Archives for September 15, 2006

'"I will be back playing this year," Connolly said. "I'm 90 to 95 percent there."'

'As further evidence of what they're shooting for this season, the team issued each player a T-shirt with "One Team, One Goal" printed above a picture of the Cup.'

'The Sabres blue line situation is a little more cut and dry compared to the ambiguity of the forward ranks. Barring injury, the defensive sweaters are already stitched and packed for the October 4th season opener in Carolina. With Rory Fitzpatrick gone to Vancouver via free agency, it is assumed that 2005-06 Amerks MVP Nathan Paetsch will graduate to the role of 7th defenseman on the Sabres roster.'

'But a cyber sleuth gained access to the unedited photo and, in a matter of minutes, it was splashed across fan Web sites and available for viewing around the world. The blurry countdown image quickly was removed from www.sabres.com.'

'Vanek started to draw comparisons to former Sabres pariah Miroslav Satan because he was a wickedly skilled winger who seemed disconnected at times. Vanek's minus-11 rating on a team that scored 281 goals was indicative of defensive lapses, especially when considering his line rarely skated against the opposition's top scorers.'

'"As a player, you have to think about yourself, your game, first. As a coach now you're thinking about all of them and less about yourself. I'll be sitting at a desk and watching some video, and Rip or George will come in to talk and I can barely have a conversation with them. In your head you got four or five things going on. Usually, I would talk to them for 15 minutes, and now it's like, "What? What are you saying?' I'm not even listening to them as they're talking."'

‘But Web surfers got a sneak peak at the new threads when a photo of the team’s new home jersey appeared on the team’s Web site for a brief time Thursday.’