Updated:
The hits keep on a comin' for the Buffalo Sabres.
Head coach Ted Nolan announced that three of his four new players will not play in Florida.
Chris Stewart and Torrey Mitchell, the new guys on the block via trade, will be out of the lineup long term.
Cory Conacher was a waiver clam from Ottawa on Wednesday.
Nolan says Conacher will not play tonight due to immigration issues. Girgensons, Mitchell and Stewart will be out for some time. -CR
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) March 7, 2014Thanks, Sabres.com
Stewart and Mitchell players were injured in the 3-1 win in Tampa.
The 6'3 235 lb.Stewart injured his knee when he slammed full speed into Tampa goalie Anders Lindback (6'6 235 lb.)on Thursday night,.
Mitchell blocked a shot with his foot and struggled to skate himself to the bench afterwards in Tampa.
Conacher will not play in Sunrise on Friday night due to immigration paperwork problems.
Adam, Deslauriers and Konopka are in tonight. Neuvirth will start in goal. #sabres -CR
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) March 7, 2014***
Who says you can’t go home?
Probably the same misinformed knobs who say that star NHLers don’t want to play in South Florida.
Earlier this week, Roberto Luongo traded his snow tires and long johns for his golf cart and flip-flops. Tonight he makes his triumphant return to his old Florida Panthers crease when when the Buffalo Sabers coming calling in Sunrise.
Luongo, acquired from Vancouver on Tuesday, said he’s excited to rejoin the team he played with from 2002-06, earning his first-ever nomination as a Vezina finalist in ’04.
“It’s going to be fun,… Luongo told Panthers TV.
That’s the understatement of the century. Having Luongo in the Atlantic division is going to be a blast!
Luongo took the high road out of Vancouver. There were times that I thought it justified that Luongo would snap and lose his mind in the media regarding the consistently poor treatment at the hands of his former employer. Not Luongo. He played it cool despite the negativity and constant pressure being thrown at him. He easily could have emptied his clip into his former GM Mike Gillis for jerking him around the past year and a half. There was the failed trade to Toronto that set against the Corey Schneider-v-Roberto Luongo controversy. There was the insistence that his contract was too big and bulky to trade away to another NHL team. Then, John Tortarella benched the two-time Olympic gold medal winner last Sunday in order to start rookie Eddie Lack in the Heritage Classic. Wonder who’s crying now?
Buffalo will send recently acquired Michal Neuvirth to their crease for the first time in Florida. Neuvirth will have big skates to fill in Jhonas Enroth and the recently traded Ryan Miller. Neuvirth lost his starting job to Braden Holtby and Phillip Grubbauer in Washington earlier this season. He demanded a trade and his wish was fulfilled on Friday when Caps GM George McPhee sent Neuvirth to Buffalo along with Rusty Klesla in exchange for Jaro Halak.
The Sabres will dress Canisius College scoring star Cory Conacher for his first game in blue and gold. Tim Murray plucked Conacher off waivers from Ottawa on trade deadline day. The Sabres will be without the services fo two of the big, burly power forwards Zemgus Girgensons and Chris Stewart who both suffered lower body injuries in Thursady night’s 3-1 win in Tampa.
The Sabres have made to emergency call-ups for the Panthers game.
Tim Murray has recalled forwards Luke Adam and Nicolas Deslauriers from the Rochester Amerks.
Adam (6'2", 206 lbs) joins the Sabres for the second time this season after being called up on November 20 for a nine-game stint in which he recorded one goal. Currently the Amerks’ second-highest scorer, Adam has notched 42 points (24G, 18A) in 42 games. In four seasons with the Sabres organization, Adam has appeared in 84 NHL games and recorded 26 points (15+11). The St. John’s, Newfoundland native was drafted by Buffalo in the second round (44th overall) of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft and signed a one-year contract with the Sabres in July 2013.
Deslauriers (6’1…, 230 lbs) was acquired by the Sabres on trade deadline day from the Los Angeles Kings along with Hudson Fasching in exchange for AHL All Star Brayden McNabb and two second round picks. Deslauriers is being called up to the NHL for the first time in his career. He led the Manchester Monarchs in goals (18) and shots (217) this season, totaling 39 points (18+21) through 60 games in his first professional season as a forward. Deslauriers is a D-man by trade, however, he was moved to the wing where he has become a nasty, bruising scoring machine (see San Jose’s Brent Burns).
He’s a Ted Nolan kind of player.
**
When will Zack Kassian ever learn?
He’s going to have to learn his lesson the old fashioned way.
By getting grounded from playing hockey.
The Canucks bad boy is now a repeat offender in the NHL Players Safety database. His most recent ban is for three games, without pay, for boarding Dallas Stars defenseman Brenden Dillon on Thursday night. The Stars embarrassed the Canucks in the game. John Tortarella’s team appears to be falling apart at the seams right now with the Luongo trade, Kesler wanting out, and the team playing like doesn’t care if it misses the playoffs. Kassian deserves the ban for his first period assault on Dillon. He was assessed a major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct for this gratuitous, dangerous hit on his defenseless opponent.
Kassian is considered a repeat offender under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and, based on his average annual salary, will forfeit $32,103.66. The money goes to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.
You recall that Kassian broke the jaw of Edmonton’s Sam Gagner in an exhibition game this season.
Kassian was suspended five games for his illegal hit on Gagner, who missed nearly three months of the season while he recovered from his serious facial injury.