Murray outfoxes Maloney at the deadline, fends off local press

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


Sabres beat writer Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News has been railing against a perceived be tank-job by the Buffalo organization for quite some time. Back on January 31st he penned an article, Sabres are disgusting, all right, that aptly and bluntly captured his dismay .At the time Harrington was not amused by the Sabres road to the top of the 2015 NHL Draft. He wrote of the Edmonton Oilers having "a lot of road trips" the rest of the season while the Arizona Coyotes, he wrote, "have a lot of trades to make" if they were thinking of overtaking the Sabres for last place.

Buffalo had just finished an 0-fer January and was on a franchise record 14-game losing streak. "Hockey folks are laughing at the product the Sabres have put on the ice," he wrote, "but much worse they're laughing at the organization itself and that's not how it's supposed to be going."

Sabres GM Tim Murray was sitting on his hands during this debacle leaving head coach Ted Nolan with very little on the ice and even less to say post-game save for "these are the 20 guys we have," and "we've got what we got." Harrington was so disgusted that it only took him a one paragraph lead-in before he wrote, "I think it's safe to call right now. The Buffalo Sabres are the worst team in the NHL by a lot at this point. They're going to finish 30th and get Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel.

"You may call it mission accomplished. But the mission doesn't need to be an open disgrace."

Building the 2014-15 Buffalo Sabres roster--The Reserves

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz,com




Before we finish up with the roster, some quick notes, via Bill Hoppe of buffalohockeybeat.com:

--The Sabres sent winger Justin Bailey to his junior team, the Kitchener Rangers.

--Former Sabres' defenseman Henrik Tallinder is slated to hit the ice with Toronto this evening as he is on a tryout basis with the Leafs

--Sabres forward Tim Schaller, who was profiled here, will make his Sabres debut tonight. 'This is a dream come true,' Schaller said, 'I’ll bring my A game, that’s for sure.'

--Schaller, according to Hoppe, skated between Brian Flynn and Cody McCormick on one line

--The other lines were: Tyler Ennis/Matt Moulson/Drew Stafford; Cody Hodgson/Sam Reinhart/Brian Gionta; Marcus Foligno/Torrey Mitchell/Chris Stewart.

--The defensemen are: Jake McCabe, Andrej Meszaros, Tyler Myers, Rasmus Ristolainen, Mike Weber, Nikita Zadorov.

Thank you, Mr. Hoppe.

And onward we go.

Still not enthralled with the Matt Moulson trade to Minnesota. On a number of levels.

Last night vs. Vancouver the Sabres were down 2-1 and had a three-on-one break.

Torrey Mitchell was on the left side and had the puck headed into the Nucks' zone. He sent a pass to Cory Conacher who was streaking up the right side.

The lone defenseman was in retreat and there was tons of space. But...

Mitchell's pass was off the mark. By a mile. Not even remotely close.