Since they last met, the Sabres got a new weapon to throw at the Bruins: agitator Steve Ott. (Nick Turchiaro/Icon SMI)

By Allan Muir

Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said all the right things ahead of his team’s highly anticipated meeting with the Bruins in Boston tonight.

“We have to win a game,” he told The Buffalo News. “Not coming out of here with points is not being successful. We have to win games.”

With an 0-3-1 stretch greasing the Sabres’ skid into the Northeast cellar, he’s right. What Ruff and his team need is two points.

But don’t believe for a moment that’s the only thing they want from the Bruins.

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It would probably take a miracle to revive coach Joe Sacco’s depleted Colorado Avalanche. (Jack Dempsey/AP)

By Allan Muir

Less than two weeks into this exceptional season and already the wolves are circling.

In Pittsburgh, Dan Bylsma is being pilloried for his in-game management. In Colorado, Joe Sacco’s toughness is questioned. In Dallas, fans are grumbling about Glen Gulutzan’s lack of bench presence. In Florida…in Carolina…

Anywhere teams are losing, panic buttons are being mashed by fans who are only too aware of the playoff implications of a slow start. Car pools are being organized to help ex-coaching staffs get to the airport. Wish lists of possible bench bosses are being drawn up on cocktail napkins.

Change needs to happen, and it needs to happen now, before it’s too late. Right? Right?

If it was up to the fans, half a dozen bench bosses would be looking over their severance packages right now.

But general managers, the men who actually have to make these decisions, tend to be a little more judicious, a little more big-picture oriented. They want results, but they grasp that these are unique circumstances. Which makes me wonder: Could this actually be the safest year in NHL history to be a coach? A season in which not one single coach gets fired?

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Jason Spezza, a four-time 30-goal scorer, won’t be easily replaced. (Jana Chytilova/Freestyle Photo/Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

The Ottawa Senators have done just fine so far without Jason Spezza, taking both games since he was hurt in a shootout loss to the Penguins last weekend.

It’s good to know they can win without him, because they’ve learned that they’ll have to manage without their superstar center for a whole lot longer.

GM Bryan Murray announced at a press conference on Thursday morning that Spezza would undergo back surgery this week and would be lost to the team “indefinitely.” At this point, the best guess is two months. Maybe more.

“We are hoping that he gets back at the later part of the season and if we’re in the playoffs [he] will be able to participate at that time,” Murray said.

The news couldn’t be much worse for the Senators, who are off to a 5-1-1 start.

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Waving goodbye? The Coyotes’ never-ending ownership saga grinds on in Arizona. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

A guide to this morning’s must-read hockey stories:

• In a stunning turn of events, Greg Jamison missed another deadline in his bid to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes. Should fans in Seattle start saving up for season tickets?

• How does Seattle stack up as a possible NHL expansion/relocation site?

• Someone else will have to carry the groceries for Jason Spezza now that the Ottawa Senators’ star is headed for back surgery..

• Oh yeah, that was a stupid thing Mike Komisarek did.  Now you kids out there, don’t do that, OK?

• 2012 Calder finalist Adam Henrique is close to making his season debut for the New Jersey Devils. That might mark the end of the line for junior-eligible forward Stefan Matteau.

• The second and third lines finally showed up as the Minnesota put an end to Chicago’s unbeaten streak. Meanwhile, the Wild are practicing patience with top prospect Mikael Granlund.

• Coach Michel Therrien called it a “good honest conversation.”. Sounds more like P.K. Subban got the “come to Jesus meeting” before he was allowed to skate with the Habs. This may not end well.

• TSN’s Bob McKenzie released his mid-season draft rankings last night. See how they compare to the SI.com draft rankings from earlier this week.

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The hockey-mad Toronto market may be underserved, but the Maple Leafs aren’t likely to be too happy about sharing it. (Graig Abel/NHLI via Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

It was dreadfully long, even by public meeting standards, and by the end of Monday night’s numbing eight-hour city council session in Markham, Ont., nothing had really changed.

Despite growing opposition, the suburban Toronto city voted 7-6 to go ahead with its plans to fund a $325 million arena project (for more on the process, read David Shoalts’ fine work here).

The result wasn’t really a surprise. Those in favor of the project, led by developer Rudy Bratty and promoter Graeme Roustan, led a savvy campaign to secure the votes needed. And they saved their best card for last when they had someone with some authority finally say out loud what everyone was thinking.

