Hallelujah the NHL has returned and so have I! With only 24 games left in the regular season our first taste of post-Olympic hockey featured Ryan Miller (2 GA, 38 SA, W, 2 A) picking up right where he left off before the break carrying the Sabres to a 3-2 victory over the Canes. It must be a nice feeling for Miller to come back and cleanse the bitter taste of defeat out of his mouth after the Bobby Ryan-less US team didn’t even medal. To be fair, they totally phoned in that bronze medal game against Finland after a terrific effort against the Canadians in the game prior, so they probably didn’t give a rat’s ass about anything but the gold. I don’t endorse that attitude, but it is what it is. Miller looked absolutely brilliant all night stopping shot after shot because man that Sabres D is something awful. Hell, to even have a chance at winning Miller had to throw in a pair of helpers, too! Put this guy on a team with a halfway decent defense and a bit more scoring and he’s top 5, so where will he go? No one knows. Every other day it seems the Buffalo front office flip flops on whether they want to focus on signing him or trading him. Let’s be real here; the guy is a UFA after this season and why on earth would he resign with the Sabres? They have to rebuild, Miller is 33, he wants a cup and he’s not going to get it in upstate New York. With the trade deadline looming the Sabres have a week to move the franchise tender and new Sabres GM Tim Murray claims to have “between two and 10 teams” who have inquired about Miller. Sounds promising, and if you own the guy you’re dying for news that he’s been traded to St. Louis. It’s hard to imagine a team so mediocre that it can make a top 5 goalie give you the stats of a guy ranked ten or so slots below him, but it could be worse, you could own Ondrej Pavelec! Anyway, here’s what else I saw in the first game back from Sochi: