Sabres Edge

Ted Black and Darcy Regier. (Harry Scull/Buffalo News)

By Mike Harrington

As you would surmise, I have been deluged with comments/questions/criticisms/attaboys/epithets and everything in between in the wake of yesterday's Sabres season-ending press conference. I read them all and regular followers of my Twitter feed know I do my best to answer as many legitimate requests/opinions as possible.

In this case, however,  that's pretty much impossible. But there have been many solid questions, many repeated times over, that it's probably best to answer them here. Some thoughts in no particular order:

---1). Ticket talk -- The No. 1 question people wanted asked was obviously the status of Darcy Regier and it was the first question asked and answered. By far the No. 2 inquiry was to demand answers about what in the world the Sabres were doing with a ticket price hike being announced in the face of a non-playoff year -- and with letters about the details arriving on Fan Appreciation Day.

After the presser, I got all kinds of crazy comments about people wanting to know why so much time was spent on tickets! Say what? The first thought is those people must not be ticket holders. The second is that Ted Black tied reasoning to the NHL CBA and the team was harshly criticized Sunday by the New York Post. We had similar concerns but held them until we could ask Black about them Monday. Black's insistence that the Sabres needed to qualify for revenue sharing brought more follow-up questions because it flew in the face of the owner's long-stated platform (since the owner doesn't speak to the media and thus the fans, I'm omitting his name here).

Continue reading "Yes, that was one interesting presser to cap a bizarre season" »

The front page of today's Buffalo News.

By John Vogl

Lindy Ruff spent 26 years with the Buffalo Sabres as a coach and player. The run came to an end Wednesday. The Buffalo News has it covered:

*Ruff came to First Niagara Center for practice, meeting some of his players and looking at video before heading to a news conference to honor high schoolers who will take the ice downtown next week. It was like any other day in Sabreland.

Ruff then worked his struggling team hard on the ice, a 90-minute practice that was one of the longest of the season. He met the media for 4 minutes, cutting off questions a little earlier than on most days this season. Then he headed out to his home in Clarence.

But General Manager Darcy Regier soon came over with some startling news.

*When it actually happened, Bucky Gleason writes, my first thought wasn't about the Sabres finally making a bold move that they owed their fan base. I wasn't thinking about who would replace him. Strangely enough, it was about how much I owed Lindy Ruff, knowing that I could never repay him.

*Regier arrived 20 minutes late to announce that he had fired Lindy Ruff as his head coach, Jerry Sullivan writes. It was fitting, because like so many of the general manager’s moves, this one was long overdue.

*Ruff dreamed of holding the Stanley Cup in his adopted town of Buffalo. He pictured himself skating around Memorial Auditorium with the chalice over his head. He envisioned himself clutching the Cup on the bench in First Niagara Center.

He held onto the dream for half of his life. Now he has to let it go.

*Here's a time line of Ruff's experiences in Buffalo, starting with his second-round selection in the 1979 draft.

*Ruff's career in pictures, as seen by Buffalo News photographers.

*Bucky, Mike Harrington and I have a video with our thoughts on the moves, and we have Regier's news conference, as well.

*Here is what the actual newspaper coverage looks like, from cover to cover.

*The Sabres play in Toronto today, and interim coach Ron Rolston will hold his first practice at 11:30 a.m. We will be in The True North all day, so stay with the Sabres Edge for all the latest.

Watch other segments from this week's "Bucky & Sully Show" here.

By Mike Harrington

After making the customary apology to fans virtually every NHL owner has made this week in the wake of the lockout, Sabres owner Terry Pegula dropped a surprise on reporters at the start of his 22-minute news conference today in the Lexus Club at First Niagara Center: He has agreed to a contract extension with General Manager Darcy Regier.

Regier, who took over the club in the summer of 1997, signed what's believed to be a two-year extension in the fall of 2010 and it's not completely clear how long this extension will run. The Sabres do not release contract terms but Regier's original deal was not expiring after this season anyway.