“From the moment I became executive director of the NHL Players’ Association, I heard of the long-term vision of the National Hockey League to expand from the present 30 to 32 teams,” said Paul Kelly, who helmed the PA from 2007 to 2009 and appeared as a non-paid supporter of the arena campaign.

Oh, boy.

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By Allan Muir

Give Brendan Shanahan credit. The league’s chief disciplinarian is two-for-two on the season.

Islanders’ forward Colin McDonald became the second player suspended this season by Shanahan after a vicious hit Tuesday night on Pittsburgh’s Ben Lovejoy. Shanny got the call right.

By sitting him for two games (and costing him $7,567.56 in lost salary), Shanahan noted that McDonald was pursuing the puck into the corner but had his eyes on Lovejoy’s back before “recklessly driving the Pittsburgh defender into the boards with great force.”

McDonald was assessed a boarding major on the play, but this was the sort of black-and-white incident that cried out for supplemental discipline. Lovejoy had his back turned the entire way and McDonald had plenty of time to bail out on making contact. Add that he hit the defender about three feet from the boards — the point at which a player has no time or space to protect himself — and McDonald is lucky that his sentence wasn’t longer. That Lovejoy suffered a bloody nose but no serious injury probably saved McDonald from a stiffer penalty.

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P.K. Subban didn’t get quite the deal he wanted and may now have to deal with some fallout. (Greg Forwerck/Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

A guide to this morning’s must-read stories around the NHL.

• Montreal fans are happy to have P.K. Subban back in the lineup. His teammates? Maybe not so much. He rejoins the Canadiens at practice today.

• A suburban Toronto city council voted to proceed with plans to share in the costs of building an NHL-caliber facility. And hey, was that former NHLPA executive director Paul Kelly  all but promising the league would send an expansion team to fill it?

• Colin McDonald of the Islanders has a disciplinary meeting this morning after this nasty hit from behind on Pittsburgh’s Ben Lovejoy.

• A late equalizer from Logan Couture and a shootout clincher from Michal Handzus propelled the Sharks to their sixth straight win. But coach Todd MacLellan praised the Anaheim Ducks as the better team on the night.

• Wayne Gretzky invited St. Louis Blues’ owner Tom Stillman to take part in his annual fantasy camp this week. The former NCAA Division III player figured he’d better say yes.

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It’s not unusual for the same player have make multiple shootout attempts in international hockey. After the first three shots, any player can step up over and over until the thing is decided. Repeating the best players makes for brilliant theater, as anyone who watched the epic duel between Jonathan Toews, Peter Mueller and Jack Johnson at the 2007 World Juniors will recall.

But second chances aren’t part of the NHL model. At least, until tonight.

Boston’s Tyler Seguin was the first shooter to face New Jersey netminder Johan Hedberg after the teams remained tied at one through overtime. His first attempt was a high-speed gallop capped off with a wicked wrister that beat Hedberg high glove. Boston went up by one.

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When last seen, Georges Laraque was fronting a junior players union (not for these kids). (Shawn Baldwin/AP)

By Allan Muir

It hasn’t been a good year for Georges Laraque.

The now-retired 13-year NHL vet was sued by a Florida company that makes synthetic ice. He was the subject of ridicule when he became the public face of a mysterious group that claimed to represent the players of Canada’s junior hockey leagues.

Then there were those beatings laid on him by Ross Rhea and Doug Glatt.

Now, this.

CTV News has reported that police raided Laraque’s suburban Montreal home “as part of an ongoing fraud investigation.”

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Phil Housley (far right), who led Team USA to the gold medal at the 2013 World Junior Championships, coached a team at the 2012 All-American Prospects Game in Buffalo last September. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

The 2013 NHL Entry Draft is still five months away, but the stage already is being set for a bumper crop of American talent in 2014.

USA Hockey announced today that the All-American Prospects Game would be held at Pittsburgh’s Consol Energy Center on Sept. 26.

The game will showcase 40 of the top American-born players who are eligible for the 2014 NHL Draft, drawn from the U.S. National Team Development Program, the CHL, USHL, NCAA and U.S. high schools.

The inaugural edition of the event was held last September in Buffalo and featured players such as Seth Jones and Ryan Hartman, both members of the 2013 World Junior Champions and certain first-round picks this June.

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