WNY and Buffalo NY Hockey Coverage
Thanksgiving Edition
Corey Tropp only played six games last season. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Seventeen months after Corey Tropp played his last NHL game, the 24-year-old Sabres winger will return to the lineup tonight in Columbus.
Yes, it’s just an exhibition contest. But for Tropp, who suffered ligament damage in his right knee playing for Rochester opening night last season, it’s more than a preseason tilt.
Tropp’s back in the NHL.
“I’d be lying to you if I told you when I finished the season two ... Read the full article
Cody Hodgson is the team’s top center. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – In awarding Cody Hodgson, a youngster with only 77 points in 139 career NHL games, a six-year, $25.5 million contract, the Sabres are betting on more than the center’s abundant talent. The team’s banking that Hodgson will keep dedicating himself to becoming an elite player.
“He wants to be a No. 1 guy from the standpoint he wants to be counted on, and he wants to be recognized in a leadership position,” ... Read the full article
Darcy Regier said every NHL would take back money for the right player. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – On Wednesday, CBC’s Elliotte Friedman tweeted he was hearing the Sabres would be willing to keep some of star winger Thomas Vanek’s $6.4 million salary if they found a trade partner.
A fired-up Regier said today someone recently emailed him – he didn’t say who – asking him if the Sabres would do that.
“My experience is you don’t answer those emails, whether they’re true or not true,” Regier said inside the First ... Read the full article
Ryan Miller sold his Buffalo townhouse earlier this year. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Of course, Ryan Miller’s renting. Why would the Sabres goalie, the subject of rampant trade speculation and an unrestricted free agent following the season, purchase another home right now?
Miller’s decision to put his Buffalo townhouse on the market during the spring, just when it appeared his long Sabres career would be ending, certainly raised eyebrows. He understood it wouldn’t look good to locals.
But the 33-year-old insists he wasn’t bailing on ... Read the full article
Cody Hodgson earned a huge contract despite only 34 points last season. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – On Wednesday morning, an optimistic-sounding Darcy Regier said the Sabres would “make every attempt” to have unsigned restricted free agent Cody Hodgson on the ice today for the first session of training camp.
“The efforts that are being made by both sides would indicate that we want to get something done as quickly as possible,” the general manager said inside the First Niagara Center as the Sabres reported for camp and underwent their ... Read the full article
Ron Rolston took over as coach on Feb. 20. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – The Sabres convene for training camp physicals today inside the First Niagara Center, for better or worse, almost the same team that ended a disappointing, 11th-place season 137 days ago.
Other than a busy draft day and reacquiring 34-year-old defenseman Henrik Tallinder, the rebuilding club remained quiet throughout the summer.
Starting goalie Ryan Miller and leading scorer Thomas Vanek, two veteran stars rumored to be on the trading block, ... Read the full article
Cody McCormick fights regularly. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – The cycle repeats nearly every season. Inevitably, gritty Sabres forward Cody McCormick spends each training camp battling and fighting – literally, as he has nine career preseason scraps – for one of the 20 coveted NHL roster spots.
Other than 2011, after McCormick’s career season earned him a new three-year, $3.6 million contract, the versatile 30-year-old has lived the journeyman’s life, never enjoying much comfort prior to a new campaign.
“Every year I’ve ... Read the full article
Thomas Vanek has one year left on his contract. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
AMHERST – Thomas Vanek spoke firmly. No, the high-scoring winger said, he hasn’t asked to be traded from the Buffalo Sabres. The widespread belief he wants out of town doesn’t bother him. But it’s simply not true.
“The media and people, they can make up their own assumptions as long as I know where I’m at and stuff and my family’s at. That’s fine,” Vanek said following an off-ice workout Wednesday morning. “At the end ... Read the full article
Ryan Miller believes he can still play at a high level. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – Ryan Miller understands it’s the nature of hockey. As a veteran entering the final season of his contract, it’s only natural the Sabres, a team going through a transitional period, would shop him around the NHL.
“We’ve had a couple tough years,” Miller told reporters today at USA Hockey’s Olympic camp in Arlington, Va. “It goes from a situation where as a goalie it’s about the hope you can bring to I’ve been ... Read the full article
Darcy Regier talks about the Sabres’ offseason news Friday. ©2013, Dan Hickling, Olean Times Herald
BUFFALO – With each passing day, general manager Darcy Regier acknowledged, it becomes more likely starting goalie Ryan Miller and slick winger Thomas Vanek will still be with the Sabres when training camp starts in September.
Regier has said both stars, whose contracts expire after next season, could be dealt from the rebuilding Sabres. He said he’s had some “discussions regarding both those players” with other teams.
“The nature of this business as you move ... Read the full article