"Both sides are happy with the arrangement," Pegula said. "And we look forward to continuing to work with Darcy into the future. The timing of this decision was not today. We've been talking about this. We had this agreement for quite some time. I approached him. Darcy is a talented guy. ... We work very well together and we're looking forward to the future."

Said Regier: "I am very grateful and honored to be able to continue in this capacity working with this ownership."

In other notes from the press conference:

---Pegula on the lockout: "It's good to be back. I can tell you as an organization, the Sabres are very glad to be playing hockey again. We apologize to the whole hockey fan base, the media, our sponsors and our supporters for the hardship we may have put people through but sometimes things happen that you don't plan for in life."

---Pegula he talked often to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman during the lockout and said he felt it was necessary to help struggling small market teams. Pegula said he did not push for a quick resolution: "I'm a new owner so I'm not about to say, 'OK, here's what we're going to do, guys."

---Pegula said the Sabres' goal remains to win the Stanley Cup and he's been heartened by watching Boston and Los Angeles end droughts in the 40-year range by winning it the last two years.

---Regier said the team has already had organizational talks about the contracts of stars Ryan Miller, Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek -- all of which expire after next season.

---Pegula on this year's club: "I think our team is a lot different than the team I inherited when I bought it. It's got a new imprint on it, a new mark. It looks like a good hockey team."

---Pegula used the term "totally inaccurate" when asked about numerous reports in Pennsylvania he paid $1.3 million to augment the salary of Penn State football coach Bill O'Brien and keep him in Happy Valley so he wouldn't jump to the NFL.

Full audio of the press conference is here

Click here to download

MONTREAL -- Darcy Regier wanted to collect his thoughts and declined comment after the Sabres' meeting today in the Bell Centre. He had plenty to say this evening in a telephone conversation with The Buffalo News.

The biggest piece of news is this: Ryan Miller has a concussion and is out of the lineup for an undetermined length of time.

Miller felt increasingly worse during Saturday's game in Boston after the hit by Milan Lucic and was removed from the game following the second period by Bruins doctors under the NHL's head injury protocol. Drew MacIntyre has been called up from Rochester and will back up Jhonas Enroth Monday night in Montreal.

As of 7:15 this evening, Regier said reports there will be no suspension are incorrect because he has been told the league has made no ruling. He said he firmly believes Milan Lucic should pay a price for the hit.

"If this hit and other types of hits like this are not suspended, we are opening up the possibility of losing goaltenders to injury," Regier said sternly. "And not just injury, but concussion. ... When i look at the position of goaltending. in a lot of ways it's not unlike quarterback in football. I feel very strongly the protection has to be provided and players committing these types of action should be punished.

"The last thing we need to do in the NHL is to be losing our stars to concussions on plays like this."

Regier said Miller will not be dressing Monday night and Drew MacIntyre will back up Enroth.

"Hopefully it is not severe and hopefully it is not longterm," Regier said ominously, although he later said Miller was feeling better today.

What about his players' lack of protection of their No. 1 goalie? Regier was blunt about that too.

"You could go to each one of our players and they would tell you that they wished they had dealt with it differently," Regier said. "And they will deal with it differently in the future. ... We were all disappointed."

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

TSN is reporting that Calgary Flames defenseman Robyn Regehr has agreed to waive his no-trade clause in order to join the Sabres.

John Vogl, Bucky Gleason and Mike Harrington offer some video commentary on Friday's State of the Sabres address featuring Terry Pegula, Ted Black, Darcy Regier and Lindy Ruff. 

Topics include Ruff's contract extension, the team's approach to free agency, what the team needs for 2011-12, and what will change in HSBC Arena.

Click below to watch.

The Sabres' players cleaned out their lockers and had their say Thursday morning. On Friday morning, it will be the front office's turn.

