Wednesday . . .

The Buffalo Sabres have signed D Mark Pysyk of the Edmonton Oil Kings to a three-year NHL deal. His AHL salary each of the three seasons would be US$67,500, with his NHL salary at $900,000 each season. He got a $270,000 signing bonus payable over three years. The Sabres took Pysyk with the 23rd selection in the 2010 NHL draft. He was the Oil Kings’ first draft pick, taken third in the WHL‘s 2007 bantam draft.
———
D Justin Weller of the Red Deer Rebels signed a three-year contract with the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes. Capgeek.com reports that his AHL salary will be US$50,000, $55,000 and $60,000. The NHL salary would be $565,000 in each of the three seasons. . . . He got a $120,000 signing bonus over three years. . . . Weller, a fourth-round selection in the 2009 NHL draft, is expected to be returned to the Rebels for his 20-year-old season. He had 17 points and 104 penalty minutes in 68 games last season.
———
F Gilbert Brule of the Edmonton Oilers, who played in the WHL with the Vancouver Giants, was driving in West Vancouver with his girlfriend on Tuesday when they picked up a couple of hitchhikers. One of them turned out to be Bono. Yes, that Bono. So this is the story of how Brule dumped tickets to Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final and flew to Edmonton for a concert. The story is right here.
———
JUST NOTES: In Binghamton, N.Y., the Houston Aeros scored a 2-1 victory over the Senators to take a 2-1 lead in the AHL’s best-of-seven Calder Cup final. . . . They’ll play Game 4 in Binghamton on Friday. . . . For whatever it’s worth, the Seattle NBC outlet didn’t carry Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final on Wednesday. . . . F Roman Horak, who played the last two seasons with the Chilliwack Bruins, was traded to the Calgary Flames by the New York Rangers on Wednesday. The Flames acquired Horak and two 2011 second-round draft picks for the rights to D Tim Erixon and a 2011 fifth-round pick. . . . The Flames selected Erixon with the 23rd pick in the 2009 draft but weren’t able to sign the Swede, whose father, Jan, is a former NHLer who played for the Rangers. . . . Horak, who signed with the Rangers late in the season, was a fifth-round pick in 2009. He had 78 points, including 26 goals, in 64 games last season. . . . The Kamloops Blazers have hired Todd Carnelley, who played defence for the Jr. Oilers and Blazers (1983-86) as director of ticketing. He most recently worked for Andre’s Audiotronic and Andre’s Telus division.
———
THE COACHING GAME: Marty Raymond, the head coach of the ECHL’s Bakersfield Condors since Feb. 26, 2003, is leaving to coach a team in Zagreb, Croatia, that plays in the Austrian Elite League. Raymond, 46, had signed an extension with the Condors on May 10. . . . Former Spokane Chiefs head coach Bill Peters has signed a new two-year deal with the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks and will remain head coach of the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs. Peters is 122-97-7-14 in three seasons there. . . . Rockford assistant coaches Ted Dent and Steve Poapst and GM Mark Bernard also got new two-year deals. . . . The AJHL’s St. Albert Steel has added Wes Werhun and Donovan Sugiyama as assistant coaches under GM/head coach Greg Parks. Werhun has been coaching the midget AAA St. Albert Raiders, while Sugiyama has been with the midget AA St. Albert Blues.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter