a player who would have positively impacted the Sabres has gone to a rival. Now, I don’t think the Sabres need to trade their entire team away, or grab every guy who becomes available. Most of the time there is simply too steep of a price to pay for a player – Kris Versteeg going for a first and third-round picks and Colby Armstrong signing for over $3M are good examples.

However, for a team with pretty good depth in the prospect cupboard, the Sabres continue to guard their draft picks like gold. Now, when Darcy Regier steps to the podium to say the Sabres used a second or third round pick to acquire a great player, I will eat crow. For now, I will lament that Buffalo couldn’t find the right package to land Kelly, Mike Fisher or Joffery Lupul.

Keep your eyes peeled for who I could see as potential trade targets for the Sabres in the coming days.