MVN - Most Valuable Network

Gaustad re-signs with Sabres

Buffalo, NY – The Buffalo Sabres announced today that they’ve re-signed forward Paul Gaustad to a new four-year contract. Gaustad, 26, was scheduled to be a restricted free agent on July 1.

“We felt it was very important to sign Paul to a multi-year deal at this stage of his career,” said Regier. “He has become an integral part of our team both on and off the ice in the past three years.”

Gaustad will pay him 9.2 million, earning $1.7 million in the first year of the deal, and $2.5 million per year for the remaining three years.

The 6-4, 229-pound forward from Fargo, ND, scored 10 goals, 26 assists for 36 points in 82 games.

Selected in the seventh round (220 overall) in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, he set career-highs in goals, and assists and was only four Sabres to play in all 82 games.

Pirates announce schedule format; Rule changes upcoming

(Sorry for the delay in posting for the last few days. I was on a short reprieve for the weekend in order to handle some business items, but all is well now.)

Portland, ME – On Friday, the Portland Pirates announced their schedule format for the 2008-09 regular season, the first as the AHL affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres.

Like last season, the Pirates will not play any team from the Western Conference, which means those in Rochester who supported the team under the Sabres banner, will not see the their prospects until ’09-’10 at the earliest. However, the possibility remains that Portland could see a Western New York swing with a home game held at HSBC Arena in Buffalo in the near future. Read the rest of this entry »

Sabres extend qualifying offers to five players

The Buffalo Sabres announced today that they’ve tendered qualifying offers to five players, who are all restricted free agents as of July 1.

The five players tendered an offer were:

Steve Bernier (RW)
Paul Gaustad (C)
Clarke MacArthur (LW)
Mark Mancari (F)
Daniel Paille (LW)

Mancari is currently the only one slated for Portland.

Because each player was tendered a qualifying offer, Buffalo will retain the rights to each player and can match any offer made by another team. Under NHL rules, if another team makes an offer to a player and the Sabres refused to match, they would be entitled to draft picks as compensation.

Could the Pirates be looking for a new head coach??

When the Portland Pirates step on the ice this fall, many already knew it was going to be a different cast of characters on the ice. Back in early June, the Pirates announced a new three-year affiliation agreement with the Buffalo Sabres, ending their previous relationship with the Anaheim Ducks.

It was going to be a new experience for the Pirates, but the Sabres were expecting to see many of the same faces make the jump from Rochester, the Sabres previous affiliate for the past 29 years, to Portland.

That may not be the case now. Read the rest of this entry »