Hope You All Had a Good Thanksgiving

As we are recovering from hopefully good food and terrible afternoon games I just have one note that Honk if you love justice beat me to. I am thankful that Macy's and Rick Astley have a good sense of humor to Rick Roll THE ENTIRE COUNTRY. Here is the Youtube to prove it. And honestly, I somewhat actually enjoy the song.

Off Day Notes

It looks that Peters will be playing on Wednesday against the Blues. He has been playing on a line with Mair and Gaustad. This means that Kaleta is going to see the press box with Stafford. It also may seem that Jay McKee may not play on Wednesday. He was the seventh defenseman in Blues practice. Coach Andy Murray looks like he was trying to send a message to McKee but it will be interesting to see if he will play.

The Globe and Mail had a couple of articles today of note. First was a survey of hockey broadcasters and how they should change the game. The major consensus was to lower the number of regular season games about 10. Honestly, I enjoy the season dragging out through the winter. Lowering it 10 games probably would not change how the game is played.

Second was a review of Bettman's interview on TSN's Off the Record. In the interview Bettman noted that he is not currently looking into a second Toronto team because "all 30 clubs are in good financial shape" and expansion is out of the question. This is bullhonky but he does have to say it on television. When pressed about problems with teams like the Panthers, Predators, Thrashers, and Coyotes he said that improving their on-ice performance would help their financial picture. "When you look at teams that haven't been in the playoffs for five to 10 years, then those are the teams whose attendance suffers," Bettman said. If you look at the Predators, they have made the playoffs the last few years and still cannot seem to draw a crowd. The Predators have had good teams and still there isn't much of an interest. Therefore, if you put out a good product and it still fails then move the damn team.

Finally, the Toronto Sun came out with the shootout standings thus far in the season. The Sabres are 4th in the East when it comes to the shootout which is refreshing because this team was just so terrible in the skills competition last season. Here are the standings:

NY Rangers 2-1

New Jersey 2-1

Pittsburgh 2-1

Buffalo 2-2

Montreal 2-2

Atlanta 1-0

Washington 1-1

Tampa Bay 1-2

Toronto 1-3

Carolina 0-1

Florida 0-1

NY Islanders 0-1

Ottawa 0-1

Philadelphia 0-1

Boston 0-3

Weekend Odds and Ends

After a fairly uneventful Sabres weekend which saw them lose both games, once in overtime and once in regulation, there really isn't much to talk about. The Sabres just didn't seem to have that extra step against the Bruins and penalties killed them against the Thrashers. So, I'm moving on.

The NHL has released the top 10 sellers on shop.nhl.com for the month of October.

Top 10 Selling Items On Shop.NHL.com (October 1 - 31, 2008)
1. 2008 Hockey Fights Cancer Tie
2. Buffalo Sabres Third Jersey
3. Sidney Crosby: On the Ice and Beyond DVD
4. NY Rangers Team Color Premier Jersey
5. Edmonton Oilers Third Jersey
6. Washington Capitals Team Color Premier Jersey
7. Montreal Canadiens Team Color Premier Jersey
8. Philadelphia Flyers Team Color Premier Jersey
9. 2007-08 Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup Championship DVD
10. 2008 NHL Reflections Book

Buffalo fans are ridiculously crazy about the new third jersey so it makes sense that it would be a high seller. But the second most sold thing on the internet shows that we are crazier than to be expected. The only thing we lost to was the Hockey Fights Cancer Tie which the NHL has been pimping out like crazy.

On a Bills front, which we don't talk about here much, there is a petition going around on the internet trying to convince the Bills and the Rogers Center to keep the dome open for the Miami game on the 7th. The reason they want the dome open is to try and neutralize the neutrality that Toronto is going to be. If they can make the Dolphins cold, then it has more of a home-field advantage. Here is the petition if you are interested in signing it.

Finally, our thoughts and prayers go out to Buffalo News writer Tom Borelli. Borelli is the Bandits beat writer for the News and he had an serious accident covering high-school football at All-High Stadium. We here at Dueling Sabres hope that Borelli makes a full recovery and that he can be well enough to see the Bandits raise the banner on January 3rd.

So I Havent Forgotten About the Blog

I just have been so busy in the last two weeks that I havent written anything in a while. And its not like there is a major rush of news in the month of August. The only major Sabres story is the addition of Teppo Numinen again this season. This was a good addition only if Teppo can give some leadership that this team lacked last season. With his experience in the defensive corps, it can only make players like Sekera, Weber, and Paestch a little bit better.

On the NLL front, the news is even slower. The only news semi related to the Bandits is that former Bandit Jason Crosbie has signed with the Toronto Rock. Not a major shift in the conference but could be a shooting factor on the notoriously defensive Rock.

