Sabres 4 – Bluejackets 0 Just another preseason game with players you will not see once the NHL regular season begins, but oh what fun they can be.
Defensemen Byram, Power, and Wahlberg provided timely checks and offense and goaltenders Georgiev and Levi combined for the shutout.
Of course there had to be a fight, Ruff even has one of his goons on the bench, a 30-year-old defenseman who has spent his entire career in the minors except for 25 games playing for New Jersey under Ruff, in those 25 NHL games he earned 77 PIMs and a -6 plus/minus, let us hope Ruff is not so enamored that (d) Geertsen will be on the Sabres roster.
The Stars of the Game as selected by Buffalo Winter: 1st (d) Byram, 2nd (d) Power, and 3rd (g) Levi.
Sabres vs Blue Jackets Columbus, Ohio, Nationwide Arena will host the Buffalo Sabres tonight at 7pm EST.
Although it is just a preseason game it still gets the blood pumping, but with tempered enthusiasm I am looking forward to getting the season started, last night the back-to-back defending Stanley Cup champions were shut out 5-0, and so it goes with games that do not count in the regular season standings.
To all ESPN FHL team managers, we have approximately two weeks to build our player lists, edit & select the best we want to acquire, and go to the ESPN NHL FHL page to draft our team.
As always Buffalo Winter will draft only one public team and good or bad I will play my team until the final week of play, if I do not earn a playoff seeding, I will still manage my team as solidly as I can, because it will still be valuable for me to learn and earn experience for next year.
St. Louis visits Dallas to get the Hockey Holidays started tonight at 7 pm EST, and although these are “meaningless” games in relation to the regular season standings, it gives coaching staffs and players an opportunity to solidify their rosters.
Each team basically knows what their roster is going to look like, but there are open slots that can be earned by journeymen, rookies, and minor leaguers if they shine during camp and contribute strongly during preseason.
Preseason whets the appetite of fans who are excitedly awaiting October’s regular season start, it also gives us a sneak peek into newly traded players and the (c) Jonathan Toews comeback, and how they might pan out.
Right before the season began in 1977, the Sabres traded away a popular player which at the time it caused me, a 16-year-old fan to suffer a gut punch I did not see coming. Brian “Spinner” Spencer was not the most skilled or talented player, but it hurt none the less.
It makes me think of the loyal Maple Leafs fans who had to watch a highly skilled and talented player who was much beloved in Toronto, Mitch Marner getting shipped off to sin city, I can relate to the pain they feel.
Now I do not claim to know how the locker room in Toronto has come to this where one of their best players felt like he had to leave or was excommunicated, either way it is the legion of fans who will feel betrayed and no matter how well (c) Nicolas Roy plays for the Maple Leafs, it will still hurt.
Thus is the life of a hockey fan who has no real control over his favorite team and players and has to come to grips with trades they do not agree with, but as a hockey fan I still cheered for “Spinner” that season even though he wore a different sweater, as there will be many Canadians cheering for (rw) Marner in his new sweater.
So, let us drop the puck and begin the long haul to the 2025/26 Stanley Cup playoffs!
Here along the Lake The Buffalo Sabres brought in two goaltenders to compete with netminders UPL and Devon Levi, new addition journeyman Alex Lyon is a decent to good AHL goaltender and will probably earn the starting job in Rochester.
The other goalie Alexander Georgiev is even less impressive than Lyon, which means he will more likely than not be the backup goaltender for the Americans this coming season.
Which leaves the team with up and down again UPL, inconsistent and not strong enough to be a winning full-time starter in the NHL, if he was on any other team he probably would be playing in the AHL.
Which highlights Buffalo’s heir apparent in Devon Levi who after a very strong season in the AHL last year has developed enough to come back to the Sabres and be the goaltender to backstop the Sabres into the playoffs.
It will be another fruitless season if Ruff maintains the status quo with UPL or worse uses a newly acquired eight season experienced goaltender who cannot keep his GAA below 3.00 because Ruff thinks that after nearly a decade of NHL play has something to prove. (Which should have been accomplished by now).
This Monday Buffalo begins preseason play versus the Bluejackets in Ohio and the next night at home versus the same Columbus team.
This year’s preseason schedule is short and easy, three home and home series with Columbus, Detroit, and Pittsburgh before opening night October 9th versus the Broadway Blue Shirts at home.
Here along the Lake -It is becoming increasingly difficult to argue in favor of activist Bettman to remain at the helm of North America’s greatest sport.
NBA employee goes to NHL
To list his career achievements beginning with the NBA would be too numerous and would read like an unreal resume, so just concentrating on hockey we have to understand what his role in the NHL is.
The Board of Governors run the NHL not activist Bettman who only stays employed by the whims of NHL team owners that make up the board, he serves as a “conductor” of sorts to help lead all the voices as one.
There are 32 owners not counting partners/minor owners and they need one voice to lead the league, so with much trepidation the board brought the third highest person running the NBA to assist in the NHL.
Right from the beginning activist Bettman was despised by players and fans alike, not the least was Wayne Gretzky himself expressing deep concern about a non-hockey person coming into their league and locking them out.
Player Chris Chelios even opined that activist Bettman should watch his back with veiled “mafia” consequences.
Has his face in more Cup championship photos then players and coaches
Activist Bettman did indeed help grow the league, but never in Canada, and did bring positive financial changes to the NHL, but then he became an activist for the intolerant left by pushing the “bogey man” of racism, but to his credit he did not allow the domestic terrorist group BLM into arenas.
Now activist Bettman has been forcing the league, players, and fans, to honor, promote, and celebrate sexual perversion by hosting homosexual theme nights, it is more than disgusting it is dangerous, which has contributed to the violence we are witnessing in our Nation.
This tolerance of perverts had led to a homosexual being hired as a video coach with the Blackhawks which turned out poorly for the player/s abused.
Would he have been let off the hook if he was not the winningest Head Coach in the NHL
Then of course activist Bettman let Head Coach Quenneville and GM Bowman off the hook after only 2 1/2 of years of being “banned” for their responsibilities of the sexual assault to the young player by their video coach under their watch.
Would he have been let off the hook if his dad was not Scotty Almighty Bowman
In a disgusting “public apology” Bowman and Quenneville said they now understand their role in what happened, and he have taken courses to have a greater awareness of sexual assault and the NHL “expects them” to be focused on effective and meaningful ways to address future sexual assaults.
Thankfully the Russian players told activist Bettman to take a long walk off a short pier and refuse to put tape on their sticks, or wear sweaters for promoting “homosexual night” because it goes against their belief in Jesus and the sin of engaging in perverted sex.
Activist Bettman has been for a few seasons now been talking about retirement, good, let’s get it done, the quicker the better so we can dispense with the activism and get back to just playing and watching hockey.
Buffalo Winter 