Patrick Kaleta gets 10 games and...
Cody Hodgson has a couple of things to say about his time in Vancouver.
First.
The Buffalo Sabres are no longer winless leaving the New Jersey Devils as the only winless team in the NHL.
The Sabres pulled out a 4-3 shootout win on Long Island in a hard-fought game where the Sabres got stronger as the game went on.
Coach Ron Rolston had this to say postgame, "I think a lot of the emotion of the game helped our guys. A lot of the rough stuff going on, the hits in the game were emotional where our guys were really plugged into the game the whole night just because of that.
Guys took it to heart of where we're at."
Where they were at was the bottom of the league. Now with the win, they join Edmonton, Philadelphia and the NY Rangers with one win on the season.
Quick note: None of those teams were expected to go through "suffering" this season.
Marcus Foligno netted his first of the season to tie the score at three with just over two minutes to go in regulation.
After losing the draw in the Islanders zone, defenseman Tyler Myers stopped a clearing attempt at the blueline and fed Foligno in the high slot. Foligno whirled and sent a seeing eye shot that beat Evgeni Nabokov glove-side with Drew Stafford parked in front of the net.
The line of Foligno and Stafford centered by Tyler Ennis clicked last night with Ennis also scoring his first of the season pouncing on a puck lying in the crease behind Nabokov.
All told that line was good for two goals and an assist and were a collective plus-6.
The other goal last night was by Thomas Vanek, his third of the season off a feed from Hodgson on the powerplay. Hodgson collected his fifth point in the last five games.
***
Last season, Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet.ca said that Sabres' goalie Ryan Miller's days might be numbered. Although Miller is still on the team, he was being shopped around at the deadline and around Draft Day. (for a quote and more on Miller, click here)
Now, says Kypreos, Buffalo GM Darcy Regier's days are numbered.
He said last night that Regier "is on the hot seat." Speculation had Regier being replaced around Christmas, but that timetable was moved up due to the dismal start of the team.
Since then, that rumor has been denied by the Buffalo Sabres.
Despite squashing the school-girl giddiness of his WGR partner, Jeremy White, Howard Simon tracked down someone within the Sabres hierarchy and got this text from the Sabres, "there is zero truth to the report."
Methinks the fans inside of the F'N Center will have something to say about this when the Vancouver Canucks visit on Thursday.
***
Vancouver is off to a good start at 4-3-0 under new head coach John Tortorella. They have a couple of holes in the line-up including down the middle where Hodgson once played.
'Nucks GM Mike Gillis traded Hodgson for winger Zack Kassian in 2012.
Hodgson was said to be a high maintenance player with Gillis going as far to say the he spent more time on the center and his problems than the rest of the team combined.
It was also said that Hodgson had an overbearing father and he was said to be unhappy with his playing time in Vancouver.
In an article with Tony Gallagher of the Vancouver Province, Hodgson wanted to "clear the air" on both those issues.
'I’ve been hearing all this stuff about my dad being involved with the team and making calls to the team and I wanted to tell everyone that my dad had nothing to do with it,' he said. 'This isn’t Pee Wee hockey where the dad can call up the coach and interfere with what’s going on. This is professional hockey and that sort of thing doesn’t happen. He never called the team.'
And as for his ice time, he said, 'I never once asked for more ice time when I was in Vancouver, even though the media asked me every day if I thought I should be playing more. I was just happy to be playing in the NHL when I was there at that stage of my career.'
He also said that 'someday [he'll] talk more about his time in Vancouver.'
Gallagher also talks about the struggles the Canucks have had finding a center to replace Hodgson likening the situation to that of "the Flyers enduring a search for a goaltender."
And, Gallagher points out, the trade that had Kassian going to Vancouver for Hodgson? "Kassian," he said, "hasn’t exactly been Milan Lucic since he got here."
***
And finally, Patrick Kaleta got a 10-game Shanaban for his hit to the head on Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson.
A video that Brendan Shanahan uses shows that Kaleta missed the check and connected with Johnson's chin.
Stupid, Patty, stupid. And dangerous.
Kaleta is hated throughout the league, some of it warranted, some exaggerated. (Adam Proteau of The Hockey News thinks the suspension wasn't enough.)
Having served three of his ten games already, Kaleta will be eligible to return in early November and will be over $150,000 lighter in the pocket book.
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