Archives for July 13, 2015

‘“It’s an unbelievable hockey market. I call it the eighth Canadian market, and I think we’ve surpassed a lot of Canadian markets when it comes to this type of thing. The response from the public and the press and everything has been outstanding. Our players notice that, obviously, but the most important thing is what we get done here in a week.”’

‘Buffalo still needs another quality left-shot blueliner and there’s plenty of chatter it put in a big free-agent offer to Oduya on July 1. To this point, it seems like Oduya, 33, would prefer to stay with the Blackhawks. But even after Friday’s big trade of Patrick Sharp to Dallas, the Hawks are still jammed by the salary cap.’

‘The defenseman was one of 14 undrafted and unsigned players brought in by Buffalo to fill out the camp roster. He made the most of the opportunity.’

‘“There’s no reason he can’t be an elite pro goalie and there’s no reason he can’t play in the National Hockey League down the road,” said Seth Appert, Kasdorf’s coach at R.P.I. and a former college goalie.’

‘“It was really exciting,” an excited Chapman said in a hallway before leaving the First Niagara Center. “It’s kind of shocking, actually. I just kind of went in, did a little dipsy doodle, which was unusual for me, put a bar down shot in. I was happy and the guys were obviously giving me a hard time about it.”’

‘Murray’s willing to wait until right before the season, when some teams will need to pare salary to get underneath the cap.’

‘We also talked about other topics with the GM. The biggest thing on everybody’s mind is getting a good, left handed shot defenseman and Murray isn’t going to settle, “We’ve looked at everybody that we feel are going to need waivers, we’re still talking trades, we’re still talking about a couple of guys that are still out there, but there’s no hurry.” Murray said he’s willing to wait into training camp if he has to.’

‘”I think you saw [improvement] in, and I don’t want to bring up names because I’m going to forget names, but I think the guys that were here last year for the first time vs. coming in for the second time this year showed great improvement,” Sabres general manager Tim Murray said. “And they know when they get here it’s going to be a lot of hard work and that they have to be ready for it.”‘

‘“I gotta say I didn’t [have Chapman with the winner],” Rodrigues said, laughing. “Guys were actually joking after we came back from the locker room. Someone asked him how many goals he scored this year and he said ‘None.’ He said it was the biggest goal of his career.’

‘“I thought he was outstanding. I thought he was one of the best players on the ice,” Murray said. “His team won the game and his line was a big part of it. I expected that.’