On Thursday evening, the team announced that it will have a State of the Sabres news conference with owner Terry Pegula, President Ted Black, General Manager Darcy Regier and coach Lindy Ruff Friday at 11 a.m. in HSBC Arena.

There will certainly be some pressing issues to address with Regier and Ruff, notably their feeling on the team's unrestricted free agents and young players, as well as the status of the injured Jason Pominville -- who may not be ready for training camp or the start of the regular season. But it will particularly noteworthy to hear what Pegula and Black have to say about the team moving forward.

They've promised big things since they took over and have helped foster a rapid change in the culture of the organization. This will be their first real discussion of how they plan to handle the offseason and it should be interesting.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Greetings from the Arena for Game Two of Pegulapalooza: It's the Sabres against their former archrivals, the Ottawa Senators. Who are these guys? The Ottawa lineup tonight features immortals such as Zack Smith, Bobby Butler, Erik Condra, Francis Lessard, Corey Locke and Roman Wick. Lots of guys traded and others (Daniel Alfredsson and Sabres nemesis Chris Neil, to name two) are out injured. Odd.

A Buffalo win tonight would be four against the Sens this season, a first for the Sabres since 2001-02. What's really strange is the fact the visiting team has won the last eight games in this series. The Sabres went 3 for 3 in Ottawa this year while the Sens won the only meeting here on Oct. 22 as Alfredsson's empty-net goal was his 1,000th NHL point.

The Sabres dressed all seven defensemen in warmup so no idea yet if Andrej Sekera remains a scratch. No word yet on any claim of Craig Rivet off re-entry waivers. Teams have until noon tomorrow to make that claim.

Ryan Miller has a .947 save percentage and a 1.78 GAA in his last four games. He could become the first Buffalo goalie to beat Ottawa four times in a season since Dominik Hasek did it in 2000-01. Miller, by the way, is the subject of the gameday poster in Saturday's print editions. Be sure to pick one up!

The Sabres are in their second home back-to-back of the season. The Detroit Red Wings are already in town (their equipment is downstairs ready to be loaded in the locker room when Ottawa leaves), and be sure to check out the Sabres' notebook in Saturday's paper for an update on the Wings. There's your cheap plug alert for the night.

Out of town watch: Carolina is hosting injury-riddled Pittsburgh, the Rangers are at Washington, Florida is at Atlanta and red-hot New Jersey is at Tampa Bay. The Devils are 16-1-2 and have gone from 27 points out of the playoffs to just nine. That's crazy.

Keep it here for all your updates, Pegula sightings, Pegula tweets, etc.

7:27 p.m.: Sekera is the scratch for Buffalo.

Buffalo starters: Vanek-Connolly-Pominville-Butler-Myers. Wow. There's some odd combos. Goal: Miller
Ottawa starters: Michalek-Butler-Spezza-Phillips-Lee. Goal: Anderson. 

7:32 p.m.: Great tweaks on the opening intro video with Pegula's presser and scenes from Wednesday night. And it ends with "Winning is Not a Goal. It is a Belief" on the screen. Gotta love that quote. Untouchable.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Third Period

9:21 p.m: The puck is dropped.

15:00 left: Not many whistles so far. Hard to blog, write story at same time. Somebody ice the puck!

12:34 left: Shots are 5-2 for Ottawa. Sabres certainly need some insurance here. Good effort on the road by the depleted Sens, basically playing with a bunch of AHL players. Sabres need to sew this one up -- and then play a lot better tomorrow with the Red Wings here.

12:25 left: They heard me. There's your insurance. Hecht bangs home a Stafford rebound from the edge of the crease on a two-on-one. Sabres lead, 3-1. Hecht's 10th.

9:37 left: Sabres a little loose. Miller robs rookie Corey Locke on a deflection on the doorstep.

3:00 left: Sabres still in control. Your friendly beat writer/blogger in control. Story done. Sorry, Ryan. You can't wait till after deadline to write!

