@kwsnow confirms that Cody Hodgson will centre Tyler Ennis and Drew Stafford. I like this trio. Lots of offensive flair.
Ville Leino is centre for Gerbe and Kaleta.
Vanek-Roy-Pominville
Tropp-Ellis-Boyes
Ryan Miller will start.
****
Its Day 1 of the Cody Franchise Era.
The kid that invoked such an avalanche of fan appreciation and love in January in Vancouver that they dubbed him 'Cody Franchise", is now a rock star in Buffalo, NY. No more will he skate 12 minutes and play in the bottom 6. Hodgson is now a bonafide top six forward.
Hodgson and his Sabres have a tall order tonight. Ducks will want to avenge the spanking that the Sabres applied to them in Selanne's Helsinki home coming in Rocktober.
They have to adjust to life without Paul Gaustad, on the road, against the hottest team in the NHL, the Anaheim Ducks.
Gaustad, Gerbe and Kaleta would have drawn the assignment of holding Ryan-Getzlaf-Perry in check. Life without Goose is going to be an adjustment process. Or, is it?
Maybe the fix is to score more goals and to play better defense as units of five in front of Ryan Miller, who is playing his best hockey of the season.
The paradigm shift to scoring more goals may prove positive the addage:
"The best defense is a great offense".
Thats where Cody Hodgson comes into focus. The kid is moving out of the daunting shadows of hank Sedin, Ryan Kesler and the sequoias in Van City. He now is THE MAN in Buffalo, NY. Hodgson wanted to be a rock star, and he's now got the stage to himself in a hockey-intoxicated market. Buffalo starts the day 7 points out of the eighth an final playoff spot.Go get it, kid! They are 8-3-3 in theor last 10 games, and are up trending.
Talk about a hockey buzz???!
Hodgson's trade to Buffalo has taken the hockey world by storm.
Props to Darcy Regier for the stealth-like, surgical strategy that he employed in order to extract the young gun from Vancouver. As the story goes, earlier in the day on Monday, Leafs GM, Brian Burke, had offered Luke Schenn to Vancouver, straight-up, in exchange for Cody Hodgson. When the Canucks said no to the deal, Regier swooped in, offered Zack Kassian and closed the show.
Bam!
***
Wondering where Paul Gaustad was in last night's Predators-v-Hurricanes game?
If you were a follower of mine on Twitter (@SabresBuzz) you would have known long ago that Goose sustained an upper boy injury as a result of this dohsie-doh with Brandon Prust of the Ranger on the opening faceoff on Saturdy night.
Goose skated and participted in the full practice in Buffalo on Monday, before he was traded.
***
Tonight's Cody Hodgson's first ever game as a Buffalo Sabre. He will wear the #19 that he wore in juniors with th Brampton Battalion.
I like Lindy's choice to play Hodgson in the Buffalo top six, at centre with Drew Stfford and Tyler Ennis.
Hodgson's strngth is his ability to throw darts at the tape of the sticks of his lin mates. Hewill get the puck to 21 and 63 in the scoring areas, and will create high percntge scoring chances.
Ennis, won the gold medal and played with Hodgson at the 2009 World Junior Championships in Ottawa, likes his new liney.
thanks, sabres.com
**
Gaustad's absence will be felt immediately tonight against th Ryan-Getzlaf-Perry trio.
For the past 3.5 weeks, Goose had been succssfully locking down the top lines of opponents with his bros, Gerbe and Kaleta. Their combined efforts are a huge factor in Buffalo's recent 8-3-3 run.
Kaleta says that he will have to up his game on the PK in order to off set the loss of Goose.
Question of the day:
Which Sabre steps into Goose's lock-down line centre role? His PK and faceoff role?
Goose's huge skates will be hard to fill.
I suspect that Ruff will rely on Leino to play the role of Goose tonight.
***
To know Zack Kassian, like I have gotten to know Zack Kassian, is to know that the big fella is an excitable guy. It doesn't take much to get his endorphins popping. Thats how he's wired. @biznasty2point0, tweeted after the game that he asked Kassian to slow dance, however, he declined. I'm sure Kassian took a rain check.
In his first game with his new tam on Tuesday night, his coach, Alain Vigneault started him on a wing with the Sedin twins. After the gme, Zack talked about the special moment.
"I was nervous to start, but I think I got better as the game went along," said Kassian, acquired from Buffalo in the Cody Hodgson trade Monday making his Vancouver debut Tuesday.
"That first shift skating (on a line with Daniel and Henrik Sedin) is something I'll never forget. It was a honor to play with them a bit."
Kassian admitted after the game that he finally started breathing after the fisrt period. Nothing compares to first game butterflies, eh?
thanks, canucks.com
( I love how Kassian chose to make a great first impression by putting his "flipper" in for the post game interviews. Couver fans should get used to seeing Kassian without his fake front tooth in. He told me earlier this season that he originally lost his front tooth in junior when he was on the ice, at the bottom of a scrum, and an opponent kicked him in the chiclets. He laughs about it now. Tough dude!)
In 12:27 of TOI, Kassian imposed his 6'4 225 pound iron will on the Phoenix Coyotes. He skated 20 shifts, made 5 hits, went 2 for 3 on draws, took one shot on goal, and took a minor penalty.
***
Before the gme, Kassian spoke about his experience in Buffalo and his joy to be playing no in Vancouver.
***
I have a confession to make.
I've been an "American Idol" fan for 11 years. I watch the show weekly with my wife and daughters. I'm a huge Simon Cowell fan, for obvious reasons. The guy is a prick and he's not afraid to stomp on the dreams of the lesser talented wannabees of the world. I was upset when Cowell departed the show to seek greener pastures at "XFactor", a show that I also enoyed watching this season. I'm also a fan of 'The Voice". Something oddly fascinating about watching C-Lo Green's large body and tiny, alligator arms. I can't wait for the King Of All Media, Howard Stern, to kill it on 'America's Got Talent". We all have our guilty pleasures, right?
I was initially pissed off when I learned that rock-n-roll Hall of Famer, Steven Tyler, a man that I have admired for three and a half decades of Aerosmith prowess, was going to join "AI" to replace Cowell. How can one of the "Toxic Twins" judge a singing show, said I to myself. Lo and behold, i ended up loving Tyler in his new role last season, and I love the cat even more this season. Dude is out there, and he is not afraid to make the singers, or, his fellow panelists cringe on national TV.
Take last night's episode for example. On Sunday night, Jennifer Lopez suffered a nip-slip while on the red carpet at the Oscars. Tyler tortured her for it, on live worldwide TV on Tuesday night! This is why I love Steven Tyler!
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