Archives for January 19, 2007

'Head Coach Lindy Ruff was reluctant to say whether Roy would be well enough to play come game time. Ruff hopes Roy will be ready but wont be able to make a decision until later in the day.'

'"For a manager now everything is about choices," Regier says about some of the decisions he's facing. "We had to make one last year after the playoffs. We would have loved to keep J.P. Dumont on our team, we liked him very much. But success now means letting players go out of necessity. Of course we'd love to have both Daniel and Chris back next year but now that decision is still going to rest largely with them. We're only going to be able to go to a certain price and much will depend upon what they're looking for at this stage of their careers."'

'"Getting 14, 15 minutes a game has made a huge difference for me," Pyatt said. "Lots of games in [Buffalo] I was playing eight or nine. It's been a great change for me and I'm happy I'm here in Vancouver. I think I could have been doing this in Buffalo but I just wasn't getting the opportunity last season."'

'"Anytime you can contribute offensively it's nice," Fitzpatrick said. "I'll have a lot of family and friends [in Buffalo]. We want to go in there and keep proving we can play with the better teams in the league and, obviously, they're one of the best. There's a lot of motivation for us to go into the [all-star] break on a high and beat a very good team."'

‘”My rookie season, I just enjoy the time I’m here with great players, a great team,” Novotny said. “I’ve been working hard for this four years in Rochester and finally I make the team. This is the prize for me. I just enjoy every day and try hard for this team.”‘

‘”I don’t think the game is being called as tight,” Ruff told reporters after Thursday afternoon’s practice in HSBC Arena. “There’s games where, no criticism – I guess it is a criticism; you asked me my opinion – I think there’s games where the whistle has been put away. It’s just from what I see.”‘

‘G Roberto Luongo has a 1.99 GAA and .937 save percentage in 15 games against Buffalo.’

‘”It will be nice to be able to play in front of friends and family,” he said. “It’s tough for anyone to come out west, and it’s even tough for them to watch on TV with the (three-hour) time difference, so it will be very nice to get back home.”‘

‘Could the Western New York area host another NHL All-Star Game, like it did in 1978?’

‘The Sabres have a payroll of around $40 million, with Briere the highest-paid member at $5 million and Drury third at $3.154 million. It will take more to re-sign either, which is why Sabres fans should enjoy watching the team as presently constructed while they can.’