The Buffalo Sabres are evolving in to a pleasant surprise this year, and a welcome one as well, in light of the rapid demise of the Buffalo Bills. The Sabres continued their surprising good play with a 2-2 tie against the defending Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils, in a game played in nearby Rochester.

Since their winning west-coast road trip, the Sabres are 2-1-2. Not stellar, but surprisingly good considering the two ties were against Ottawa and New Jersey, and one win was against archrival Toronto. It is also surprisingly good since no one expected the Sabres to be .500 after sixteen games, much less to actually be in one of those “if the season ended today” playoff spots.

The Sabres will now have to deal with some tough questions as winger Jochen Hecht is due to return from a broken wrist suffered in training camp. First, the Sabres have to figure out who gets sent back to Rochester. Then, they need to decide if they should mix up their lines to reunite Hecht with Daniel Briere and J.P. Dumont, a combination that clicked immediately last year, or if they should fit him in elsewhere. So who gets sent down? The Sabres are currently carrying eight defensemen, so that seems like the easy place to look. The problem is that Rory Fitzpatrick is the only defenseman who does not have to clear waivers, and he has been playing quite well. As for the forwards, Taylor, Botterill, and Peters can be sent to Rochester, and all three have their merits. To me, this team is in desperate need of a trade just to trim the roster and create some room for the players who want to work to be here. Don’t forget, center Derek Roy is ready for Buffalo and there is no room for him right now.

Speaking of trades, the locals have been abuzz because Anaheim Mighty Ducks scouts were out in force at a Rochester Americans game this week against the, get this, Mighty Ducks of Cincinnati. Sabres GM Darcy Regier was there as well, pushing the trade rumors even higher. The Rochester paper printed a story that the Ducks are shopping backup goalie Martin Gerber and speculated that Gerber and Mika Noronen could be the keys to a multi-player deal. Not likely. The Sabres need to get rid of a goalie for an experienced veteran goalie or some skaters, not another young goalie. That deal makes no sense for either team. I would think, however, that the Sabres would be interested in Anaheim forwards Alexei Smirnov or Michael Holmqvist.

Some trade talk that would get me very excited would concern the Chicago Black Hawks. With Jocelyn Thibault out with hip surgery, Chicago will be in the market for a relatively inexpensive goaltender, such as, oh, Mika Noronen. I wonder if RW farmhand and former number one pick Matt Keth might be available?

As I mentioned above, the game last night was played in Rochester’s Blue Cross Arena before a sold out crowd of 11,146. Sabres owner Tom Golisano is a Rochester native, and thought it would be fun to bring a game to his hometown, not to mention the benefits of expanding the Sabres market. According to both teams the ice was terrible and the boards were very unpredictable and not to NHL standards. Still, the crowd was great and I hope they play a game there every year. There are plenty of Amerks on the Sabres roster every year and it seemed to have an old fashioned feel to it. Maybe the Sabres could throw some cash to their minor league affiliate and help them improve the rink in an effort to expand the Sabres market to the east.

The Sabres go against Pittsburgh tonight, and the Pens will be without Mario Lemieux. I like the fact that the Sabres have rolled their Friday home game start times back to 8:00. Gives the suave sophisticates of WNY more time to get liquored up and cram nachos (or maybe a spaghetti parm from Chef’s) down their throats before games.

Oh, one last thing. If the Sabres made their on-line ticket buying experience a little less expensive it would sure help us fans and their attendance. Case in point. Some friends and ex-Buffalonians are coming to town for Turkey Day and want to see the Sabres game on that Friday. My buddy Scott got seats for him and his especial lady, so I hopped on-line to see what was available, thinking perhaps the Mrs. and I would join the fun. Found some decent inexpensive seats up top, and figured “hey, I’ll save the trip downtown and order on line!” Then I saw the “service charges” attached. Each seat was $37. Not a killer, but for a young man with two toddlers and one income, 74 beans represents most of our weekly discretionary cash. But check out the fees: a per ticket convenience fee of $14. A handling charge of $3. And a shipping fee (it has to go Fed Ex air…they won’t even drop them in the mail) of $12. All told, for the convenience of ordering online, tickets.com adds $43. Now that’s a lot of convenience! My $74 dollar seats had shot up to $117, which represents too much cash to shell out before I even buy one beer. If the total had been around, oh, $10 extra I would have clicked ‘order’ and not thought twice. Now, I can either hop on the train with son and heir for $3.00 some night and grab the ducats (likely)…or get lazy and not go at all (possible). Could be your loss Sabres.

Quick update on the Sabres mood. The competition for spots has some players on edge. Ruff benched recent holdout Miro Satan in the third period against the Devils and now he (Satan) is pouting. He's also peeved because he doesn't get to play with Drury (probably because Drury would stab him with his own skate for loafing), and because he's now on the #2 powerplay line. Boo-hoo. Sorry Miro, play 'D' and forecheck and you will get back. After benching Eric Boulton in favor of Andrew Peters last week, Eric Boulton blew off some steam at practice and then pounded the nearest opponent in his next game. When Ruff told Jay McKee he was riding pine for the second straight game McKee destroyed his stick at practice and then trashed the locker room. That's what we need from McKee.

Ruff is in a unique position right now. He has twenty-some mostly interchangeable players and the ability to challenge them to earn their playing time. If Satan doesn't want to hustle, he can throw Taylor Pyatt out with the #1 line and not miss as much as he used to because the Sabres are a significantly deeper team this year. And if Satan pouts, Ruff won't lose the locker room because Drury will keep them in line. Use it while you can Lindy.