Robviously

Suspended indefinitely. When I saw "out indefinitely" I thought it meant a major injury.....

The Sabres can do what they did with Ruhwedel though -- instead of just offering a contract, they can ALSO offer a guy a chance to play in the NHL *this month*. You figure that would resonate with a guy who is just wrapping up his college career. Hope we make a run at a couple of these guys. I like what we're getting from Ruhwedel.

????? He faced 39 shots against Dallas and 44 against Tampa Bay. If those aren't tests, I'm not sure what is.

Outcry for *not* rushing them or outcry for rushing them? After last season's Grigorenko debacle, I don't remember there being a ton of appetite for rushing teenagers to the NHL this season.

This board is absolutely ridiculous when it comes to hockey obsession. Well done, everyone.

It's been so long since being a Sabres fan was simple and: 1) you wanted them to win every single game throughout an entire season (i.e. "just finish the tank" didn't apply) and 2) you actually liked all the players on the team and just wanted them to do well rather than wondering when we're going to trade them and what we can get back That's probably not next season but October 2015 seems realistic.

Even if they don't. If they give us their 1st this year and we can add two first-line type guys in the 2014 draft, I'd be pretty happy. If the Sabres get off to an amazing start next season, I'm going to want them to continue. This is our FOURTH year in a row of starting horribly for the first half of the season, which leaves our only options for the end of the season 1. getting a VERY high pick (still hasn't happened), 2. blowing the draft pick but still missing the playoffs, and 3. squeaking into the playoffs to get eliminated in Round 1. It'd be nice to break the cycle and just want the team to win every single game again. But if the Sabres start horribly again come October, you might as well root for the tank again.

I noticed that Rau had the first MIN goal but that Fasching wasn't credited with an assist. I was hoping he was indirectly involved in some way. (Guys like Vanek and Foligno often help score goals that they never receive a point for just by going to the net and/or screening the goalie.)

The new Stars' kelly green ("Victory Green" if you believe their program) really is spectacular in person. The current Wild set with hunter green is pretty great too. NHL uniforms seem to be improving fairly steadily over the years. Contrast that with the NFL, where one team each season is adopting clown uniforms now (Jaguars last year, the Buccaneers this year).

I caught the third period of the Minnesota-Ohio State game (didn't even realize I got that channel until I was flipping around). I noticed Fashing on the ice a lot but he didn't do any "future star" things. They did put him out there to kill a penalty at one point so that bodes well for his "two-way player" cred. Unfortunately, he was also on the ice when Ohio State tied the game 2-2 late in the 3rd period -- the play wasn't his fault but his line was out there. Anyways, it was just one period. I guess it's pretty impressive that he's on the no.1 line of the no.1 ranked team in the country as a freshman.

We're going to have a new thread about this every day until we get some answers, dammit!

This. If he was still here, he'd just be more proof that Darcy drafts the wrong guys. He's good at punching people and getting suspended. Wow.

That's good. I'll be happy when I'm wrong.

Why? He's a good player for us in Rochester, and it's not like the Sabres hesitate to bring him up when they need him. Plus if he's looking for a crummy NHL team to earn playing time with, we're at the top of that list. I don't think we'd mind keeping him around and I'm not sure he has a ton of great options elsewhere.

Pysyk and Larsson should move up, but we can add Grigorenko and hopefully we'll be signing McCabe and Carrier and adding them to the mix as well. I'd like to keep Risto and Ruhwedel down there to start next year as well. I also hope the Sabres find some good AHL veterans to make sure the Amerks stay good.

If the Blues win the Cup, we get a first round pick and the chances of us signing Ott in the offseason go up.

Now it's performance art.

I'd prefer he spent one full season down there all the way through the playoffs. He's been splitting time over multiple teams for two seasons now, and I'd like to have him in the same place for a full year.

The Islanders blowing two-goal leads in the third period in back to back games is disturbing. Between that and their schedule, they might not win again this season.

In retrospect, it was foolish of me to have withdrawn my entire 401k and bet on the Sabres this year. Lesson learned.

Well, maybe Pat LaFontaine can pay him a visit and help change his..... oh..... oh, nevermind.

I'd love to add Connor McDavid, both because he's a ridiculous talent and because we've never had a superstar forward with that much hype, but I'm not as obsessed with him as maybe some other people are. The next Crosby is awesome but you don't *NEED* the next Crosby to win. Just make sure our high draft picks count, and hit a few other home runs as well.

If you review our last couple drafts, it looks like we've already collected most of the pieces for a very good team. We're loaded on defense and our system has a lot of guys that will look great on our 2nd and 3rd lines. The Sabres are just missing stars to put on their first line -- the type of guys we haven't had in far too long. Hopefully this draft and the next one finally address that, and we complete the puzzle. We need a franchise player to get us back on track. Who's it going to be?

The perfect target for the Sabres this summer is Ray Whitney. He's 41 and still playing at a high level. His career spans two decades and he has over 1000 points. He'd be the perfect player/coach to help out all the young guys. He's also won the Cup (as a Hurricane, unfortunately) already, which means he's basically done it all and makes him more likely to sign on with Buffalo if we toss a bunch of money his way. He can help us get to the cap floor and he'd be a good mentor for our young players, but he's not so good that he'd screw up our tank job if that's what we're going for next year. Offer him a big one-year deal (and offer to deal him to a contender at the deadline if that's what he wants) and offer him a big two-year deal. Let him pick. (Note: I have no idea if he's said anything recently about retirement. Hopefully not.)

I was pleasantly surprised by Deslauriers tonight. He's only listed at 6' but he looked huge out there. He finished some nice hits and wasn't afraid to shoot the puck. No idea if he'll actually be a good NHL player but I won't mind if he's a Sabre next season. Neuvirth looked very good. Is there some rule on this team that we absolutely, positively do not want to score goals when our backup goalie is in net? I really liked Bjugstad tonight for Florida. He was flying.