It’s been a quiet summer for the Buffalo Sabres, more importantly the Portland Pirates… Only Tim Conboy has been signed as a depth player for the Sabres, who will play in Portland, and that still leaves a number of openings in the roster with only 13 players under contract for the Pirates.
With August approaching, this is normally the time of the summer when the Sabres begin to address the Pirates needs. That might be delayed due to Tim Kennedy’s arbitration hearing which is scheduled for Tuesday. In either case, they are still talking to several players who would provide depth to the Sabres and give the Pirates a slight boost.
The current market has been logged jammed as teams still wait for dominos to fall, assess their needs and that has left a number of free agents still on the market. That bodes well for teams like Buffalo as players are still looking for place to play heading into September.
After exchanging emails with a few of my colleagues in both media and hockey operations, it should be noted that there are three players specifically that Buffalo is looking at potentially to play in Portland in the fall.
[url="http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=31155"]Kiel McLeod[/url] – It’s not too clear on why the Sabres are looking at him….In 232 AHL games with Springfield, Utah, San Antonio, Philadelphia and Albany, he’s scored 61 points (27g, 34a) and 267 penalty minutes. Maybe because he’s 6-6, 235lbs he’ll give Portland some more size to help roster that is seriously undersized.
[url="http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=17930"]Nolan Pratt[/url] – He’s played for Sabres in the past, during the ’07-’08 so he’s familiar with the organization, but he also knows Pirates’ head coach Kevin Dineen pretty well as they former teammates with the Hartford Whalers and Carolina Hurricanes. He would be a solid addition for his veteran experience on defense as the Pirates are very thin on the blueline.
[url="http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=46807"]Jim Fahey[/url] – After spending the last two season in Europe, he’s looking to get back to North America and more importantly he would like to play in New England so the Boston native can be close to family…. Would assume that could mean any team in the Atlantic Division is a possibility.
The Pirates will have a new equipment manager next season as Henning Aagaard-Svendsen, who has been with the Pirates the last two seasons, is taking a job with the Toronto Maple Leafs organization.
I would expect some news to come from the Sabres camp next week….
