Archives for February 29, 2012

‘Regier has set them up nicely heading into the summer. The door is open to make tremendous upgrades. Regier still has to walk through.’

‘”Like I’ve said, we don’t make those decisions. That’s more proof because if I had any more influence Paul would still be here. I appreciate the way he plays. He’s been one of my best friends for a long time there. Obviously, that’s going to continue, but it was nice to have him as a teammate and have those other intangibles.”‘

‘Darcy Regier pointed toward prospect Marcus Foligno as a player who played a similar style to Zack Kassian. No arguments here. Foligno is smaller at 6-foot-2, 215 pounds, but he was the more polished player and more mature person coming out of junior. So why wasn’t the left winger, terrific for the past month in Rochester, summoned to help the struggling Sabres for more than a game?’

‘The Sabres’ new center, acquired from Vancouver with defenseman Alexander Sulzer on Monday, had to fly from the West Coast to Buffalo to file immigration papers and undergo a physical. He completed that Tuesday morning and promptly flew back west to join his new teammates in California.’

How they match up: Ducks-Sabres (Orange County Register)
Up next for the Ducks: Wednesday vs. Buffalo (Los Angeles Times)
Buffalo (27-27-8) at Anaheim (27-26-10) (AP)
Buffalo Sabres (27-27-8) at Anaheim Ducks (27-26-10) (The Sports Network)
Ducks set to host new-look Sabres (NHL.com)

Recruits eager to learn, win (Vancouver Province)
Kassian compared to Lucic (Vancouver Province)
Kassian aims to fly under the radar (Vancouver Sun)
Kassian deserves chance to win over doubters (Vancouver Sun)

‘”No matter how you view hockey, you have to understand how important players like Paul can be and how long it takes to develop a guy who plays that way at such a high level. Winning those faceoffs is not easy, killing those penalties is not easy and there aren’t a lot of guys willing to do those jobs and he was.”

‘General Manager Darcy Regier said Hodgson being Canadian and coming from a Canadian team had to go through Visa issues. Regier said all has been taken care of and both passed physicals and the new players will be ready to play Wednesday in Anaheim.’

‘If I were Adam, I’d be thinking about really working on my defensive game given that there is an immediate opening on the roster created by the departure of Gaustad.’

‘Regier gets an “A” in the other deal, landing a first round draft pick for Paul Gaustad. I didn’t think a third or fourth line center who is a rental player could fetch a first rounder but he did and the Sabres absolutely had to make that deal. Buffalo now has 2 first round selections and 2 second round selections in the June draft giving Regier flexibility. He can keep the picks and bring in more players to develop or he can package the picks to perhaps move up in the draft and get an impact player or package picks and players to make another deal in an attempt to build a roster that will meet Terry Pegula’s goal of winning the Stanley Cup.’