The first big splash of training camp is a month from today. Yep, Sept. 20 in HSBC (which will also mark third jersey unveiling as well). So I sit watching the Olympics, getting thoroughly agitated by CBC's incessant ads for its Hockey Night in Canada anthem contest and they run some tennis highlights. I'm a couple days behind obviously but Russian star Elena Dementieva eliminated Serena Williams on her way to the gold medal in women's singles.
Dementieva, you may recall, is the girlfriend of one Maxim Afinogenov (right). Not a bad summer for Max. He hasn't been traded. He's still going to make his $3.5 million and his girlfriend wins a gold medal. Nice hat trick.
No. 61 stands to be a huge X-factor player for the Sabres this season if he's still on the roster, hard as that may be to believe. Shows there wasn't a lot of interest in a guy making that kind of dough coming off a 10-goal season when he was minus-16. And Max just drove Lindy Ruff crazy at times with giveaways in the offensive zone.
Let's assume for a second that Afinogenov is on the team come Oct. 10. He's heading into a contract year so is it possible to think he could approach the 23-goal, plus-19 guy we saw two years ago? Or has that ship sailed?
---Mike Harrington
(Photo: Mark Mulville/Buffalo News)
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