The Apocalypse Is Upon Us!

Something is definitely wrong here. I’m not referring to the Sabres actually getting Ryan Miller signed to a decent contract before he opts for UFA status.

Did anyone read this column in today’s Buffalo News?

The pieces are starting to come together, little by little, with every day the Buffalo Sabres are removed from the horror of last summer. There was a renewed sense of enthusiasm Friday in HSBC Arena after they signed Ryan Miller, a move that made their future seem brighter and their intentions more genuine.

A positive piece by Bucky Gleason? Our Bucky Gleason? Couldn’t be.

The money wasn’t important Friday so much as the positive message that reverberated throughout the organization and across the league. Sabres owner Tom Golisano and managing partner Larry Quinn have taken their share of criticism — who, me? — over the past 13 months. This time, they bucked up, did it right and restored a few ounces of credibility after losing a ton last summer.

Now, the Sabres are back in the game.

Bucky commending Sabres management? This can’t be right. There’s gotta be sign that ol’ Buck is still behind this.

It was a grand departure from business practices that led to Chris Drury and Daniel Briere bolting, Brian Campbell getting traded and the franchise landing on its ear. By golly, maybe they’ve finally learned their lesson.

What?!? It took him seven paragraphs to mention the former co-captains and the departed red head? SEVEN?!?

What is going on here?

2008-09 Schedule: Games to watch

Here’s a quick look at games to keep an eye on this year:

Friday, October 10 vs Montreal
Obviously the home opener is always fun. With the tough Canadiens in town, and the even tougher hometown return of Georges Laraque, things could get interesting early.

Monday, October 13 @ NY Islanders
Road opener, 2pm? Sign me up. This is pretty unusual for early in the year, and on a weekday, but I’ll take it.

Ryan Miller signs 5 year extension

Now the uncertainty can finally end.

The Sabres have locked up Ryan Miller.

The Buffalo Sabres today announced they have signed goaltender Ryan Miller to a five-year contract extension. Miller, who will enter the final year of his contract this season, is now signed with the club through the 2013-2014 season.

Miller (7/17/80, 6’2”, 175lbs) appeared in a franchise-high 76 games last season, posting a record of 36-27-10 with a 2.64 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage. During the season, Miller made 34 consecutive starts from January 24-April 3 and a career-high three shutouts. Miller also earned his 100th career victory on February 10 against Florida.

UPDATE: 5 years, $31.25 million. Miller will make $6.25 million for each year of the contract.

That’s right, Darcy never does anything.

Sabres schedule released

The schedule is out, Sabres fans. Time to start planning your roadtrips!

Later on, we’ll give you a more in-depth look at what to watch for this campaign, but for now, start picking out games to watch.

Here is your calendar for this season:

Paille’s new multi-year deal among Sabres news today

Sabres fans, you can rest easy now. Daniel Paille is finally under contract.

The Sabres announced today they have inked the 24 year old to a multi-year deal.

“Danny is a talented young player that can make a difference at both ends of the ice,” Regier said. “Danny has been a key component to our penalty killing unit and we look forward to helping him continue to develop with our club for years to come.”

It’s a welcomed turn of events for those of us that were worried that he might get an offer sheet.

Terms haven’t been disclosed… YET, but those details should come soon.

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The Sabres also announced that forwards Clarke MacArthur and Mark Mancari have accepted their qualifying offers.

Mancari will probably play in Portland this season, but Mac’s situation is a bit stickier. Clarke is no longer waiver-exempt, so should he not make the team, he must be waived to return to the AHL.

While he could, and probably should, make the team (he’s better than Peters), the Sabres do have 14 forwards on their roster.

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On the eve of the release of the Sabres’ 2008-09 schedule, the team released a few details, including the date for the start of the team’s run to the 2009 Stanley Cup*.

The Buffalo Sabres have announced that the team’s 39th season of operation will begin on Friday, October 10 when the Montreal Canadiens visit HSBC Arena….

Two of the Sabres home “at large” games will be against the past two Stanley Cup Champions. The Sabres will battle the defending champion Detroit Red Wings on Monday, April 6. The 2006-07 champion Anaheim Ducks will head into HSBC Arena on Tuesday, February 24. The remaining “at large” game will see the return of Head Coach Wayne Gretzky and the Phoenix Coyotes in Buffalo on Friday March 6.

The remainder of the schedule will be released tomorrow.

(* If you don’t look at it this way, why are you here?)

Could Marek Zagrapan get Radulov-ed out of Buffalo?

Some interesting news for the Sabres as the Nashville-KHL Alexander Radulov saga continues, center Marek Zagrapan is currently participating in a two week training camp with KHL team HC Spartak Moscow.

