Pegula - Buffalo Hockey Beat

Sabres captain Steve Ott wants to remain in Buffalo, believes rebuilding team not far away from contending

BUFFALO – The hospitality Steve Ott and his family have experienced from the community has been incredible, the captain said. Win or lose, the locals still love their Sabres.

Of course, the Sabres have done a lot of losing during Ott’s first year here.

The warm welcome and the struggles have left Ott imagining the Sabres’ resurgence. Right now, they’re rebuilding, still the NHL’s worst team.

But the 31-year-old, an unrestricted free agent following the ... Read the full article

Matt Moulson open to staying with Sabres, not worried about getting traded again

BUFFALO – Thirty games into what could be a very short Sabres career, Matt Moulson said he’s given a lot of thought to a future he can’t control yet.

The winger, quietly one of the NHL’s top goal scorers for years, would be coveted as an unrestricted free agent this summer. But before that, if the Sabres want to deal the 30-year-old, he’d be in high demand as a rental prior to the March 5 ... Read the full article

Tim Murray ready to tackle Sabres’ ‘extremely attractive’ GM job

BUFFALO – Ottawa general manager Bryan Murray recently approached his nephew, Tim Murray, and told him the rebuilding Sabres, the NHL’s worst team, wanted permission to interview him for the vacant GM position.

Murray would be leaving what he called “comfortable situation” as the Senators’ assistant GM. The 50-year-old’s from the Ottawa area. His wife and children live there. Many speculated he would replace his uncle someday. At the very least, he acknowledged, he would’ve ... Read the full article

Forbes values Sabres at $250 million

BUFFALO – The Sabres’ awful on-ice performance hasn’t hurt the team’s value.

Forbes’ annual list of NHL franchise values pegs the Sabres worth $250 million, 22^nd in the league. The Sabres ranked 22^nd last year at $175 million.

Sabres owner Terry Pegula paid $189 million for the team in 2011.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are the NHL’s most valuable team at $1.15 billion. The Columbus Blue Jackets are the least valuable at ... Read the full article

Sabres beat Leafs in Ted Nolan’s debut, look like new team

BUFFALO – It might as well have been opening night again inside the First Niagara Center. Twenty-one games into the season, the Sabres started over Friday, performing like a new, refreshed team in their first game under interim coach Ted Nolan, an exciting 3-1 triumph against the hated Toronto Maple Leafs.

Nolan told the Sabres he was wiping the slate clean and didn’t care about their awful start under Ron Rolston, who was fired ... Read the full article

Pat LaFontaine’s phone call to Ted Nolan left Sabres coach speechless

BUFFALO – It was going to be a special weekend trip to New York. Ted Nolan and his wife, Sandra, would celebrate her birthday and watch their son, Jordan, play for the Los Angeles Kings.

Nolan also wanted to see “The Book of Mormon” musical on Broadway. So he recently called Pat LaFontaine, a close friend with a ticket connection.

“I said, ‘Teddy, you better get ready for the show. It’s a pretty interesting show,’” ... Read the full article

Sabres owner Terry Pegula only began showing interest in Pat LaFontaine recently

BUFFALO – Joining the Sabres wasn’t on Pat LaFontaine’s radar. The legendary Hall of Fame center, whose No. 16 hangs in the First Niagara Center rafters, had just settled into a new job with the NHL.

But LaFontaine’s gig as the league’s vice president of hockey development recently brought him to a concussion conference in Florida, where he met with Sabres owner Terry Pegula, whose team has become a laughingstock this season.

Pegula and LaFontaine ... Read the full article

Interim coach Ted Nolan wants to make Sabres work, evaluate new players

BUFFALO – Ted Nolan said he’s a straightforward type of guy. So after taking over as interim coach Wednesday, the 55-year-old requested one thing from the Sabres, whose work ethic has been lacking during their awful 4-15-1 start.

“The only thing I asked is you compete,” Nolan, the Sabres’ coach from 1995-97, said following practice inside the First Niagara Center. “Some guys play 25 minutes. Some guys play three minutes. To work for three minutes, ... Read the full article

Ted Nolan ready to make Sabres compete; players sad to see Darcy Regier and Ron Rolston fired

BUFFALO – Ted Nolan said he’s a straightforward type of guy. So after taking over as the Sabres’ interim coach today, the 55-year-old requested one thing from his new players, whose work ethic has been lacking during their awful 4-15-1 start.

“The only thing I asked is you compete,” Nolan, the Sabres’ coach from 1995-97, said following practice this afternoon inside the First Niagara Center. “Some guys play 25 minutes. Some guys play three ... Read the full article

Sabres fire Darcy Regier, Ron Rolston, hire Pat LaFontaine, Ted Nolan

BUFFALO – Pat LaFontaine was crossing the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge on Tuesday when a customs official realized the former Sabres superstar was in the car.

“He said, ‘You should be running the Sabres,’” LaFontaine said this morning inside the First Niagara Center.

Little did that official know LaFontaine was about to become the Sabres’ new president of hockey operations.

In a stunning move today, the 4-15-1 club fired Darcy Regier, the general manager since 1997, and ... Read the full article