1:55 left: Uh-oh. Michalek with a wrister high to make it 3-2.

It's over: A 4-2 win on Vanek's empty netter with 31.5 left.

Second Period

8:27 p.m.: The puck is dropped. Bad news out of town as Carolina leads Pittsburgh, 3-0, and the Rangers lead Washington, 3-0.

18:39 left: Anderson stops Pominville after a nice feed from Vanek.

18:00 left: Anderson again, on a Montador snapshot via an Ennis feed. Sabres will eventually cash in on some of this open ice.

12:52 left: Niedermayer for hooking. Shots are 5-3 for Buffalo in the period, 15-11 overall.

10:11 left: McCormick bangs it home from the slot after a pass from the point by Montador goes by Vanek but richochets off the end boards right into the slot. Vanek did a great job of puck possession on that shift. Sabres lead, 2-0.

8:03 left: Vanek a little gimpy after getting dumped along the boards by Michalek but he gets up and joins the play as the Sabres dominate delayed penalty time in the zone. Michalek gets a boarding call.

5:36 left: After a wild sequence (Myers broke up a 3-on-1, Stafford stopped by Anderson on a 4-on-1), the Senators come right back with a long pass to Jason Spezza and he smokes Miller with the backhand on a breakaway. Sabres had a power play and an odd-man to go up 3-0. Now it's a game. Sabres lead, 2-1.

4:02 left: Miller with two saves after a terrible giveaway in the slot by Hecht. The Sabres have not been good with the puck in their own zone in this one.

2:08 left: Miller with a nice grab on Michalek after Vanek and Leopold had shots from the slot fail to get to the net. Buffalo has outshot Ottawa, 17-9, in this period and 27-17 for the game.

1:34 left: Kaleta runs over Svatos at center ice. Few seconds later, he puts it in on the rebound of his own one-handed shot and crashes into Anderson. Goal waved off for now. It looked like a kick. And on top that, Kaleta is gone for goaltender interference. We've seen Miller run over a lot worse than that at times this year with no call. Happened in Ottawa as a matter of face in the last meeting. And on the replay, it wasn't a kick. Foot never moved. 

End-2nd: Sabres hold the 2-1 lead. Shots were 18-11 for Buffalo and are 28-19 through two.

First Period

7:37 p.m.: The puck is dropped.

15:51 left: Pretty scrappy play so far. No shots for the first 3:02 until Miller robbed Milan Michalek from right in front. Anderson just stopped Pominville's deflection for Buffalo's first shot. It's 2-1 for Ottawa so far.

13:35 left: Terry Pegula is in the owner's box with Rene Robert and they're celebrating Mike Grier's breakaway goal, a neat deke to the backhand. Grier outskated a diving Chris Campoli for the puck at center ice and got away to score his fourth, from McCormick. Sabres lead, 1-0. Grier had been scoreless in nine games and had one goal (Feb. 4 at Pittsburgh) in his last 42 games. Ouch.

10:54 left: Weber goes for boarding on a tough hit against Bobby Butler that drew plenty of attention from the Senators. Derek Roy has joined Pegula and Robert in the owner's box. Interesting that Robert is here two nights in a row. A big welcome back to him. He's gotta be thrilled Larry Quinn and Tom Golisano are outta here.

8:55 left: A Vanek howitzer from the right wing off the post. Anderson hesitated coming out to get the puck and Vanek fired as he was trying to back into the net. He who hesitates is usually lost, right?

7:36 left: Yep, it's a whole new world here. During a stop in play, Sabretooth came down the aisle in the 100 level with a birthday cake as the Happy Birthday music played. The recipient? Jessie Pegula, who turned 17 yesterday. She was wearing the classic blue No. 4 with Pegula on the back that the owners' kids got Tuesday. And she got a good hand when she was saluted over the PA.

7:17 left: Francis Lessard for cross-checking Kaleta in front.

