Copyright Buffalo Buffalo News
Once the Herd's longest-serving general manager, Buczkowski is now a respected figure across the minor leagues as the president of Rich Baseball Operations and is one of the newest inductees into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. When the trade with Utah was complete, Peterka signed a five-year, $38.5 million deal with the Mammoth. Especially with Alex Tuch's extension sill uncertain, the Sabres weren't coming close to $7.7 million per season for Peterka. It will be MLB's first seven-game World Series since Washington beat Houston in 2019 and the first for the Dodgers since they lost to the Astros in 2017. The Blue Jays have never played in Game 7 of the Fall Classic. The Sabres' overtime game against the Maple Leafs meant you couldn't get down the street from Scotiabank Arena to Rogers Centre in time for the pregame ceremonies and first pitch of Game 2 of the World Series. There's an easy bottom line to Luukkonen's play: He's getting paid to the tune of $4.75 million a year. The Sabres need to get him back as a serviceable component of the crease. Not since the 1997 Cleveland Indians has a Buffalo Bisons parent gone to the World Series. And there's never been one with so many groomed-in-Buffalo players as this year's Toronto Blue Jays. Bisons manager Casey Candaele gave Trey Yesavage three options during a meeting last month in Rochester. The third one was clearly the best choice: Go join the Toronto Blue Jays. So far the Sabres are right in the mix, one point out of a playoff spot in a mob scene of teams that has the bottom six in the Atlantic Division all with either 10 or 11 points. When you look at this division entering Saturday's play, it's crumbling before our eyes. And that's exactly what the Sabres need, Harrington says. There's no other reaction to have after watching 25-year-old Colten Ellis show up off the waiver wire two days before the opener, do nothing but take practice shots for nearly 2½ weeks and then stymie one of the NHL's hottest teams on national television in his league debut. George Springer: "I knew I got the guy in from third, which was all I was trying to do. I started watching the outfielder, I watched what happened and I'm pretty sure I blacked out after that." The Blue Jays have played one Game 7 in their history, and it was a 1985 loss in the ALCS to Kansas City at old Exhibition Stadium. The Seattle Mariners, born with the Jays as expansion cousins in 1977, entered Monday night having never played a Game 7. "It was a full team game," captain Rasmus Dahlin said after the Sabres' 3-0 blanking of the Florida Panthers. "That's really what you need in this league to win." The Sabres needed a game like their rout of the Ottawa Senators. It can get late awfully early when you're playing a schedule with 11 of the first 12 games against Eastern Conference opponents and eight of the first 11 within the Atlantic Division. Not a bad performance over the first 30 minutes against the star-studded Colorado Avalanche, especially when compared to the losses to the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins. But not remotely good enough either. Effort is a minimum standard, not something to celebrate. The Sabres will be at TD Garden in Boston on Saturday, trying to mimic the task several NHL teams have endured this week – bouncing back from a home stinker on Opening Night. Jarmo Kekalainen, the Sabres' senior adviser: "It's hard to win and get to the playoffs. But once you push through that threshold, then you're there. And now you should have a competitive team for years and years." Lindy Ruff's status as the NHL's only lame-duck coach isn't a talking point around the Sabres because the only discussion topic is breaking the franchise's 14-year playoff drought. Since the last time the Sabres were in the playoffs, nine NHL teams have played more than 100 playoff games, led by Washington's 124. Eight others have played between 83 and 97. Thirteen teams have at least 50 postseason wins. The goodbyes we'll see come January in Orchard Park will conjure familiar feelings for those of us old enough to remember the farewell to Buffalo's other major sports homes. My sense is we're not remotely as sad about leaving the building as we are about leaving the memories behind. The Sabres have been better in second periods and still have plenty of offense but injuries and special teams remain areas of concern. If Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is out for any extended period, it would appear the Sabres will start the season with Alexandar Georgiev and fellow vet Alex Lyon sharing the crease. The eyes of most fans in these parts will be on the Yankees-Red Sox wild-card series – which will send the winner to Toronto for what figures to be an epic division series. The Sabres have exactly zero leverage on this one. Tuch is the guy who grew up in suburban Syracuse rooting for the goatheads, dreaming of wearing them one day. There's just about no one else like him in the league in that respect. KeyBank Center doors aren't being beaten down by players trying to come here. This is a team that gave up 289 goals last season and coach Lindy Ruff has already said in camp he wants to cut that number by 40 to 50, which is a necessary but difficult task. Alex Tuch: "Everyone in here knows I love Buffalo. I love being a Buffalo Sabre, and I would love to be here long term." This edition of the Sabres has depth. It will score goals again. It probably has the best defense corps we've seen in the entirety of the drought. It just lacks a shred of belief in the bottom line from anyone outside the walls of its locker room. The Bandits are the National Lacrosse League's oldest franchise still playing in their original city. A win Saturday would give them seven championships, snapping a tie with Philadelphia and Toronto for the league record. Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has not shied away for admitting when his game drops off. But let's not forget he was at 2.57/.910 in the 2023-24 season, so there is some positive history to go on, too. Bottom line: The Sabres' goaltending, wherever it comes from, has to be better. When you're the first-round pick taken with the choice acquired from Vegas for Jack Eichel, you're going to garner extra attention. Brown, 64, holds a rare position on the Buffalo airwaves. He worked with Pete Weber on Bisons games, with Bills voice Van Miller and longtime Sabres voice Rick Jeanneret while hosting the hockey team's pre- and postgame shows. Once eight games in front of the Blue Jays in late May, the Yankees have been victimized by a stunning swap of 12 1/2 games in the AL East standings. The Toronto Blue Jays won 10 in a row at old Exhibition Stadium in 1985, their first division-winning season, and that franchise mark wasn't surpassed until they won their 11th straight game at Rogers Centre on Monday night with a 4-1 victory over the wobbling New York Yankees. This was not the resolution we may have expected, but general manager Kevyn Adams laid out the possibility multiple times that the Sabres would be happy to keep Bowen Byram. For now, at least, it appears that's what they're going to do. The Sabres don't need and don't want draft-pick compensation and that's why they will match an offer sheet for Bowen Byram. Mike Harrington Sports Columnist Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today
