Asked for a reaction to his 7 game suspension that the NHL handed down on Thursday night, Sabres winger John Scott said that he will not be appealing the decision. Scott has already served 4 of the 7 games, and he isn’t going to purse his appeal rights that have been afforded to him by the new NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement.
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The LA Kings have lost all star center-winger Jeff Carter to an undisclosed injury. According to a report, Carter was seen at the rink today with a protective boot on his foot.
After practice, Kings head coach Darryl Sutter was told by a media member that Carter was going to be “lost” due to an injury. Sutter wasn’t in any mood to talk about the Carter situation.
“I’m not talking about it,” Sutter responded when asked if he knew the sequence in the game where the injury occurred.
“Where did you get your information from? If it’s somebody in the organization that told you…then you go talk to them. We haven’t been told anything. There were several players not out there this morning. I’m extremely disappointed that information is given to you before it’s given to us. If it’s coming from inside, that’s disappointing. I mean, the league formally announces because of IR. Teams announce stuff because of suspensions, whatever, right? But for me to get asked that question because somebody told you, you go talk to them, then. I have nothing to say about any of that stuff. That’s disappointing. That’s not the way it’s supposed to work.”
“I have nothing to say about anybody. Everything is maintenance. Who else wasn’t there today, or who was, or who played with who today. Our responsibility is to protect players at all costs, and then for that to come out is very disappointing.”
You’ll get a good cringe and a pained chukle out of this classic Sutter presser.
Thanks, Kings TV
Replacing Carter will not be easy for Sutter. That’s why the Kings have summoned two of there top three scoring prospects from AHL . Vey and right wing Tyler Toffoli.
Toffoli, a right winger was the Kings’ 2nd round draft choice in 2010. Twice he scored 50 goals in juniors for the Ottawa 67s. Toffoli recorded five points (2G, 3A) in 10 regular season games and six points (2G, 4A) in 12 playoff games. Toffoli is considered to be among the top prospects at the AHL level. Vey, a center ( 4th round 2009) hasn’t played a game in the NHL.
Toffoli has 7 goals and 5 assists in Manchester, while Vey has 3 goals and 8 assists were Manchester’s leading scorers.
Source: Kings.com
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The Buffalo Sabres are a territorial disadvantage team. Have been all season long. The Buffalo end of the rink is like Woostock: strangers congregate there, pitch a tent and stay for as much of the peace and love as they can handle. Seriously. The Buffalo end of the rink has become a vacation destination for NHL teams. The word has been out for weeks that the Sabres start slow and then get better as the game goes along. No wonder opposing teams take advantage of this fatal flaw in the Buffalo team game. Vancouver and Colorado did it to Buffalo last week, Boston, Tampa, and Dallas, too. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why they can’t play first period hockey the way that they play third period hockey. I have a theory on why the Sabres didn’t start competing until the 30 or 40 minute mark of their games in the month of October when then finished
2-12-1 (23 goals for, 41 goals against: -18 goal differential) in the standings. The answer is basic preparation. Its knowing your assignments and going out and executing them. Its about players asking questions of the coaches, if they don’t understand their assignments. Its about veteran players mentoring and helping the youngsters who’ve never had to deal with this sort of losing before. Its about human interaction and keeping it real. Its not about technology and jargon. Having players watch the endless loop of dreadful mistakes from previous games on Ipads is nice in all, but its no substitute for hard work. I say its time for Ron Rolston and his coaches to turn off their Smartboards, the Ipads, the overhead projectors and all of the devices, and to get their forwards and D-men divided up into teams on the ice and let them smash and slash one another in practice. The Sabres are too nice a team. They don’t play with hatred for losing. They are the youngest team in the NHL right now and they are acting like it. Its time to scrimmage until this team achieves the proper “compete-level”. What the Hell is “compete”, anyway? It’s a stupid word that smart people and analytics-junkies like to use as a euphemism for “PASSION”. In the month of October, the Sabres played in first periods the same way that it practiced on off-days and at game day morning skates. This alarming trend cannot continue to happen if the Sabres want to reverse their losing ways. The veterans cannot continue to be no-shows while the young kids are doing most of the work.
On Thursday night, the offensively challenged NY Rangers got a kick at Buffalo’s can and they didn’t disappoint. The Rangers entered the game begging to be slapped. Henrik Lundqvist had missed practices and a game vs. NY Islanders due to a lower body ailment. Why the Sabres After a three shot flurry by the Sabres early in period one, the Rangers then pushed back without any resistance, took control of the game by winning every board battle, faceoff, and loose puck. The Rangers brought their game to the Sabres. Before you knew it, the Rngers had ripped off 15 unanswered shots on Miller.The Sabres allowed them to, just like they had so many times before in the forgettable month of Shocktober. Were it not for Ryan Miller’s brilliance in the first period, the game could have easily been 3-0 Rangers after twenty minutes. The Sabres D and forwards stood around in their own end and watch the Rangers bury Miller with 19 shots. The Sabres did the same thing in the second period when Buffalo allowed another 19 shots against Miller. In the end, Miller allowed only two goals on 46 shots faced. If you saw the game like I did, you know that the outcome of the game could have easily been 6-0 or 7-0 for in favor of the Rangers were it not for the brilliance of Miller.
Thanks, Rangers TV
After the embarrassing loss, the Sabres players had a long meeting of their own.
Ryan Miller spoke to media after the doors opened.
"When everyone wants this to stop, it’ll stop," Miller said. "We seem to be making more situations for ourselves than even the other team can create. It’s on us to dig out of it and start having the right attitude and right approach. It’s been a lot of games searching, trying to figure it out. Enough’s enough."
If Ron Rolston were wise, he’d assemble his downtrodden group of players before practice today and tell them that the exhibition is now over. The Anaheim game of Saturday night is the first game of the regular season.
Thanks, Sabres.com
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