5:58 left: Ennis stopped point-blank after a great feed across the goalmouth by Gerbe.

2:42 left: Leopold for interference after a long shift in which the veteran was an absolute trainwreck. He gave the puck away at least three times -- including a horrible one right in front to Marek Svatos that forced Miller to be alert. Just checked: Leopold was on the ice 1:54 on that shift. Couldn't get off the ice and a tired player took a penalty.

The Sabres' lines tonight have looked like this: Vanek-Connolly-Pominville, Kaleta-Gaustad-Gerbe, Ennis-Hecht-Stafford, Niedermayer-McCormick-Grier. Defense pairs: Butler-Myers, Leopold-Montador, Morrisonn-Weber.

37.8 left: Kaleta sneaks around two Sens at center ice and gets a good chance on Anderson, who stops the slapper and a rebound.

End-1st: Shots are 10-8 for the Sabres and they hold their 1-0 lead.

Sabres owner Terry Pegula and team President Ted Black met with editors, reporters and other Buffalo News staffers for an editorial board meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 23.

Listen to the full meeting here (42m49s):

Here's a part of the discussion about head coach Lindy Ruff and general manager Darcy Regier (7m55s):

The conversation included questions about Pegula's wealth and what it means for the team (11m10s):

Here's Pegula talking about what made him make the move to buy the Sabres (1m54s):

Those participating in the meeting included News President Warren T. Colville, Editor and Vice President Margaret Sullivan, Assistant Managing Editor Elizabeth Kahn, Sports Editor Steve Jones, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Kevin Walter, editorial writer Dawn Bracely and the sports department's Jerry Sullivan, Bucky Gleason, Mike Harrington and John Vogl.

News reporter and columnist Denise Jewell Gee recorded audio and video at the meeting.

The Sabres have officially confirmed that Terry Pegula's introductory press conference will be held Tuesday at 11 a.m in the atrium of HSBC Arena. No surprise there. That's been the scuttlebutt the last few days.

The extra piece is that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will be on hand to welcome the league's newest owner. Bettman was here in 2003 when Tom Golisano completed his purchase of the team from the league, which ran the franchise during the bankruptcy era. This one will certainly a much happier day for the commish with the Sabres' future in Buffalo now locked in for decades to come.

The Sabres' release says Pegula will not be making any public comments about his purchase from Golisano until tomorrow's presser.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

The deal is finally done. Here's the official word, just e-mailed by the Sabres: 

"The Buffalo Sabres today announced that Tom Golisano has reached an agreement to sell the Buffalo Sabres and its related companies to Terry Pegula. The agreement, completed at 1 p.m. today, is subject to certain closing conditions including review and approval by the National Hockey League. It is expected the NHL review process will take several weeks to complete."

The team said Golisano and Larry Quinn will discuss the agreement during a press conference in the arena Thursday at noon. It also announced that Pegula will not attend.

No more speculation. No more ifs, ands or buts. It's a done deal.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

In the wake of today's news that GM Darcy Regier received a two-year contract extension in the fall, it was natural to ask Lindy Ruff if he received the same treatment.

Ruff pulled a shocker after Tuesday's practice in HSBC Arena when he revealed he also got an extension offer and turned it down. Understandably, Ruff wasn't all that interested in the line of questioning so his answers were pretty cryptic when pressed by The News on the issue. Here's the entire conversation I had with the coach after practice.

In the wake of today's news regarding Darcy, did you get a contract extension in the fall?

"I did not, no."

Were you offered one?

"Yes I was."

Did you reject it?

"It's a situation that really I'd rather not talk about. It's nothing to do ... They were gracious in what they offered me."

So your contract goes through this season, correct?

"Correct."

Do you want to stay?

"Yeah, I want to stay."

Have you told Terry Pegula you want to stay?

"No. We had a conversation about hockey and that's as far as I'll go."

