In his first season with the Sabres, Scott recorded no points but racked up 69 penalty minutes in 34 games.

Following his pointless 2013 season, John Scott owns the Sabres record for most games played in franchise history without recording a point.

In 180 career NHL games, Scott has 5 career points (1 goal, 4 assists) and 305 penalty minutes.

According to the Buffalo News’ John Vogl, Scott will make $750,000 in the 2013-14 season.

Jeanneret’s tenure with Buffalo began in 1971, and the 70-year-old plans to continue through the 2013-’14 season.

“I’m doing pretty good for an old guy,” said Jeanneret. “I have 70-year-old aches and pains.”

While Jeanneret did call all but four games this past season, he probably won’t call them all for the next one. Jeanneret usually takes off for West coast trips and sometimes back-to-back nights. Still, Sabres fans will get to continue hearing him announce games on television and the radio.

“I don’t know how many games I am going to do,” said Jeanneret. “I’ll do most of them.”

Of course, Jeanneret is still hoping for one final item to add to his resumè.

“I’m hoping that before I leave, I can get ahold of that Stanley Cup,” Jeanneret said during his induction speech for the Buffalo Broadcaster’s Association Hall of Fame. “I would truly love to have that happen. That would be the culmination of 40-some-odd years in this business.”

His retirement has been rumored for the past few seasons, but he has agreed to come back each time.

“I’m not going to go on forever,” he says. “Wherever I’ll be when I’m done, I know I can sit back and think upon those good times.”

Check out our featured story on Rick Jeanneret here.

In the coming hours and days, many different people will give their input on whether or not Rolston is the right man for the job but looking back on Rolston’s career track record and the Sabres current direction, there might not be a better man for the job.

Rolston began his head coaching career when he joined the United States National Team Developmental Program (NTDP) in 2004.

In that first season coaching the NTDP, Rolston coached the U-18 team to the Gold Medal in the World U-18 Championship. That team would feature six NHL first-round Entry Level draft picks including Maple Leafs forward Phil Kessel, Panthers forward Peter Mueller, Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson, and Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson. That team also included current Sabres forward Nathan Gerbe.

The following season, Rolston coached the NTDP’s U-17 team that would go on to yield 9 first-round NHL Entry Level draft picks, including Maple Leafs forward James van Riemsdyk, Predators forward Colin Wilson and Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk.

When the aforementioned group of players moved on in their respective careers, Rolston would inherit a new team on the U-17 level. The following year, Rolston would follow that team to U-18 and coach them to the Gold Medal at the World U-18 Championship in 2009. This win would bring Rolston his second U-18 Gold Medal. Seven of those NTDP members would go onto win the 2010 World Junior Championship, the second time in USA Hockey history that the United States would win the Gold Medal at the World Junior Championship.

Rolston has been lauded by players and coaches at every level at which he has been employed. When speaking about Rolston, recent NTDP member Cole Bardreau stated that Rolston “didn’t make the game complicated,” when speaking to Democrat and Chronicle’s Kevin Oklobzija. “He was a straight shooter and he just makes the game simple.”

Even heading into this year’s NHL Entry Level Draft, Rolston’s fingerprint will be visible. The consensus top prospect in this year’s draft, defenseman Seth Jones, spent time with Rolston in the NTDP. Jones was a part of helping Ron Rolston win his third Gold Medal at the 2011 World U-18 Championship. Following the Gold Medal victory, 10 of the teams’ members mirrored the 2009 squad, and went on to win the Gold Medal at the 2011 World Junior Championship.

When Rolston made the move to Rochester, the excellent player development continued. One of the most evident success stories was Marcus Foligno and his seemingly simple jump from Rochester to Buffalo. Most of Foligno’s maturing has been accredited to Rolston’s ability to developing young prospects.

With General Manager Darcy Regier openly stating that the Sabres are headed in a direction of a rebuild, Ron Rolston becoming the full-time head coach seems like a step in the right direction.

“I think that, starting with when he took over the hockey club, I was very impressed with the work he did individually and with the players,” said Regier. “Ron is very prepared, and has really touched the game in a lot of different areas from junior-aged players, collegiate, AHL professionals, and now the National Hockey League.”

To put in perspective as to how important Rolston has become to the Sabres organization, he signed a “long-term contract extension”  last February to remain within the organization.

