Now do you believe?

Thomas Vanek simply walking into Mordor

A funny thing has happened to the Buffalo Sabres since Terry Pegula purchased them from Tom Golisano towards the end of February: slowly but surely, they’ve actually managed to morph into contenders.  They’re probably no one’s idea of the next Eastern Conference Champions, not with 76 points and tied with the slumping New York Rangers for seventh in the conference. But the position the Sabres are currently finding themselves in was certainly all but unthinkable to a lot of people just two months ago. And not all of the team’s sudden revival is a direct result of their new owner.

We interrupt our scheduled programming…

…To announce that all-time Buffalo Sabres great Rick Martin is dead at the age of 59, according to the Buffalo News. He was apparently driving in the suburb of Clarence when he suffered a fatal heart attack. I was going to do a post about the Sabres’ recent good fortune in the standings and I’ll get around to it after this post, though maybe not before today’s game against the Ottawa Senators. But Martin was such an important figure in Sabres history that he deserves to have his own post.