sabres claim zenon konopka

[JATMtheJATM]

per multiple reports.

[coastal]

Center piece of a revamped powerplay

[JATMtheJATM]

less john scott hopefully

[SkateZilla]

Scott played better than half the team last night..

[rbochan]

Always liked him when he was with the Crunch. One of the best hockey names ever.

[Skooby]

ZK makes for cool initials.

[clumping platelets]

Championship!!

[DetDannyWilliams]

loving this guy already...Zenon Konopka ‏@ZenonKonopka 58m
@BuffaloSabres Growing up 35mins from the old Aud As a kid I dreamt of one day playing for the Sabres- I couldn't be happier #HiMomgoBills
Zenon Konopka ‏@ZenonKonopka 38m
Things to do 1.get to Buff 2.get Hoppy a Sabres Jersey 3.beat the Devils 4.give Rob Ray a high five 5.eat chicken wings and pizza #Sabres

finally we get a player that wants to play here! and cherishes what Buffalo really is he will become a fan favorite as soon as possible

[Downinfloflo]

Settle down Danny boy..

He's just happy he's not in the AHL. He's 33 years old and this is his last shot.

323 games played in his Career and he has 12 goals and 17 asst.

If you wan't Fred Flintstone hockey he's your guy.

[JATMtheJATM]

you are right about that, but hes an enforcer, and he actually has a small degree of hockey skill outside that enforcer role. if he takes scotts minutes (IF) thats an improvement right there.

[coastal]

Heard he's a madman on faceoffs.

highest winning percentage in the league... unconfirmed.

[swiper]

Confirmed.


BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres (http://espn.go.com/nhl/team/_/name/buf/buffalo-sabres) have claimed enforcer Zenon Konopka (http://espn.go.com/nhl/player/_/id/3042/zenon-konopka) off waivers from the Minnesota Wild (http://espn.go.com/nhl/team/_/name/min/minnesota-wild).

This is the seventh team for the 33-year-old forward, who also played for Anaheim, Columbus, Tampa Bay, Ottawa and the New York Islanders (http://espn.go.com/nhl/team/_/name/nyi/new-york-islanders). He signed with Minnesota in July 2012.
Konopka was put on waivers on Thursday after playing in 36 games and claimed Friday. He has a goal and an assist and 55 penalty minutes. He has 29 points in 323 career NHL games.


He is from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, less than 40 miles from Buffalo.


Time to beat a dead horse. The Oilers should have signed free-agent centre Zenon Konopka this summer.

He would have killed two birds with one stone. He’s a career 58.7 percent face-off guy, and he loves to fight. He’s had 106 majors in his NHL career. You can dress Konopka every night, or most of them. He sometimes goes a little hairy and takes the odd bad penalty, but the Minnesota Wild centre is tough and he’s willing and he can play 8-10 minutes a night.


I’m not saying he’s any tougher than Darcy Hordichuk, who was put on waivers by the Oilers basically because they couldn’t find regular work for him, or he’s any more game savvy than Hordichuk who knew his job description very well. You never had to tap Hordichuk on the shoulder to even a score. But the kicker is Konopka, who turned 32 in early January, can win face-offs, lots of face-offs, and this has been a problem for the Oilers since Jarret Stoll left for LA.

http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/02/12/oilers-should-have-signed-zenon-konopka/


Zenon Konopka might make his living fending off punches to the head, but he’s no dummy.

The veteran center knows the Wild had him on the trading block this past offseason. And he watched the team bring David Steckel to training camp to try out for his fourth-line spot.
So Konopka prepared relentlessly for this season.


“You’ve got to be realistic about what’s going on,” Konopka, 32, said. “My buddies asked if I was worried when Steckel came in. I said, ‘No, I’m confident in my abilities.’ ”

Seven games into the season, Konopka has been one of the Wild’s most pleasant surprises. His role has increased, he’s seeing more penalty-kill time and taking bigger faceoffs.

He has the highest career faceoff winning percentage of any active NHLer (.592) and was winning 72 percent this season entering Tuesday’s meeting with the Maple Leafs.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/wild/227935021.html

Konopka battles Tyler Ennis on a face-off:


http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/Wild+101413d1.jpg

Maybe he can be Paul Gaustad with a pair of actual balls.

[casdhf]

Baby steps .. 4th line improvement?