Slovo dostal aj Marek Zagrapan, ešte stále útočník Buffala Sabres, takže jeho prítomnosť vo výprave spartakovcov bola maličkým prekvapením. „Minulý týždeň som bol na prípravnom kempe nováčikov v Buffale, no hneď po návrate domov mi zavolal agent a spýtal sa ma, či neskúsim aj prípravu s týmto ruským mužstvom. Privolil som, lebo si myslím, že mi môže dať veľa.“

Okay, the story is written in Slovak. So I don’t know what it says. It was posted over on HFBoards, and apparently, it doesn’t say much about Zagrapan’s status, other than that he’s rooming with one of my personal favorite hockey names, Branko Radivojevic.

Zagrapan, 21, has one year remaining on his entry-level contract, and is eligible to be a restricted free agent next summer.

Spat with GM leads to Ted Nolan being fired. Color me surprised.

If you haven’t heard by now, the New York Islanders have fired their head coach, the Buffalo “legend” that is Ted Nolan.

Although there had been a growing rift throughout last season between Nolan and Snow, the somewhat surprising midsummer move was made after a morning meeting at Nassau Coliseum before the opening of a rookie training camp.

“The process for me was something that took a lot of time to come to terms with,” Snow told The Associated Press. “We all know we probably weren’t all on the same page in certain areas.

“It wasn’t going to work if two people aren’t on the same page. That’s why the meeting was healthy because we both realized that there were differences in philosophy.”

Honestly, I don’t see how anyone could see this as a surprise. You knew it was a matter of time. It started looking like an eventuality when the Isles shipped out Nolan’s homeboy Chris Simon last season. Now it’s public and just as ugly as his last divorce from an NHL team.

Check this site out. And a couple more, too.

First off, I wanna thank the guys over at BfloBlog for mentioning us last week. Same to the staff of First Time Caller, Long Time Listener for doing the same. Keep up the good work, guys.

If you have a blog, and you think it’s worthy of being in the very prestigious Blogroll of 3rd Man In, leave a comment with a link. The ones featured already are blogs that I like, so, I guess you need to make me like your blog.

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So I was cruising the ‘net the other day, and I came across this site, appropriately titled SickJerseyBro.com.

Check out the description:

Sick jersey bro started as a site solely dedicated to dudes who put their own names on their Sabres jerseys. However the idea has slightly morphed into a blog about all sorts of fucked up things people do to Sabres jerseys and whatever I want it to be about. But mainly Sabres jersey related shit I want. So if you see something funky going down, take a pic and send it in.

I can imagine this site being endlessly awesome. If there’s one thing I can stand about sports fans, it is personalized jersey. As far as I’m concerned, if you’re going to waste the money to ruin a perfectly good Sabres jersey by putting your own name and number on it, why not get the words “I’M A MASSIVE TOOL” tatooed on your forehead?

The Instigator: The “Soup” has gone bad

(Editor’s Note: Welcome to “The Instigator”, a new feature here at 3rd Man In. In “The Instigator”, one of our staffers will write an unashamedly harsh criticism of someone who currently pisses us off. If you take offense to something written here, you probably have good reason. Feel free to comment.)

I don’t know how anyone in Buffalo can still respect the redheaded, excessively sweaty former defensemen.

Brian Campbell put on this big sob-fest near the trading deadline about how he wants to stay in Buffalo, and that the whole ordeal was tearing him apart.

Then, after his short stint in San Jose, we once again heard the “I wanna play closer to home,” load of crap spewed from #51’s mouth. And then came July 1st, the last straw in my toleration of Brian Campbell as a human being.

McCready, Bomberry among Bandits left unprotected for NLL Expansion Draft

This week the NLL released the protected lists for the July 24th Expansion Draft. There were some big names left off the list for the reigning World Champion, Buffalo Bandits.

All-Star transition player Pat McCready and sharpshooting forward Cory Bomberry were among the surprises made available by the Bandits. Teams were given the choice to protect 10 runners and 2 goalies or 13 runners and 1 goalie. Bandits GM Darris Kilgour chose to protect both his goalies, Mike Thompson and Ken Montour, who both were key players in the team’s run to the title.

Here are the lists:

Protected	Unprotected
Accursi, Mike Bucktooth, Brett Dostie, Kevin Greenhalgh, Sean Montour, Ken Powless, Delby Smith, Billy Dee Steenhuis, Mark Tavares, John Thompson, Mike Vyse, Roger White, Chris	Bomberry, Cory Croswell, Brian Hill, Clay Kilgour, Rich* Kruger, Rusty* Langdale, Chris* Laverty, Kyle Lazore, Andrew Llord, Ian McCready, Pat* Myers, Brian Sanderson, Phil Schmelzle, Kyle Smith, Joe Squire, Chad Swamp, Brandon

The Bandits can only lose one player in the expansion draft. Players marked with asterisks are unrestricted free agents, which means Boston would have to designate them as a franchise player or risk losing their rights.