Ehrhoff Deal is Done

The newest Buffalo Sabre is former Vancouver D-man Christian Ehrhoff. It is an extremely long term deal at 10 years that is worth $40 million. I am extremely happy with this deal, did not think it was going to be for that long but I'm glad that he will most likely finish his carrier in Buffalo. I'm sure there will be more to come tomorrow from Mr. Pegula and the rest of the front office.

Another Big Day in the B-Lo

It seemed like all day my phone was going off from WGR550 alerts. My first text was that Nathan Gerbe signed a 3 year deal worth
$4.3 million. I'm so happy we signed Gerbe. He is an incredible goal scorer and will be an asset for us in years to come. He had a great season in 2010/11 scoring 16 goals with 31 points. In a couple years, he should be a consistent 30 goal scorer. Two moments that stick out in my about him is when he scored two goals in 5 seconds against the Islanders and when he made several hard working plays to score an empty net goal to seal the deal against the Habs. At the end of the NHL season, I thought for sure that the Sabres would acquire Christian Ehroff from Vancouver. I thought I was wrong when I heard yesterday that the New York Isalnders had bought his rights for a 4th round pick. That all changed when the Sabres bought his negotiation rights from the Islanders for guess what, a 4th round pick in 2012. So now it's up to Ehroff to decide where he wants to play. Also, Steve Montador has left the Sabres to join the Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago should be happy with this pick up. Steve is a hard working D-man who I believe finished in the top 5 last year for blocked shots. He should fit right in after the Hawks lost "Soupy" to the Panthers. I guess we will see what happens July 1st. Brad Richards??

Congrats HOF Class of 2011

Doug Gilmour leads the 2011 Hockey Hall of Fame class that features Mark Howe, Ed Belfour, Joe Nieuwendyk. Congrats to all of them even though two of the members are lucky they have cup rings (99 Stars). Gilmour played on the Sabres for a short period of time at the end of his carrier but did nothing like what he did in Toronto and Calgary. I know next year it will be tough because guys like Joe Sakick and Jermey Roenick are eligible and also guys like Dave Andreychuk, Pavel Bure and the late Pat Quinn who are not in.

Mike Grier TTM

Received 6/27/11
I'm starting to go back to getting 4x6's signed so this is a good way to start! I'm trying to get the whole Buffalo Sabres team to sign a 4x6 so hopefully the Sabres will offer Grier a deal for next year. He said if the Sabres don't offer him a deal, he's retiring so it's good to see that he only wants to play in Buffalo. Mike is one of my favorite players because he's hardworking, shows leadership and plays huge during the playoffs. He is also one of the best penalty killers on the team. Grier signed the 4x6 1/1 through his home.

Sabres Offseason Acquisition: Robyn Regehr and Ales Kotalik

This has been a busy couple days for the Buffalo Sabres organization. We bought the Rochester Americans to have as our AAA farm team again, our 2011 draft picks including first rounder Joel Armina, and perhaps the biggest news of all, acquiring defenseman Robyn Regehr and forward Ales Kotalik and a 2012 second round pick from the Calgary Flames. This deal has been buzzing around for a couple days and it finally happened early Saturday morning. In exchange, we let go defenseman Chris Butler and forward Paul Byron. Calgary defiantly got the shorter end of the stick on this one. Regehr is a solid stay at home defenseman and will a perfect pair with either Tyler Myers or Jordan Leopold. The shootout specialist Al Kotalik will probably play in Rochester next season so he doesn't effect our Salary Cap. I just found out today that I'm splitting season tix with a bunch of relatives of mine so I can't wait to see him play, especially my birthday Nov. 8th where they play the Winnipeg Jets! On the TTM side of things, If anybody knows a offseason TTM address from Regehr, I would highly appreciate if you emailed me at rbmarko20@yahoo.com with the address.

Buffalo Sabres 2011 Entry Draft Party

Today I went to the Sabres draft party with my family at HSBC Arena to watch the draft on the jumbotron. I did not know there were going to be players there signing autographs until I get there so I did not bring anything. When I got there and found out, I quickly ran to the sabres Store and bought a couple of pucks not knowing who was signing. Luckily, they had a 50% off deal so I got these pucks cheap. I got there just in time and waited in line for not to long. There were two tables featuring 4 or 5 guys and there were also some people signing alone in the hallway of the 200 level. Surprisingly there were no current players there just prospects and alumni. They had like mini Sabres logos at the tables that the players were signing which I ended up giving to my brother who was on the arena floor playing hockey. The other members of the table I was at were alumni Rick Seling, Andrew Peters and Daryl Shannon along with prospects David Leggio (goalie) and the prospet I'm most exited about, tough guy Zack Kassian, who signed my puck in sliver. For those of you who don't know, Kassian can score, hit, and I'm sure fight. He's been suspended multiple times for dirty hits including in the world juniors. The other puck was meant to be for another prospect and another member of the Canadian world juniors team, Marcus Foligno. He was at a table with Rob Ray, Jay McKee, Larry Playfair and prospect Corey Troop. The line was really long so I didn't bother getting it. I did get it signed by one of my favorite Sabres of all time, Danny Gare, who was there covering the draft for the Sabres. He was in the hallway signing autographs for other fans so I jumped in there and got him to sign my puck. He didn't have a silver sharpie and neither did I so he signed in black, but I didn't turn out that bad. Other people I could have gotten were Mike Robitalle and the great Rick Jeanneret Now, about the draft. With the 16th overall pick in St. Paul, the Sabres Right Winger Joel Armia from Finland. All what I know about him is what they said on TSN. He seems like a pure goal scorer, which is exactly what the Sabres need and have been lacking. I guess I did see him play when the World juniors came to Buffalo, but I do not remember him. Are you happy Winnipeg! The name will be the Jets. If I was a Winnipeg fan, I would be pumped and If was one of the couple 100 Thrasher fans, I would want them to be called something else just to piss them off. Don't really like there logo choice though, wouldn't have gotten something that resembles so much to the NHL logo! Real touching moment with the Rangers pick though. Also, Robyn Regher. Come on man!

All Time American Team

I decided to do a new segment on my blog since mail has been slow and because I like to talk about hockey. Every week I will put together an all time team consisting of 4 Forward lines, 3 Defensive parings, 2 Goalies, a Coach and GM. This week, I'm doing an all-time USA team.

Line 1: Brett Hull, Jermey Roenick, Mike Modano
Line 2: Pat LaFontaine, Keith Tkachuk, Joe Mullen
Line 3: Ryan Kesler, Pat Kane, Bobby Ryan
Line 4: Chris Drury, John LeClair, Phil Kessel
D1: Chris Chelios, Brian Leetch
D2: Phil Housley, Mike Ramsey
D3: Brian Rafalski, Jack Johnson
Goalies: Mike Richter
Jimmy Craig
Coach: Herb Brooks
GM: Brian Burke

Now it's your turn, let me know what changes you would make if you have any! I know there is going to be some controversy about the back up goalie situation. i really couldn't decide between Miller and Timmy Thomas so I went with the Miracle star!

Ryane Clowe TTM

Received 6/17/11
My first success in almost two weeks! Ryane is one of my favorite players on the Sharks. He's a great role player and played great in the playoffs. I could have swore I sent this to his house but i can't find the address anywhere so I think I did send it to the San Jose Sharks. Clowe signed 1/1.

Congrats Bruins

As much as it kills me to say, the Boston Bruins are the 2011 Stanley Cup Champions. I'm not a Canuck fan but I was rooting for them because I hate the Bruins and I hate seeing Boston teams win. Big congrats to Timmy Thomas, Mark Rechhi and ex Sabre Dan Paille. Besides those guys and maybe a couple others, I have no respect for anyone else on that team. You think they would kill the mics during the cup celebration because all I heard was F***** Rights and Charas barbarian yell. Whatever though. Sabres are coming for the cup next year so watch out. Sorry Canada.

New Email

my new email address is rbmarko20@yahoo.com. my old email wasn't working so if you tried to send me a question and didn't get a response, send it again to my new address. thanks

Drew Stafford

After signing prospects like Mark Pysyk, Marcus Foligno, Brayden McNabb, and letting go of Associate Coach Brian McCutcheon; the Sabres made their biggest move this offseason by signing Drew Stafford to a 4 year/$16 million deal. Personally, I think this is great! I thought for sure he was going to become a free agent this summer, but I'm glad Darcy agreed to terms. Stafford had a break out year this season, he scored 31 goals and 4 of them were game winners. I believe he had like 3 or 4 hat tricks too. I just remember him having very few one goal games. He didn't play as good as we wanted him to in the playoffs, only scoring one goal, but I'm sure he will have another great season in 2012 and in years to come.

Valtteri Filppula TTM

Received 6/2/11
When I went to see Detroit at the Arena in March, one of the players I didn't have any cards of was Valtteri Flippula. The week after, I got this card of him so I sent it out, and sure enough, I got it back! Really cool signature too. Card took 3 months through Detroit Red Wings, he signed 1/1.