Since the month of August is starting to wind down and that training camp starts in about a month, I will start to get more and more coverage of things to start to wet the appetite again.

Back from Vacation

I always decide to pick the wrong week to go on vacation. Free agent week. Thankfully, the phone stayed quieter this summer as compared to last summer. The Sabres made their big move on the fourth by sending Bernier to Vancouver and then turning around and picking up Craig Rivet from the San Jose Sharks. This is the move that we have been waiting for in picking up a solid defensemen for the next few years.

In terms of the Bandits, they were also creating their own fireworks this week in the Sting Dispersal Draft picking up defenseman Greg Hinman in the first round and then subsequently sending him to Edmonton for a third round pick in the 2008 Draft. This is not a bad move for the Bandits because defense is not an issue here and most of the major players from the Sting had already been taken by the time the Bandits picked. The next major draft should be the expansion draft for the Blazers. The Bandits can decide to hold 10 runners and 2 goalies or 13 runners and 1 goalie for this draft and the list of protected players should be coming soon.

Finally, the Bucky Gleason post has been updated so head on over and check it out.

The Pests are Leaving Town

Two players that probably annoy Sabres fans the most are looking for greener pastures come July 1st. According to the New York Daily News, Sean Avery has said that he will not be resigning with the Rangers and become a free agent and today according to the Hockey News, the Maple Leafs have informed Darcy Tucker that he will be bought out of his contract and become a free agent. Nothing is more gratifying than not having to deal with Tucker 6 times next year.

Who Replaces the Mullet?

With Barry Melrose accepting the coaching position in Tampa Bay today a small void has been left in the world. Who can replace the mullet? Now, we ask this question in two facets: a.) Who becomes the talking head at ESPN and b.) Who replaces the televised mullet?

ESPN has been ignoring hockey well for the past three years but has shown a little bit of interest as the playoffs picked up. They showed this by bringing along Don Cherry through the playoffs and really exposing to Americans not living on the border what they have missed all this time. But, someone needs to pick up that slack that Melrose is going to leave behind. Because we all know that someone needs to do the Melrose Line podcast and warm the Sportscenter chair for the ten minutes that Melrose had of TV time. So, without further ado here are the choices.

E.J Hradek: Hradek has been making the rounds on ESPN for a while now, mostly appearing on ESPNEWS. He has a good knowledge of the game and probably would make for a suitable replacement. The only dig on him is that no one really knows who he is.

Ray Ferraro: Former NHL2nighter, Ferraro is a former player who has had experience under the lights working for ESPN as well as NBC and Sportsnet in Canada. Ferraro would make a great studio analyst and probably suit the role the best for ESPN.

Darren Pang: My dark horse for this "competition." Panger also used to be an analyst for ESPN until they got out of hockey three years ago. Currently, he is the color analyst for the Phoenix Coyotes and doing a mighty fine job if I say so myself. The one thing that makes Darren Pang stand out is that he is so damn recognizable. Once a hockey fan sees or hears for that matter Pang they normally watch. Well I think so in that regard.

Finally, there is only one answer the second question. That is Brian Engblom.

The Catchup Post

So I realize that I have disappeared for a while and have missed some important signings. The Sabres have announced that they have signed Buffalo native Tim Kennedy and also signed Swedish goaltender prospect Jhonas Enroth. In terms of Kennedy, this was the signing that we knew was coming but was just waiting for. Kennedy has proven to be a big star at Michigan State and looks to try and make the big club this year. Most likely he will be in Portland but should be a bright prospect. In terms of Enroth, the Swede decides to try and make a name for himself in the NHL rather than try and make it in Europe. Enroth looks like he may have a chance to be a second-tier goaltender in the NHL, probably taking over the starting role from Adam Dennis in Portland.

The Stanley Cup Finals have finally lived up to all the hype they were given with the triple-overtime game last night in Detroit. Detroit leads the series 3-2 and one would think they have the decisive edge going into Game 6 from being embarassed in their home rink. The Penguins got some lucky breaks to start the game that led to their first two goals, the major one being the Kronwall own-goal. I think that the Red Wings will close this series out tommorrow night but nothing is better then a Game 7 to decide it all

So What Have I missed?

So I really have been swamped by life and the last couple of weeks of college that always seem to pile the major things. So after really not watching the NHL playoffs and still enjoying every minute of the Bandits run in the playoffs. Speaking of that, I will have an NLL playoff post up tomorrow but for tonight I will leave you with a video from Costas Now from a roundtable of speakers talking about the future of sports media and the internet. The roundtable featured Buzz Bissinger, a Pulitzer Prize winner, Will Leitch, the editor of Deadspin, and Braylon Edwards, the token sports player. Basically Bissinger makes an ass of himself, but you can just watch that.