Hmmmm. Pretty interesting week so far here at One Seymour H. Knox Plaza.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

The Buffalo Sabres released the following statement in an e-mail Tuesday afternoon: "Terry Pegula visited the Buffalo Sabres offices today for informal discussions. Neither the Sabres nor Mr. Pegula are available to comment on the visit."

The fact he was in the building, covering the details, is not a surprise. It appears the prospective owner of the team continues to do his due diligence.

Sources maintain the transaction will be completed near the end of the month, shortly after the All-Star Game in Raleigh on Jan. 30.

--- Bucky Gleason

I've been out of pocket for a few days and admit to being completely baffled by parts of the Tim Kennedy affair. Have had several requests on my Twitter feed for thoughts on the matter so here goes, in no particular order:

1). The outcry would have been far, far less had this been for a player in the Adam Mair mold with similar stats rather than a guy from South Buffalo. Would anyone really care all that much about the waiving of a third-line player who was from, say, Minnetonka, Minnesota?

2). That said, the Sabres' brass blew it big-time. They continue to have no PR sense whatsoever. Didn't they think the fan base would be in an uproar about this kind of treatment for a hometown kid? And they dump him over $200,000? Bucky adroitly pointed out the millions -- yes, millions -- they've wasted the last few years on the likes of Drew Stafford, the 2008-09 version of Jochen Hecht, Maxim Afinogenov and even parts of Thomas Vanek's $50 million. So you dump a player with upside over $200,000? 

3). There is no way -- I repeat, no way -- Darcy Regier or Lindy Ruff agreed with this move. Regier's gritted teeth act at his presser the other day proved that. I agree with Sully on this one -- the decision came completely via the spite of Larry Quinn and Tom Golisano. I thought Quinn had decided a couple years ago he was stepping out of hockey issues. After all, he was busy with Bass Pro. Oh right, he's not busy with that anymore. Guess he has time for hockey stuff again. Uh-oh.

4). I would like Regier, however, to say no to Quinn/Golisano for once. Tell them that what they're doing is wrong. And if they say, "Quit if you don't like it," he should. What GM puts up with this kind of penny-ante interference? With this kind of humiliation in public? How many times has Regier said buyouts are not part of the organization's philosophy? Then they make him stand up there and talk about a buyout? Quinn should have done that presser, not Regier.

5). Every time -- and I mean every time -- a Sabre goes to arbitration henceforth, we will ask Regier in advance if the player is getting waived if the team loses the case. They reap what they sow. 

6). Nice change of culture. Tim Connolly and Stafford are still here and Kennedy is gone. Guess all those tears at the end-of-season presser were a good show. Guess the Sabres sat back and decided they're a 100-point team coming off a division title and not the team that went bust in the playoffs. Lovely.

7). What's your cap, Tom? What's your cap, Larry? What's your cap, Darcy? You owe the fans an answer.  You expect 100 percent of their money for season tickets but you're going to only spend 85 percent of yours to build a winning team? By the way, Ryan Miller just turned 30. You might want to try to win now while he's at the peak of his career. 

8). There are, however, things you have to look at from the Sabres' view. Throw out the South Buffalo angle -- and take down your signs from the windows in the bars there. Would you pay $1 million for a second-year player coming off a 10-goal, 26-point season? I wouldn't. I don't feel teams should be paying for potential for relatively untested players. Kennedy was a sixth-round draft pick, not a star first-rounder. The Sabres didn't even draft him, remember. He might turn into a 25-goal scorer someday and he can get his money then. Not now. 

9). What if Kennedy scores, say, 22 goals this season with Buffalo? What would he have gotten next year in arbitration? The Clarke MacArthur Memorial $2.4 million decision? Craziness. You pay your top guys and the salary scale in this league is going to have the bottom guys making peanuts. 