We would find out today that Darcy Regier originally slated for Rolston to finish the season as the interim head coach only to return to Rochester for next season. In no shorter terms, Regier stated that Rolston won him, and the job, over. ”It became more and more evident that he was a very good fit, not only for the present, but for the future,” said Regier regarding the move.

With a plethora of young talent developing in the AHL and other leagues, Rolston has a phenomenal opportunity to build something special here in Buffalo. It might take some time, but the payout could be exponentially better than the struggle to get better.

Ron Rolston has been named the head coach of the #Buffalo #Sabres. >>> ow.ly/kLZ7d

— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) May 7, 2013

The Buffalo Sabres have announced that interim head coach Ron Rolston will officially be named the team’s head coach at an 11 AM press conference.

Rolston, who coached the Sabres to a 15-11-5 record in 31 games last season, will be the 16th head coach in franchise history.

“Whether it was here (Buffalo) or Rochester, I wanted to continue my growth as a head coach,” Rolston said of the opportunity.

This will be Ron Rolston’s first opportunity to coach an NHL franchise full-time, but he is not new to coaching. Rolston spent seven seasons with USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program where he became the first coach in team history to win three gold medals at the IIHF Championship. He would go on to coach the Rochester Americans for two seasons where he tallied a 63-44-17 record.

Rolston will be in charge of developing one of the youngest teams in the National Hockey League into a perennial Stanley Cup contender, which seems like a task Rolston is ready to take on.

Stay tuned to Sabres Hockey Central for the latest on this developing story.

No hockey fan could have been happy during the 2012-2013 NHL lockout, but the city of Buffalo felt as if it had lost a part of its soul during those three-or-so months while the season sat in limbo. Western New Yorkers gladly indulged whenever hockey did grace their city then, including when some 10,000 fans attended a Sabres scrimmage the week before the NHL returned, and a record crowd of over 19,000 were on hand to watch a Rochester Americans game inside First Niagara Center.

But neither were the same as when their boys in blue and gold returned to regular season action in a nationally televised game against the Flyers. The crowd nearly tore the roof off of the arena when Steve Ott scored the first goal of the shortened season on a blistering one-timer in the first period.

The Flyers took the lead in the second period thanks to goals by Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux, but Thomas Vanek tallied his first goal of the season while on the power play and ensured that the teams went into the third frame all tied up. A standstill ensued until the final five minutes of play, where Buffalo took over. Tyler Myers and Cody Hodgson scored goals within less than two minutes of one another, and Vanek added an effortless empty netter to put the game away in the end.

 
4. Thursday, January 31st @ Boston

The Sabres entered the TD Garden in Boston on a four game losing streak, leaving even the Buffalo faithful to question whether they stood a chance against their old nemesis, the hard-hitting, gritty Bruins. It turned out that the Sabres were more than up to the challenge, putting on one of their most dominate performances against Boston in recent history.

Buffalo took the lead early on a goal by Vanek, only to relinquish it—and then some—throughout the rest of the first period. Boston scored three goals in succession, but the Sabres came roaring back by scoring six of the game’s next seven goals over the course of the contest. Two were highlight-reel moments that will go down as a pair of the shortened 2013 season’s best, including a falling, no-look pass from Vanek to Tyler Ennis before Ennis buried it, and Vanek himself freezing Bruins’ netminder Tuukka Rask in an astounding one-man effort.

The game will also be remembered for the pummeling that Sabres enforcer John Scott levied on Shawn Thornton during a fight. Ever since that one-sided bout on the ice, there have been few—if any—cases of another team bullying the Sabres the way that they had been in the past. That fight alone injected a new level of respect into the rest of the NHL when facing the club from Western New York.

3. Thursday, March 21st vs. Toronto

Every season there’s that one game that degenerates into a wild, raucous contest where neither the Sabres nor their opponent play particularly well, but the game ends up being a thriller for the fans. The late-March meeting against the Sabres’ foes from just across the border turned out to be just that.

The game certainly started with a bang. Just over two minutes in, two separate brawls broke out as Scott faced off with Colton Orr and Patrick Kaleta took on Frazer McLaren. Once all four men found their way to the penalty box, a total of 44 penalty minutes were doled out by the referees.

Scoring was also plentiful. The Sabres and Leafs traded blows from the first period through the third in both even and odd man situations to bring the game to a 4-4 standstill. Overtime resolved nothing, but a prolonged shootout finally did. A total of 12 different shooters took their opportunities, and Ryan Miller foiled all-but one Leaf who came his way. After a number of fancy, but fruitless attempts by Buffalo, Ott eventually won it with a freight train charge on Leafs netminder James Reimer. There was nothing pretty about the goal—or the entire game, for that matter—but it was certainly fun to watch.

2. Tuesday, April 2nd @ Pittsburgh

The Sabres are regularly portrayed as the underdogs when faced against one of the premier franchises on national television; but this one was just ridiculous. With the Penguins in the middle of a historic 15-game winning streak, Buffalo’s April 2nd visit to Pittsburgh was likened to a tune-up match for a champion prizefighter, the Sabres being the proverbial “can” to the vastly superior Penguins.

The Sabres chose to follow a different fight plan. They came out swinging as Kevin Porter netted his first goal as a Sabre while on the penalty kill. The then-newly-acquired Jarome Iginla evened things up for the Pens, but it ended up being the only goal they could muster on 20 shots against Miller.

The Sabres, meanwhile, struck while the iron was hot. Ott and Hodgson added goals while Porter secured his second on the night. The Sabres four goals came on only their first 13 shots of the game; enough of a flurry to make Pittsburgh throw in the towel on netminder Tomas Vokoun before the second period even concluded.

1. Wednesday, April 17th @ Boston

The Bruins were fighting for division supremacy and to guarantee a playoff position, while the Sabres were fighting for a chance to make the postseason; but the April 17^th matchup between both teams was about far more than just the game of hockey. It was about a night to heal the wounds inflicted upon the city of Boston—and all of America—in the wake of the horrific marathon bombings just two days before.

Prior to the game, a video tribute was shown to the victims and heroes of the tragedy. What followed that will go down as one of the most awe-inspiring scenes ever at a hockey game, where the entire crowd inside TD Garden sang the national anthem.

For one night, the Sabres and the Bruins put aside their hostilities and simply played a spirited game of hockey to take America’s mind off its pain. Boston struck first to ignite its emotionally-charged crowd on a goal by former Sabre Daniel Paille, while Buffalo kept pace with a power play goal by Vanek. Boston reclaimed the lead in the second period on a tally by Chris Kelly, and for a period and a half it seemed like it would finish as the game winner.

But with just 27 seconds left on the clock, Buffalo miraculously tied the game once again on a goal by Hodgson. The game eventually went to a shootout, where Miller fended off all three Boston shooters, and Drew Stafford beat Rask to give Buffalo the win.

Immediately following the game’s conclusion, both teams gathered at center ice and saluted the crowd by raising their sticks in the air; an image of unity and respect between two teams who temporarily shed their disdain for one another to entertain the fans.

With this offseason slated to be very important for the future of the Sabres organization, the front office should expect to see every move greatly broken down.

Many fans have spoken their minds on the different topics, which is no surprise. There are numerous problems within the Sabres organization that are slated to be worked on.

Now, these following storylines are not everything that will be watched for but they are some of the hot topics among Sabres fans.

Will Ryan Miller and/or Thomas Vanek be traded?

Throughout the final month of the NHL season, this storyline became more of a when, not if situation. Ryan Miller’s name has been passed around the NHL as someone who will not be with this franchise come training camp. Miller could quickly become a hot commodity for a franchise on the doorstep of the Stanley Cup. Thomas Vanek is a proven goal scorer who has been good, even when the Sabres aren’t good. Vanek could easily step in with another franchise and be that final piece to the puzzle. Not only are both players still excellently talented, they’re full of value for Buffalo. A trade would have the potential to greatly speed up the Sabres’ current rebuilding process.

How Will Darcy Regier re-shape this team?

This storyline was originally whether or not Darcy Regier would be employed by the Sabres next season. Following the end-of-the-season press conference, Regier will remain the General Manager, so that storyline has been solved. During the aforementioned press conference, Regier stated he had begun the process of building the Sabres into a Stanley Cup winning franchise. When that sentence was echoed, Sabres fans all wondered how that would be possible. Will Regier aggressively sign younger free agents? Will he trade away future prospects for young, talented players? Only time will tell what Regier does, but it is clear that the Sabres’ organization is 100% behind the Darcy Regier regime. 

