Buffalo Sabres

After finishing 29^th in the league in 2011-12, the Buffalo Sabres are pretty satisfied with the results obtained in 2012-13.  The sabres won the North East division with a record of 48-26-8 for 104 points.  An improvement of 37 points compared to the 2011-12 season.

“The main goal for the season was to make it to the playoffs” said GM Blanchard.  “When the offseason started, we knew we had a lot of missing pieces to have a chance do it.  I just got on the phone and made a lot of phone calls.”

First, the Sabres made a deal with Montreal to get an experienced defenseman in Ron Hainsey.  “We had to move promising players like Michael Stone and Casey Cizikas in the deal but Hainsey filled a big hole in our defense” said GM Blanchard.  Then they moved Troy Brouwer and Sheldon Souray to get winger Pascal Dupuis.  “We were trying to get a player capable of playing both wings, with good defensive skills and leadership” added GM Blanchard.  “A week later, in an unexpected move, we decided to go after Jonathan Bernier.  In the process, we had to move Kevin Poulin, David Clarkson and high picks, but we also got Sean Bergenheim in the deal to replace Clarkson in the lineup.”  The Sabres then learned that Erik Cole from the Montreal Canadiens might be available for the right price.  “We just decided to go get him.  With Cole’s scoring talent and experience, we thought that it was a good move to make to improve our team for the year even if we had to move Louis Leblanc in the deal” said GM Blanchard.   Even if GM Blanchard was happy with those moves, he was not convinced that he could go with Nikolai Khabibulin in net for a full season and wish to make it to the playoffs.  After a couple weeks of trade talks with GM Hickey of the Carolina Huricaines, both team agreed on a trade that sent Bernier and Khabibulin to Carolina in return for Jonas Hiller.  That trade was a tough one to make since it is said that the Sabres were really high on Bernier, but at the same time, GM Blanchard felt that it was necessary for the success of the team for the 2012-13 season.

After the first five games of the season, the Sabres came out with a record of 1-4-0.  Even if the team played against powerhouses like Pittsburgh, Detroit and NY Rangers during that stretch, it is said that GM Blanchard started to be kind of nervous.  With all the moves that were made during the offseason to improve the team for the year, the pill would be hard to swallow if the team would be to miss the playoffs a second year in a row.  GM Blanchard then looked around the league to try to improve the team and go get experienced players.  He pulled the trigger on a deal with the Flyers, sending out Spencer Machacek and top prospect goaltender Jake Allen.  In return, the Sabres got experienced winger Brian Gionta and backup goaltender Tomas Vokoun.  Two days later, Vladimir Sobotka and Zbynek Michalek were traded to Vancouver for defenseman Barret Jackman and veteran Saku Koivu.

After those moves, GM Blanchard was pretty quiet and did not make any major moves for a while.  The team was playing better hockey.   Then on the morning of November 11^th, Erik Cole and Milan Michalek got a call from GM Blanchard and were told they were traded to Ottawa.  Both of them we really shocked by the news.  Apparently, Cole was really angry and even considered retirement.  In return, the Sabres got Brad Richards and Zack Smith.  “We were looking to get a quality centerman to play on our 2^nd line.  It would have been hard to pass on the chance to get Brad” said GM Blanchard.

Later on that same day, the Sabres shipped out promising dman Nick Leddy for veteran dman Chris Pronger.  With Chris, the Sabres really thought that they would have had a D-squad really tough to beat.  The “Chris d’experience” as it is supposedly called in the Buffalo Sabres headquarters had been a pretty bad one.  It is said that, from the start, Chris has not been the player the organization thought they traded for.  After a few beers, GM Blanchard had this to say “Selfish player, bad penalties after bad penalties, on the ice for more goals against than goals for game after game, not exactly what we needed” said GM Blanchard.  “Looking back at the trade, we do not regret trading away Nick” added GM Blanchard “but we did not get the player we thought we were getting.”.

In January, after endless trade talks with GM Lozinski, Jonas Hiller and Ron Hainsey were moved to Edmonton for Kari Lehtonen and Toni Lydman. “We were fine finishing the season with Jonas, but at the same time, we were not comfortable continuing with him beyond the season.  We really like Kari and we felt it was the right decision to make for our future.”

After that trade, the Sabres were really satisfied with the work done during the year and it is said that they were not planning to make any other major moves for the rest of the season.  On January 14^th, a deal was made with the Winnipeg Jets, sending out Brian Gionta, Antoine Vermette and Jordin Tootoo.  In return, the Sabres got Alex Steen, Maxime Talbot and Jeff Halpern.  “The player we really wanted to get was Maxime” said GM Blanchard.  “GM Johnson wanted Gionta in the deal but since Talbot was planning on his team as the team 2^nd line centerman, we did not have a choice to move Antoine in the deal even if we would have preferred to keep him.  GM Johnson would not have done the deal without getting a quality centerman back” added GM Blanchard.  A week later, to add depth on their third line, the Sabres got Brooks Laich from the Dallas Stars in return for Nick Spaling and Alex Petrovic.

Playoffs

In the first round of the playoffs, the Sabres went against the Toronto Maple Leafs.  Even if the Leafs finished 6^th in the conference, it is said that the Sabres were not really happy with that matchup.  “Even if we were really happy to bring the division banner to Buffalo, we felt that it was at a high cost.  In my opinion, the Leafs were the team to beat in the East.  Great goaltending, great defense and good offense” said GM Blanchard.  “The guys did their best, but we lost in 7 games.  Our team played good but we would have needed to play great against them to expect to win” added GM Blanchard.  “I want to take a minute to congratulate the Ottawa Senators for winning the cup.  GM Young made boldly moves during the year to improve his team but it paid off.  That’s a hard trophy to get for sure”.

After the season, there has been a rumor out there stating that Cole even visited GM Blanchard at camping “V’nez nous ouère qu’on prend un p’tit coup” in Dieppe.  Asked to confirm the rumor, GM Blanchard had this to say “Yeah, Erik stopped by to show-off the flashy ring he just got.  He was all smiles.  We drank a few Alpine and he left with no hard feelings.  It’s all good”.

AHL

 After finishing the regular season with a record of 46-21-9 and winning the Western conference title, the Rochester Americans won their first round matchup against the Lake Erie Monsters 4-0.  The Americans won the first two games of the series by a score of 5-1 and 7-2.  The monsters played better in the next two games but it was not enough to change the momentum of the series.  The 2^nd round matchup was against the Texas Stars.  The Stars played really well and pushed the series to 7 games but the Americans finally came on top with a 7-2 win to advance to the next round.  In the 3^rd round, the Americans faced GM Lozinski and the Oklahoma City Barons.  The Barons were coming out a pretty easy 2^nd round matchup against the Marlies and were well rested and ready to go for the 3^rd round.  Again, the Americans started strong and won the first two games of the series by a score of 6-1 and 5-2.  The Barons came back to win games 3 and 4 but the Americans had other plans and won the last two games by a 1-goal margin.  In the finals, the St-John’s Ice Caps were ready to play hard against the Americans.  No team had been able to take the lead in the series by 2 games.  The Americans finally won the title in 7 games. “When the season started, we were really not expecting to win it, but we wanted to be competitive and go as far as possible in the playoffs” said GM Blanchard.  “We are really proud of our young guys and hope that the experience they just gained will help them out when they are called up to play in the big league” added GM Blanchard.