NHL

He was slated to be a restricted free agent this summer and spent the majority of the 2011-12 campaign in the minors with Rochester. Szczechura did appear in nine games with the Buffalo Sabres last season though, in which he totaled one goal and three assists.

He was acquired as part of the trade deadline move that saw Cody Hodgson join the Sabres in exchange for Zack Kassian and Marc-Andre Gragnani. Sulzer skated in 15 games with Buffalo after the move, while finishing with three goals, five assists and a plus-2 rating. "He fit in well," GM Darcy Regier said Monday. "He played very well with Christian [Ehrhoff]. I think the other thing you really noticed is his composure out there, his ability to not only break up plays, which is the most important thing defensively, but to make plays offensively and the patience that he showed. We were surprised, pleasantly surprised, with his play."

"The right center ice is a priority," Sabres GM Darcy Regier said. "The real unknown here is what the trade market will hold. Nothing has started. It doesn't get started until after the playoffs. Teams begin to talk, and then it really builds as you go into the draft. It's tough to know what will be available, but if we can find the right centerman it would help." If they end up getting a center capable of playing on one of their top two lines, it might negatively impact Cody Hodgson.

Sulzer was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. He had three goals and seven points in 27 games between Vancouver and Buffalo in 2011-12.

He leads his team in scoring with nine points in nine games and was instrumental in setting up the winning goal against Canada in the quarterfinal. The Slovaks will face the Russians in the final Sunday. We have been waiting for Sekera to assert himself in the NHL. Perhaps this positive performance at the World Championships will be the catalyst for improved results in 2012-13.

His late first-period goal gave the Slovaks a 3-1 lead at the time. It marked his first point of the tournament and the first win for Slovakia. Dominik Granak, Miroslav Satan and Branko Radivojevic had the other goals in the contest.

The Magazine charted the highest paid athletes of over 200 countries spanning all sports. Vanek's $6.4 million in 2011-12 was Austria's top salary. Other hockey players to make the list were: "Pittsburgh's Craig Adams (Brunei Darussalam, $725,000), Minnesota's Mikko Koivu (Finland, $7.29 million), Winnipeg's Nik Antropov (Kazakhstan, $4.25 million), Philadelphia's Ilya Bryzgalov (Russia, $10 million) and Boston's Zdeno Chara (Slovakia, $8.5 million)". Vanek is going to have to have a little more success than he had last season (seven goals in the Sabres final 38 games) to justify his lofty standing amongst his countrymen.