Trottier - Buffalo Hockey Beat

Pat LaFontaine wants Sabres legend Alexander Mogilny in Hall of Fame

Eleven players Pat LaFontaine called teammates over his 15-year career have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The former Buffalo Sabres superstar joined the New York Islanders at the end of their dynasty, so he played with Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier, who combined to score nearly 1,100 goals. In Buffalo, LaFontaine watched Dominik Hasek morph into perhaps the greatest goalie in history. In LaFontaine’s final NHL season with the New York ... Read the full article

Visit to Nassau Coliseum will be special for Sabres’ Kyle Okposo

BUFFALO – When Sabres winger Kyle Okposo played on Long Island, the New York Islanders had a saying about their antiquated home rink in Uniondale, Nassau Coliseum.

“It’s an old barn,” a smiling Okposo said. “We’d always say, ‘It was a dump, but it was our dump and we loved it.’ It was home.”

Well, it was the Islanders’ regular home until 2015, when they left for the sparkling, ultra-modern Barclays Center 24 miles away ... Read the full article

Former Sabres coach Ted Nolan and GM Tim Murray never meshed

BUFFALO – The odds, of course, were stacked against Ted Nolan succeeding in his second run as Sabres coach, which ended with his firing Sunday night, less than a day after a 30^th-place finish.

Nolan wasn’t truly Tim Murray’s guy. Sure, the general manager awarded him a three-year contract late last season. But old friend Pat LaFontaine hired Nolan as interim coach early in 2013-14 before leaving months later.

Perhaps Murray felt obligated ... Read the full article

Sabres fire coach Ted Nolan

BUFFALO – In a not-so-surprising move, the Sabres fired Ted Nolan tonight, ending the popular coach’s second run here.

The rebuilding Sabres just finished the season 30^th overall.

In addition, the team also fired assistant coach Danny Flynn and won’t renew the contracts of assistants Bryan Trottier and Tom Coolen.

Stay tuned for more details.

Update: General manager Tim Murray said he decided to fire Nolan today after six hours of interviews with players.... Read the full article

Sabres assistant coach Bryan Trottier has special memories of Nassau Coliseum

BUFFALO – New York Islanders legend Bryan Trottier remembers the noise. The roar inside Nassau Coliseum would become deafening, funneling down from the stands to the ice.

“To the point where you’re reading lips,” Trottier, a Sabres assistant coach, said Friday. “Until you actually experience it, it’s just fantastic.”

The Isles are moving to bigger and better digs 24 miles away next season, the shiny Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Trottier, a Hall of Famer who ... Read the full article

Sabres’ Cody Hodgson scratched again; Marcus Foligno scores in return

BUFFALO – Some nights, Ted Nolan said, he lies awake in bed wondering how he can fix Cody Hodgson, his struggling winger. Right now, the Sabres coach and his staff can’t get through to the 24-year-old, who might be enduring the worst season of any NHL forward.

Nolan scratched Hodgson, who has two goals and eight points in 51 games this season, for Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the New York Islanders, the third time ... Read the full article

Anemic Sabres offense on pace to set another mark for futility

BUFFALO – The joke all season has been the Sabres have one first line and three fourth lines. Right now, even that’s a stretch. No one can score.

The Sabres have only scored nine goals during their eight-game losing streak. They have 76 goals all season entering tonight’s game against the Minnesota Wild, a stunning 1.7 a game.

At that anemic pace, the Sabres would score 141 goals in 82 games, nine fewer than they ... Read the full article

Sabres notes: Cody Hodgson could return from benching soon

BUFFALO – Cody Hodgson’s benching likely won’t last long, coach Ted Nolan said. The struggling center is too important to the Sabres’ long-term success. They need the 24-year-old in the lineup to produce offense, something he hasn’t done all season.

Hodgson, the Sabres’ leading scorer a year ago, has one goal, three points and a minus-11 rating in 28 games.

Nolan finally scratched Hodgson for the Sabres’ 4-3 win against the Calgary Flames on ... Read the full article

Sabres notes: Tyler Ennis’ memories of NHL debut strong 5 years later

BUFFALO – Tyler Ennis still remembers every little detail of Nov. 14, 2009, the day the slick Sabres winger made his NHL debut.

When Portland Pirates coach Kevin Dineen told Ennis the Sabres could recall him for a game in Philadelphia that night, the youngster left the rink – “It was like a 30-minute drive,” he said – and went home.

He needed to eat, so he “picked up a quick Subway sandwich.”

Ennis then ... Read the full article

Sabres’ Patrick Kaleta to sit against Leafs; Josh Gorges out ‘a little bit’

BUFFALO – Patrick Kaleta’s home season debut will have to wait. Sabres coach Ted Nolan will scratch the winger for tonight’s tilt against the Toronto Maple Leafs inside the First Niagara Center.

The Angola native played his first NHL game since Oct. 10, 2013 on Thursday, a 6-3 loss in Minnesota.

Kaleta tore his ACL almost a year ago in the AHL and took a puck to the face Sept. 28. Nolan thinks after playing ... Read the full article