Maine Hockey Journal

BLOG: Development camp starts and Kostka speaks

Still nothing for the Pirates on Day 5 of the free agency season, but it’s still early and some steals can be found later in the month into August.

The Sabres began their development camp today in Niagara, NY and from all reports at Dwyer Arena, things went well. This is really a camp that allows the Sabres coaching staff and brass to assess their prospects as well as potentially finding a diamond in the rough.

Goaltender JP Lamoureux attended this camp last year and was signed shortly afterward.

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Today was the deadline for players, who are eligible, to file arbitration.

No word yet if anybody from the Sabres organization has filed for an arbitration hearing.

Players eligible are Tim Kennedy, Pat Kaleta and Mark Mancari
10:47pm UPDATE: Tim Kennedy was the lone player from the Sabres organization to file for salary arbitration. There is no date on when his hearing will be held. Hearings are scheduled to take place between July 20th until August 5th.
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Finally, I spoke with Mike Kostka today by email and he obviously wasn’t very happy about the Sabres not extending him a qualifying offer.

“I am definitely upset about not getting a qualifying offer from Buffalo,” he said. “It has been a great couple of years in Portland and I was hoping on continuing my career with the Buffalo/Portland organizations.”

“With that being said I am excited to move forward with my career wherever that may be.”

In Kostka’s two years with Portland, he scored six goals, 51 assists for 57 points with a plus-12 rating.

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