Botterill exudes class on Lehner

Botterill got almost instantly choked up Friday when I asked him about Robin Lehner's fabulous speech at Wednesday's NHL Awards Show. Lehner has said several times this season how important Botterill was during the early days of his rehab and how much it meant to him that the GM checked in on him over the summer – even after the Sabres walked away from his contract.

You can say what you want about how Botterill has done at his job so far and there's plenty of chatter about it, mostly as it relates to the Ryan O'Reilly trade. But when it comes to class and personal integrity, Botterill is universally acclaimed as one of the good people in the league and that certainly reflects well on the Sabres.

Seattle Somethings

The Seattle ownership group visited Vancouver over the weekend and gave an update on its preparations to start play in the 2021-22 season. In the answer to what rates as the biggest question he gets over and over, president and CEO Tod Leiweke said the team is taking its time on a nickname, colors and uniform scheme.