Will Ron Rolston be named the full-time head coach?

Darcy Regier danced around the question of Ron Rolston’s interim tag being removed this offseason but judging by how Regier responded, Rolston might get a shot due to his penchant for developing players. A possibility would be to have an NHL-level development led by Rolston. This could be the most-effective way for Buffalo to go for the next few seasons, but the team could also go in a different direction. It seems as if the rebuilding decision determines whether or not Ron Rolston will be the Sabres head coach next season. 

Amnesty Buyouts

Since the amnesty buyouts were introduced out of the lockout, Sabres fans have attached different names to the two buyouts allotted to the franchise. The most popular name has been Ville Leino. Next season will be year 2 of 5 at $4.5 million for a player who is supposed to be in the Sabres’ top-six. Leino played sparingly this season, due to hip and lung injuries, but he was a factor for the Sabres in his 8 games played (2 goals, 4 assists in 8 games). Darcy Regier revealed that Leino would undergo a “hip procedure,” so Leino may find himself ineligible to be bought out. Either way, the Sabres management seems as if they’ll let Leino heal and give him one full season to prove himself before looking into a buyout. 

The second player that has had the most chatter is Drew Stafford. It is no secret, Stafford struggled this season. Stafford’s shot percentage dipped for the second-straight season, to 5.0% (6 goals on 121 shots), and he recorded career-lows in goals, assists and points while recording a minus on-ice rating (-16) for the first time in his seven-year career. His numbers look very ugly, but an amnesty buyout might not be the right answer for Stafford. Teams have shown interest through the trade market, so the most sense for Buffalo would be to find the best deal and get some value for Drew Stafford while removing the remaining 2 yrs./$8 million remaining. 

For the first time in National Hockey League history, the league will employ a draft lottery to determine the first 14 picks in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.

By the end of the evening, we will know which franchise gets the opportunity to draft consensus first overall pick Seth Jones.

Also, we will learn where the Buffalo Sabres first pick in the first round will be. As of the Draft Lottery, the Sabres are locked into the 8th slot and cannot draft lower than 9th, only if they get bumped down by a lower slotted team.

Here are the odds, for each franchise, of winning the first overall pick.

Team	Odds of Obtaining First Pick
	25.0%
	18.8%
	14.2%
	10.7%
	8.1%
	6.2%
	4.7%
	3.6%
	2.7%
	2.1%
	1.5%
	1.1%
	0.5%
	0.8%

Here are the results of the Draft Lottery, and the order of the first 14 picks in the upcoming draft.

Pick	Team
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

It was a bit different than usual with all that has happened in the past few months, but the players reflected on the season, and discussed what the future holds.

After being with the Sabres for one year, Steve Ott talks about how it went, and what the team has in store for next season:

In what has been rumored to be Ryan Miller’s final season in Buffalo, the Sabres goaltender is asked whether or not he thinks he’ll be back next season:

As Miller continued answering questions, his eyes became watery, but he didn’t confirm or deny anything about being traded.

He stated that he was in a contract and that he would like to remain in Buffalo, but understands that the NHL is a business. Miller added that he is just happy to be a goaltender in the NHL.

Still, there was a sense that Buffalo may not see Miller play for the sabres again.

At the very end of the interview, Miller was asked whether or not he would play for the Worlds and he replied with, “no.”

Here is more of what Miller had to say:

Meanwhile, other Sabres players showed disappointment, but were eager to get better and be more prepared for next season.

Defensemen Mike Weber once again began this past season, not knowing if he earned a spot on the team. However, by the end of the year, he did just that.

Here is what Weber had to say during his interview with the media:

As we near the end of April, the Sabres have cleaned out their lockers and finished their season much sooner than we all had hoped. 

However, there is much to look forward to with this now, very young team, and it should make for an interesting offseason. 

Drew Stafford, Marcus Foligno, Jhonas Enroth and Christian Ehrhoff also spoke to the media, and you can listen to their interviews below.

Drew Stafford:

Marcus Foligno:

Jhonas Enroth:

Christian Ehrhoff: