All-Star Voting is Complete, Christmas is Over, Time for Trade Rumors!

by Anne

We've all heard about Kovalchuck potentially being moved from Atlanta. He's an offensive superstar wasting away on a team that's ranked 28th in the league. However, in a move that most expected to come at the beginning of the season, the Thrashers have just NOW named Kovy their captain. Hard to believe he's only the fifth Russian born and trained player in history to be named captain of an NHL team. Does this quash the trade rumors? Does this mean Kovalchuk is happy in Hotlanta? Does this mean Don Waddell trades away the team's only legitimate star? Soupy was an alternate captain the month he was traded and captain only two months before that. I still say Kovy is moved.

Then there's his South East Division goal scoring hombre, Vinny Lecavalier. He's the team captain and just signed a DiPietro-esque 11 year contract extension that goes into effect this July 1. For the last few crappy Bolts seasons, there have been rumors that Marty St. Louis or Vinny were on the trade market, but for some reason this season the rumors are hotter than ever. The ever popular Vinny-to-the-Habs trade has come up yet again. Why in God's name would they trade him? I'm not saying that they won't trade him, because that genius parade running shop down in Tampa has done some pretty bone-headed things this past few months, but Vinny is their only superstar. If I lived in Tampa and there was no Vinny Lecavalier, who else would I go to watch? Marty "Don't Call Me Shortstack" St. Louis? He's good, but he's not the franchise player that Vinny is. Stamkos is floundering and probably should be back in Sarnia where he can gain some confidence, why wasn't he allowed to be in the World Juniors? That's beyond me. Basically, I don't want Vinny in Montreal because that just ups Montreal into serious contender status and that's bad for the Sabres. Bad bad bad.

What's the latest in trades for the Sabres? Darcy doesn't make splashy trades. Well, he gives away splashy but doesn't bring IN splashy. We could use Vinny up here! Tampa needs defense, right? I say Tallinder, Paetsch and a first rounder for Vinny. Who's with me?!

Another center that might be on the move is Jason Spezza. As much as I want a solid top line center for the Sabres, I feel like Spezza in Buffalo would be like that scene in Mighty Ducks when that kid who never appeared in any of the other movies called Adam Banks a "cake-eater" when he was forced to play for them when the divisional lines were redrawn and something about a lake being a cutoff point. I'm putting money on Royzie being the one to dish out that kind of smack talk.

Stafford for Kesler? As part of something bigger? That's the rumor from the unreliable Hockeybuzz.com. I love Kesler so if we were to lose Staffy it'd have to be for someone like Kes to avoid the onslaught of sadness. However, what would this "bigger" be, I wonder? If we got Kes, I'd want to keep him. What's with the Sabres trading with the Canucks all of a sudden? 1970 represent.

If Staffy gets traded, I have to say I TOTALLY CALLED IT. A month after that post, things are a little different and Staffy is producing more, meaning we'd get more a in a trade involving him than we would in a trade involving Pie.

Whatevs, I really love the trade deadline. It's my favorite hockey day of the year, followed closely by free agent day, opening day and the draft.

Trade Winds are a-blowin

by Anne

So we'll be trading for our newest blue-liner, it appears. That, to me, is more exciting than an obscene signing.

MAYBE MY WEEK AND A HALF LONG DREAM OF SIGNING MIKE GREEN CAN COME TRUE!

So, Greener's getting 5.25/ season? Hmmm, that's a lot. BUT if we dump Max's salary... that's only an additional like 1.75 next season. After that, it might become more of a concern. Ha, just to confirm Max's salary was $3.5, I checked some website that's all screwed up that says everyone is a UFA and the only player signed is Sissy. Hahaha. We're gonna need more than just one defenseman, Darcy!!

If we dump 2 of our excess of forwards, that frees up even more space. A lot of people are saying Kotalik might be on the trade block, but I don't want to dump him, he's size and powerplay goals and we need size and powerplay goals. I would be lovely if he scored a few more EQ goals, but hey, we'll take what we can get. He's also one of our most consistent shooters in the shoot out (sad, I know). I could see packaging a smaller player like MacArthur (sorry, Grizz) and Afinogenov and shipping them for a solid defenseman.

On Sabres Edge, John Vogl suggested trading Max for Jay McKee. As deep as my love for JKee runs, I don't think that's the right move. Not at his current price and level of injury prone-ness. We already have a near-paraplegic in TimmyHO, I don't think we need another.

And HAH! Awesome, Mr. Burke. Awesome.

It's hard to stay excited when we haven't heard anything in like 2 days. BOOoOOO!!!

I want to at least hear about my RFA's!!!!! COME ON!!!

ALL I WANT FOR MY BIRTHDAY IS FOR THIS TRADE TO HAPPEN

by Anne


Maxim Afinogenov to Washington for Mike Green?

I heard this rumor from a friend of mine who works at HSBC and says, while its not a guarantee, it's in more than casual talks.


OUT:

IN:

OMGAH!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! The only downside being how crazy a line would it be with Backstrom, Ovechkin and Afingenov on a line together? That could be EPIC.

I don't care though, Mike Green is EXACTLY the kind of player we need. He's young, he's fast, he hits hard, he skates hard and he has a bullet of a shot from the blue line. I don't know if this rumor is true and I'm trying not to get TOO excited about it but its pretty hard not to. WOO!

This trade would make me squeal with hockey fan glee.


But, hey, if that doesn't work out:

I'm totally into seeing other defenseman, Brooksy.

Here's a Shock...

By S(h)ara

It's not like this one is coming out of left field. WGR (home of my radio boyfriend) is reporting that the Sabres will not offer Dmitri Kalinin a contract.

Yeah, I can hear the gasps of shock from here.

Yoinked from WGR's website:

"WGR 550's Paul Hamilton asked Regier about their plans for unrestricted free agent defenseman Dmitri Kalinin. Regier says that the team will not offer Kalinin a contract."

Are you amazed? I'm amazed. I can't believe we're not offering "Tri-Is-His-Nickname-Because-He-Stands-There-Like-One" a contract. (Can you tell I'm being sarcastic?) Anne told me he said in an interview that his wife really likes Buffalo, which Anne followed up with "Well that sucks for her."

Though I do feel bad for you, Dmitri. You were drafted in like the second round. It must suck to be the guy on the team no one really cares about. Even your girlfriend page doesn't care. The conversation looks something like this:

"Is he married or what?"
"Yeah, he has a wife named Tatiana"
"Go Sabres."
"Let's talk about Trent Edwards."

Clearly, you need to start banging girls in the bathrooms of clubs and asking them to do threesomes with you and one of your teammates.

Do svidaniya, Tri. We here in Buffalo will certainly miss having someone to blame for everything. Hell, the Dmitri Kalinin Eff-Up is even its own category in the Sabres drinking game. That kind of notoriety does not come easily.

11th Hour

by Anne

It is now officially less than 24 hours until the trade deadline. Can you feel the tension in the air? WOOOO!!!!!! I love it. It's so excting. I'm a HUGE LOSER.

I really love pictures of animals wearing glasses. So I'm going to post one to reflect my level of excitement over this exciting time of excitedness in our hockey lives.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

And by Tuesday at 3:01 p.m. I will be totally over it.

You Never Forget Your First Love

By S(h)ara

Tonight is most likely Soupy's last game as a Sabre.

It's taken me a long time to come to accept that Brian Campbell, my favorite Sabre that was, is going to be traded. I went through all the major stages: Denial (They won't trade Soupy. Nope, not going to happen), Anger (CAMPBELL! SIGN A FREAKING CONTRACT ALREADY! Great, now my Campbell t-shirt is USELESS!), Depression (Soupy don't leave me! We need you!) and finally, Acceptance (If keeping Soupy means losing Milsey, then I agree The Soup must go). It's been a rocky few months for me.

I know a lot of people will be happy(ish) to see him go. Anne has long been saying that she doesn't want us to re-sign him, since it will tie up a lot of money over the next few years, which could leave us in a position to lose both Pommerdoodle and Milsey. I agree that for the sake of the team, it's best if he goes. We have won games because of Miller. Yes, he has off nights, but so does everyone. But I digress. The point is, even though I agree all of that is true, I'm still going to miss him, and there's a part of me that really wants the Sabres to announce that he's been re-signed. Though I love Derek Roy, I feel as though my love for him will never be the same as it was for Soupy.

