Some random thoughts while waiting for the Mark Hamister bid for the Sabres to be made public: In defending Tim Connolly's minus-19 rating, which places him near the bottom of the NHL, the Sabres recently told Paul Hamilton of WGR that Connolly had been on the ice for seven empty-net goals-against. The excuse is an interesting one that the Sabres have never used to defend Miro Satan, Chris Gratton, Stu Barnes or Alexei Zhitnik, all of whom are also usually on the ice when the Sabre net is empty.