MacK_Attack

This is the 40th anniversary season for Philly, L.A., St. Louis, Dallas/Minnesota & Pittsburgh. Buffalo joined the league in 1970/71.

http://www.nhl.com/winterclassic/index.html They're expecting at least 73,000

41,000 tickets sold in 30 minutes. The rest are reserved for Sabres season ticket holders, Bills season ticket holders and the NHL.

5 years, $21 million http://www.rds.ca/senateurs/chroniques/236894.html

The only reasoning I can see for the potential upswing in Kaberle's production is A) A fully healthy season (no head-shots from Cam Janssen) and B) Upgrading of the powerplay via Jason Blake. But that's it.

Somehow, I don't think Tomas Kaberle will be the NHL's top scoring defenceman. I'm sure he'll be close, but I don't think he'll be on top.

An Original Six Day would almost undoubtedly be Detroit vs. Chicago; Toronto vs. Montreal; Boston vs. Rangers. (And before anybody says it, the Leafs can't have an outdoor game at Rogers Centre because the roof is sealed during the winter months)

It was basically the Leafs way of refusing to be part of the American TV ploy. They wanted to cater to CBC and HNIC with a Saturday night game with another Canadian team. Besides, Toronto needs to have a night game. You're not guaranteed to have below-freezing temperatures during the day, but it's a safe bet once the sun goes down. They probably didn't even have a problem with the opponent being the Pens, I just think that MLSE wanted to do it on their terms. My hunch is that the Leafs and CBC would want to do the outdoor game as part of Hockey Day in Canada at some point.

The Leafs were supposedly the desired opponent at BMO Field, but they refused to play an American team, they wanted to play Montreal or Ottawa on a Saturday night on HNIC.

Potentially, yes. They still have RFA's Vermette, Eaves and Meszaros, as well as UFA Chris Kelly.

Sens still have to lock up Spezza and Heatley, as it looks like Redden will move on after this season.

No, it's a 1pm start as of right now.

- Sandis Ozolinsh (San Jose)

http://www.fartfignewton.com/rbk_edge/

Yes, Boulerice has a fairly significant history of concussions.

- Anson Carter (Edmonton)

Not so much the cap, but Buffalo doesn't have to pay him and they're supposedly over their owner-imposed budget.

If Dallas goes in the tank, Norstrom is probably the most likely name to be moved.

Sundin does not want to be a rental player, he's made that pretty clear over the past couple years.

Here's some players that might be available come deadline time if their teams are out of the race.... - Pavol Demitra - Keith Carney - Brian Rolston - Wes Walz - Sean Hill - Geoff Sanderson - Dick Tarnstrom - Ladislav Nagy - Rob Blake - Brad Stuart - Jaroslav Modry - Sergei Fedorov - Mike Peca - Adam Foote - J.P. Dumont - David Legwand - Martin Gelinas - Miro Satan - Mike Comrie - Trent Hunter - Aaron Ward - Branislav Mezei - Steve Montador

Sabres have suspended him without pay because technically, he did not report to training camp.

The PP won't be an issue. Even though Sundin is apparently a shooter, he'll pass 7 times out of 10, rather than take the shot. Tomas Kaberle has a no-shoot clause in his contract. People seem to think that it was the Leafs D that let them down last year, it wasn't. They gave up the 8th-fewest shots in the league, but gave up the 5th-most goals. Ultimately, you have to look between the pipes for the explanation. Raycroft was, for the most part, highly ineffective (to put it nicely). I think Toskala will step the goaltending up a notch or two, especially if Raycroft stays to push him for the #1 spot. That said, it's up to the kids (Colaiacovo, White & Stralman) on the back end to step up. They're the ones that can make the difference. Kaberle can usually cover up for McCabe's mistakes, but they need the kids to step up so that they can push a guy like Kubina's minutes back to around 17-20 per game. Up front, they need a healthy season from Kyle Wellwood (he can provide 80 points as long as he gets some decent powerplay time) and they need Alex Steen to bounce back. I think they'll make the playoffs, probably 7th seed or so. Blake - Sundin - Antropov Tucker - Wellwood - Ponikarovsky Steen - Stajan - Devereaux Kilger - Williams/Bell - Battaglia Belak McCabe - Kaberle Colaiacovo - Kubina Stralman/White - Gill Wozniewski/Kronwall Toskala Raycroft

I don't think the Leafs are going to be out of the playoff race by the trade deadline.

This is the jersey the Leafs will unveil in a few hours (3pm). Horizontal striping on the bottom is gone, TML logo on the shoulders gone, silver around letters and numbers gone. Home jersey is exactly the same as the one above with the blue and white reversed.

Buffalo had the budget space to bring in a guy or two to make up for the losses of Briere and Drury, but then they had to match the offet sheet for Vanek. It screwed them over. He's getting $10 million this season.