Today, I say good-bye to you, dearest Soupy. We had a good run. My mom even knew you were my favorite Sabre and would save me Buffalo News articles about you. We were going to have beautiful curly-haired babies. (Whoops, sorry, I wandered off into Puck Bunny territory there for a second.) You've been kind of a tool about the contract negotiations, which tarnished my love, but deep down, we both know who my favorite Sabre is.

Look how cute we are! And he has good taste in suits!

Though I now rock a Roy t-shirt at Sabres games, know that I've got my Campbell one underneath. I'll miss you, Soupy.

Anticipaaaation is making me late, is keeping me waaaaaaaaaaaaaiting

by Anne

As I write this there is 1 day and 15 hours until the trade deadline. Sundin has opted to not waive his no-movement clause, as is his right. It doesn't look like much is going to save Toronto's season now. Kaberle and Sundin, both players that would've brought big trades, are staying put.

I really just want a decision to be made about Soupy RIGHT NOW. When is his last game in a Sabres' uniform? Was it Saturday? Is it Monday? Will it be sometime in 2011? Or, will it be at the end of this season? Granted, we never really can answer that question for any player, but with Soupy, it's far more nerve wracking. I keep checking the Sabres website to see if anything has been announced, but obviously nothing has.

When was the last time a trade deadline passed with no Sabre moving or nothing being acquired by the Sabres? Something is going to happen, its just a matter of who's leaving, who's staying and what we get in return. We're all so focused on Soupy that I really don't think anyone has fully grappled with the fact that we could lose other players in 1 1/2 days. I don't think anyone really wants to think about that. I certainly don't. I tried to but it makes my head hurt to think about the possibilities.

Let's not forget that Kalinin, who is kind of not so great is also a UFA this season. And there has been no communication between the Sabres and Kalinin's agent. Soupy and Kalinin as one trade together would probably bring a great return for the Sabres, especially for teams that need to add depth to their defense like Tampa. Brad Richards has offered a list of teams he'd waive his no trade clause for if they were interested. I seriously doubt Buffalo is on that list, but anything is possible. Vaclav Prospal is also potential trade bait.

Now that Sundin's future is clear, the mad dash for Marian Hossa can begin. All the teams that wanted Sundin now have to look elsewhere, and Hossa is the next best thing for some teams. I'm not sure how I feel about Hossa, but I might not mind seeing him wearing the slug.

Since Columbus is out of a playoff spot, that means they'll probably be making a trade or two. Hey! Let's see if we can get Peca back! I've really been missing those "Peca's Pickles" in my grocery shopping experience.

Hell, let's suspend reality for a hot minute and say what if the Flyers traded Danny back to us? Let's start that rumor. Soupy and the Soviet Bomber for Danny. Spread the rumor. Aaaaaaaaaand go.

Pain in My Soul

By S(h)ara

No, I'm not talking about the fact that Anne and I got to see the Sabres make history on Saturday when they set a franchise record by losing 9 in a row. No, I'm not talking about the fact that Anne and I committed Sabres blasphemy by saying we missed a certain forward who's initials are Danny Briere.

This is much worse.

Anne and I are lucky enough to have a contact at the arena to feed us rumors and free beer. However, this rumor burns my soul. Rends my heart in two. My all-time favorite player, two-time All-Star and ladies man of SoHo is perhaps going to be traded to the Blackhawks.

Yeah, that noise you just heard was the sound of my heart breaking in two.

Why can we not keep good players in Buffalo? Why? And why must we trade my favorite Sabre who also happens to be a bitchin' defenseman? Hello? He's been voted into the All-Star game two years in a row, posted a career-high 42 assists and 48 points last season (he's at 25 and 29 respectively, for this season) and he's ranked 5th among defensemen for assists. AND WE'RE TALKING ABOUT TRADING HIM!!! Darcy, what have you been smoking lately? If we keep Kalinin and get rid of Soupy I am going to be ROYALLY pissed, not in the least because I blew 20 bucks on a Soupy t-shirt that may very well be useless after this year.

I hate trade deadlines. They make me want to throw a temper tantrum, because my favorite players always get traded.

SOUPY DON'T LEAVE!!!! WE NEED YOU! (And, uh, I'm just a little in love with you, I don't care if Bucky Gleason called you a "skating tomato".)