Archives for September 20, 2015

'“You look at him and he smiles, he’s got the shield,” said Bylsma, grimacing as he pictured the sneer and tinted mask that can’t hide the vicious intent in Kaleta’s eyes. “You’re like, ‘Yeah, I’m supposed to like him. I’m supposed to like him.’ ”' … [Read more...] about Kaleta trying hard to be himself, make Sabres’ roster

'“Ottawa was a class-act organization,” Lehner said. “I owe them a lot, and I can’t express that enough. But I kind of went into a weird cycle there. This is just my honest opinion. People might not agree with me. I don’t really care. But every time I played good, I got benched. That happened on multiple occasions.' … [Read more...] about New Sabres goalie Lehner can count on a fair shot here

'The 35-year-old is on the downslope of his career, but the Sabres hope he has enough left to be a contributor on the ice and in the dressing room. Legwand is centering the fourth line for left wing Nicolas Deslauriers and right wing Marcus Foligno, and he’s also sharing tips he brings from 1,112 games in the NHL.' … [Read more...] about Long-ago No. 2 Legwand providing insight to next wave

“Now he’s definitely into the veteran category of his career,” Bylsma said about Legwand. “But he’s always been … kind of a straight-line skating guy, up and down. There’s not a lot of flash and there’s not a ton of – I know he’s going to read this and comment on it tomorrow – playmaking. He’s a fast skater, an aggressive skater, a smart hockey player, and that’s the way he’s … [Read more...] about David Legwand happy to be with Sabres

'“When you go into a season and look at contracts and you try to put people with those contracts into situations, we don’t have a lot of opportunity,” Bylsma said. “But I think as a veteran and as a guy in Pat’s shoes you have to come out and do exactly what he’s doing in camp, which is play his style, play his game.”' … [Read more...] about Sabres’ Dan Bylsma trying to like Patrick Kaleta

'“Coming out the gate, we’re not sure what we have,” he said. “How quickly as we going to jell as a team? We have lot of new faces. We’re going to have a pair of young guys (Eichel and Reinhart) at center ice. How quickly are they going to become bonafide NHL players? We’ll have a new goalie. We hope that stabilizes us there; that was the plan with the trade. We certainly have … [Read more...] about Young Sabres all optimism

'The only real criticism I have of Kaleta is in today’s game, you can’t have guys on your fourth line who don’t chip in offensive. Kaleta is an above average penalty killer, but since scoring 10 goals in 2009-10, he’s had a total of 10 goals and has just one goal since February 8, 2012. He did score two goals in his first scrimmage, but he downplayed that somewhat, “It’s not a … [Read more...] about Kaleta trying to show he still is a Sabre

'"It's an exciting time," Sabres defenseman Josh Gorges said. "I think the moves we made [have] made us a stronger team, but a more character [driven] team. I think that's going to go a long way. We brought in some guys who are real professionals that have been around the game. They know what it takes to prepare, they know what it takes to win, and I think that those sorts of … [Read more...] about Sabres hope to begin putting rebuild behind them

'“I just do what I got to do. Passionate, work ethic, anything and everything that needs to be done, I’m more than willing to do,” Kaleta said. “Just be myself, I go out there and play the body, play the puck. It’s not always about fighting and hitting but using my wheels that I have now and just getting back in the swing of things and doing what I do best.”' … [Read more...] about Kaleta once again out to prove himself