10). Kennedy agent Allain Roy bears responsibility too. In the end, Kennedy is going to pocket plenty of money, in the $300,000+ from the Sabres plus whatever he gets in his new deal. But this kid lived to play for the Sabres. His NHL career will not be the same with whoever he ends up with. Roy even told me that on the phone in the wake of the award. He knew that. He also knew the Sabres had no walkaway rights under $1.6 million so he gambled with his client, figuring they'd never buy out the hometown guy. Mistake.

Roy (and Kennedy) should have settled and not gone to the table. Seriously now, that's pretty arrogant to get 10 goals in your rookie year -- and bascially do nothing in one 19-game stretch as well as commit the game-losing mistake in a playoff game -- and think you're worthy of arbitration. No way. 

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

Buffalo Sabres General Manager Darcy Regier spoke for nearly 16 minutes about the decision to waive forward Tim Kennedy. Listen to the full version of what he had to say and watch highlights from the news conference:

--Jay Skurski

Quick thoughts after speaking with Darcy Regier this afternoon:

---Can't blame Tim Kennedy and agent Allain Roy for going to arbitration. With the CBA-mandated walkaway figure over $1.6 million, a figure they would never reach in arbitration, they had all the leverage. Arbitrators are almost always going to award more than a deal with the team. The Sabres were believed to only be offering in the $800,000 range. So going to arbitration got the South Buffalo native perhaps as much as another 200 grand.  Good money if you can get it.

---Why didn't the Sabres just settle with Kennedy? He made $635,000 last year. If he was asking for $1.2 or even more, you can't basically double the salary of a guy who did play in 78 games last year but only scored 10 goals. Regier seemed a little annoyed at the settlement but it's not like it's going to throw the Sabres' cap figures off or anything.

---Doesn't appear like there's many, or maybe any, major fires left in the Sabres' iron. Regier said he's looking to putting together a Portland roster and to training camp. That doesn't sound like Lee Stempniak, Kevin Bieksa, Tomas Kaberle or anyone else new is walking through the door any time soon, folks.

---Wonder if the Sabres would have dealt for another veteran defenseman if the news on Craig Rivet's shoulder was bad. Regier said today Rivet will be ready to start the season. The Sabres may have been forced to take a different tact if Rivet's return was going to be in November. They couldn't have started the season with Andrej Sekera, Chris Butler and Mike Weber as half of their defense corps. Right?

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

Patrick Kaleta said he didn't know much about the arbitration process and is glad he won't get a first-hand view of it come July 29. The Angola native got a two-year deal signed with the Sabres today to avoid arbitration.

"I was never a big fan of arbitration," Kaleta said this afternoon in HSBC Arena. "Going in there and pleading cases each way, I not really a fan of it. I'm happy to get it over and done with and not worry about it for a couple of years."

Kaleta was the only player in the NHL taken to arbitration by his team, a move the Sabres designed to make sure they kept him next year and didn't have him subjected to an offer sheet.

"I had to look at it in a way that the team wanted me to play next year no matter what and make sure I had a contract," he said. "It's good the team wants me and I'm happy to be able to stay in Buffalo for a couple more years at least."

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Kaleta made $522,000 last season and is likely getting in the $800-900,000 range now.

GM Darcy Regier said he agreed with Kaleta's assessment on arbitration and that the team is still talking to Tim Kennedy, whose hearing is scheduled for July 27.

Here's the audio of Kaleta and Regier meeting with reporters Wednesday afternoon in the arena. Plenty of interesting talk from Regier on the Ilya Kovalchuk contract and on the current locked state of the trade market as well.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

Patrick Kaleta

Darcy Regier

The NHL Players Association has released the schedule of arbitration hearings and the Sabres will be at the table on July 27 with Tim Kennedy and July 29 with Patrick Kaleta. Kennedy made $635,000 last season and produced 10 goals and 16 assists in 78 games over his first NHL campaign. Kaleta made $522,000 and had 10 goals, five assists but only played 55 games due to injuries.

