Vanek named to the All Star team

Thomas Vanek was named to the All Star team which really shouldn't be much of a surprise to anyone. If you had to pick one player from the team to go, how could it not be him. That said the all star game is a joke, so it doesn't really matter much anyhow.

The more interesting thing is the AHL all star game where the Portland Pirates got in two players in Mark Mancari and Tim Kennedy. If either of them will be in the NHL at the time of the game is yet to be seen, but that's what happens when you have an all star game in a minor league.

Updates from Portland

The Portland Pirates are leading the AHL with an impressive 11-1-1 record. The team is being lead by Mark Mancari who has 11 goals and 13 assists in just 13 games. The Pirates are undefeated within the month of November, and Mancari has at least one goal in every game so far this month.

The rest of the team isn't doing bad either. Nathan Gerbe has 12 goals and 7 assists. Tim Kennedy has four goals and 15 assists. Mathieu Darche has six goals and six assists with almost all of his points coming within the past six games.

Whenever the Sabres need to recall a player from Portland, they will get someone with plenty of talent who can contribute to the team. They will not be bringing up Matt Ellis again, who after two games in Portland, has zero points and a negative two plus minus rating for a team that won both of it's games.

The Sabres may need to bring up a player soon, as Kotalik is out with a Hamstring issue, and Tim Connolly is also injured once again. Connolly's injury has been described as a "body musculosketal injury", which more or less confirms what we have always known in that he is all around broken and about to completely fall apart at a seconds notice. He is also being listed as week-to-week which indicates that they don't expect his general soreness/concussion/bruised chest/broken vertebra/stretched ligiment/sore groin to get better anytime soon.

Gerbe and Kennedy sent to the minors

With one more preseason game coming up, the Sabres have come close to finalizing their roster, sending a number of players to their AHL team in Portland. Included among the players sent down are Nathan Gerbe and Tim Kennedy, both college standouts who had hoped to make the team out of camp.

The team also sent down defensem3n Michael Funk, and Chris Butler who is also just out of the NCAA. A number of AHL veterans were also sent down including Marek Zagrapan, Dylan Hunter, and Mark Mancari, Mathieu Darche who will have to clear waivers.

Weber, Sekera, and Paetsch were all kept on defense, with Weber likely to be sent down before the season starts. On offense newcomer Matt Ellis was kept on the club as well as Clarke MacArthur, and Peters. Any of these players would have to clear waivers to be sent down to the AHL, and all signs point to the weakest player of these three (Peters) being a safe bet to stay at the NHL level. I think the team would be more willing to risk Ellis on waivers as opposed to a player that has been in their system for a long time now.

Real NHL action begins today as two games get started in Europe. With the Rangers and Lightning playing in Prague, and Pittsburgh and Ottawa playing in Stockholm. The Sabres still have one more preseason game on Sunday against the Detroit Red Wings.

Another college player signed

The Sabres have signed Buffalo native Tim Kennedy to a two year deal. Kennedy spent the last three years playing for a very good NCAA team in Michigan State, where he won the championship a few years ago.

Unfortunately because of the depth the Sabres have a forward (especially with Gerbe also recently signed), it is a tad unlikely that Kennedy will see much playing time this season.

In the Stanley Cup Finals the Red Wings won game four to take a 3-1 series lead over Pittsburgh. At this point there isn't much chance of the Penguins coming back to win this one.