Just some quick hits for your reading pleasure

-Hey, the Sabres did something this week! OK, not really, but they did resign Patrick Kaleta to a 2-year deal worth a little under 2 million dollars. I'm cool with the move. Seriously though, I don't think you can find anyone in Buffalo who disapproves of the signing because of Kaleta's popularity. I just hope Kaleta plays more than 55 games next year; Especially when you consider that you can find a lot of guys in the NHL that get can get 200 penalty minutes, 10 goals and play 70 plus games a year for that money-

-Seems like the Sabres latest trend is to bring their RFAs to arbitration and try and work out a deal before the actual hearing. By doing so, it eliminates all 29 other NHL teams from negotiating with free agents prior to the hearing. Smart move by Regier. Of course, it would have been nice if they thought of this prior to Vanek receiving a lucrative offer sheet from the Oilers in 2007. Look for them to do this sort of arrangement in the near future, especially if Tyler Myers gets to the summer of 2012 as a RFA-

-My goodness, do you know how many Joe Klofenstein texts I've gotten from the Bills over the years? Way too many for my taste. "Bills brought in Joe for a workout. Bills sign Joe to a deal. Bills cut Joe. Bills bring back Joe" Blah, blah, blah. Enough! Just let this guy walk or play because I just want him to get off my Sprint phone!-

-Can you believe that training camp begins in like 7 days? Look, I know the Bills are going to suck this year, but there is nothing like football season in Buffalo. Sorry, hockey fans, but this is and will forever be a football town. Now, if only the Bills could be as good as the Sabres-

-Is anyone really surprised that the NHL decided to go against the CBA and reject the Kovalchuk contract? I mean, this is the same league that floated a mystery memo after Brett Hull's foot was in the crease and put in a Sean Avery goaltender interference rule at intermission of one of their games. Anyways, I guess you have to give Bettman credit for killing off the idiotic deal. However, what happens in the future for other NHL free agents? Does this set a precedence that if you have more than five bull$hit years on your contract, the deal will get revoked? What if you only have three years that are fraudulent? I think Gare Bear needs to come out and set legit contract parameters on future dealings, or we are going to be treading down some dangerous waters with what you can and cannot do with contracts-

-Because I'm all about conspiracies and speculating (I'm a blogger and it goes with the territory), I wonder if the NHL decided to revoke the Kovalchuk contract because they didn't want him to sign in New Jersey. Look, I live in NYC and I can tell you from first hand experience that New Jersey teams are like the bastard step-children of the area. No one cares about them. Even when the Devils and Nets were successful and reaching playoff Finals, there was little to no fan fair involving the teams. It's very tough to get excited about NJ because the state has a lot of New York City and Philadelphia transplants living there. Plus, being within a two hour radius of two of the biggest sports meccas in country doesn't exactly help. As far as the Devils go, the NHL has seen the impact of the team's success on the league...and it's not much. Some of the lowest TV ratings came from the Stanley Cup Finals involving Jersey against Anaheim. To add fuel to my conspiracy theory, what about the contracts that Hossa and Pronger signed? Both of those contracts involved two hockey markets that are vital to the success of the NHL. The league wouldn't dare stand in the way of Philly and Chicago. Trust me, pro sports leagues want certain cities to be on top and Jersey isn't one of them-

-So do you think if I were to stereotype Bills and Sabres fans, could I get away with saying that Bills fans would party downtown, while Sabres fans would be in Allentown or Elmwood avenue?-

-Back to arbitration for a minute, anyone want to tell me how Clarke MaCarthur was awarded 2.4 million dollars? Seriously? Did the Atlanta GM forget to show the judge Clarke's highlights from Buffalo? Did the judge think he was reading the case for Wendal Clark or Clark Kent? Someone needs to disbar these judges-

-I haven't gotten to my receiver portion of my Bills previews yet, but can we just stop with the getting the ball in Roscoe Parrish's hands? Every year it's the same thing with this guy, "Oh, he's such a dynamic player and should touch the ball 50 times a year on offense." Please, every time the guy got an opportunity before Owens got here, he blew it. In 2007, he started three games for an injured Josh Reed and average less than 3 catches a game. Sorry, but Parrish is nothing more than a poor man's Dante Hall-

-Do you ever think that if the Bills were successful (record wise), would the Sabres be more pressured into making more moves to keep up with the football team's popularity? In defense of the Sabres lack of moves, I've heard some hockey fans mention the following: "Well, at least they aren't the Bills." Gotta wonder if that sort of mindset comes into play when the Sabres are discussing their offseason plans. It's funny, because if you were to pinpoint when Dacry Regier was aggressive in the trade market, it was when the Bills were making the playoffs yearly and were still living off the buzz of their early 90's run. Just saying-