The Sabres took Kaleta to arbitration, the only team in the league to do so with one of their players. It's reasonable to think both players could end up in the $1 million range when their hearings are complete. 

The July 29 date will be watched around the league because that will be goaltender Antti Niemi's hearing with the Chicago Blackhawks. He made $827,000 last year and one can only imagine what he might get now after winning the Stanley Cup, which would further drive the Hawks into salary cap jail. 

Boston's Blake Wheeler is on the docket for July 27 while Washington's Tomas Fleischmann has his case heard July 28. Former Sabre Clarke MacArthur goes to the table with Atlanta on July 21. 

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

The Sabres'  7:45 press conference started about 25 minutes late and GM Darcy Regier said the team may not be finished in free agency and certainly hasn't closed the door on trade possibilities. Regier said he acquired Jordan Leopold after Toni Lydman had signed with Anaheim but before Henrik Tallinder signed with New Jersey, although he knew he'd need a defenseman because the likelihood was that Tallinder was going.

Regier said he spoke to Lydman as recently as noon today. He said he was also hopeful of signing two forwards who chose to go elsewhere. Hmmm. He's still looking for more scoring.

The audio of the session is below.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

We're two days away from the start of the free agency period and it's likely that Sabres defensemen Henrik Tallinder and Toni Lydman will be testing the market. GM Darcy Regier certainly set up fans for that eventuality with his comments following the draft Saturday in Los Angeles.  The salary cap is going up to $59.5 million -- bet the Sabres never had that figure on their radar in their planning the last few years! -- and Lydman and Tallinder both might now be $4 million a year players.

The Sabres, of course, remain interested in both players but the best-case scenario is probably that they find a way to keep one or the other. 

Tallinder's agent, Don Meehan, said negotiations with the Sabres are far from closed in this email comment to The News this morning: "We may very well have further discussions with Buffalo before July 1 and even after." Meehan, however, did sound a more ominous note when he seconded Reiger's notion by saying, "It is helpful that the cap will be over 59 million so I believe the market for Henrik will be healthy."

Lydman's agent, Larry Kelly, has yet to respond to phone and e-mail inquiries from The News. 

It's a decent free-agent market for defenseman, as this NHL.com story illustrates. If the Sabres lose both of their incumbents, it would nice to see them try to get involved with the likes of Sergei Gonchar, Paul Martin or Anton Volchenkov. But that, of course, would be the kind of big-ticket item they normally don't shoot for. We'll see. Have your say in our poll below.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

poll by twiigs.com

The Sabres have called an end-of-season press conference featuring Larry Quinn, Darcy Regier and Lindy Ruff for Thursday morning in HSBC Arena. You may remember they never had such a session last year after their second straight playoff miss and they were roundly criticized for it. Lesson learned. Maybe a playoff berth has them a tad less skittish about music-facing.

Anyway....

Lots of interesting chatter on Twitter this evening about the line of questioning Tim Connolly faced in the locker room today in the wake of his playoff no-show (Remember not to shoot the messengers, folks). So the comments section is open here now: We'll certainly have our list of questions but what's the three-star list of inquiries you'd have for this trio?

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

BOSTON -- Is the important news Darcy Regier's intermission injury updates or the fact the black forest cake and chocolate raspberry squares are on the press box dessert cart? (Hmmm..OK, Darcy wins).

The Sabres GM acknowledges Patrick Kaleta is done for the regular season but is hopeful he could be ready for the start of the playoffs.

"The two weeks is a real minimum number so I hope that's all it is," Regier just told me. "I'm planning on two weeks and hopefully it's not more."

The news was pretty positive on both Thomas Vanek and Tim Connolly. It sounds like both should be back in time for the playoffs.

"We're quite hopeful those aren't a longer period of time, Regier said. "Whether it's days or a week, maybe a little more. But that's the timeframe. Tim is pretty similar to that, in that area as well. That's as good as I can do as a doctor right now."

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)