Courtesy the Buffalo News

(September 23, 2010) There's a lot to like about the Buffalo Sabres' TV schedule this season. All but one of the games will be televised in high-definition. The team will get national exposure on Versus eight times and NBC as many as three times.

And some familiar voices will be back in the broadcast booth, including Rick Jeanneret and Harry Neale.

One of the season's most compelling story lines, however, will take place in the MSG Network pregame show the night of Oct. 8, when the Sabres open their season in Ottawa.

Eight months after suffering a spinal cord injury in a car accident that left him with neurological damage, Mike Robitaille plans to be back in action that night as an MSG analyst

Dr. Kevin Gibbons of UB Neurosurgery operated on Robitaille's spinal cord and vertebrae last winter. After months of rehab the broadcaster is far from 100 percent, but he is itching to get back behind the microphone.

"I still have some problems I have to deal with, [including] my energy level, some clumsiness in my hands and feet, the pain comes and goes," Robitaille said by phone on Tuesday. "I've got medication to help me deal with it and I've got a lot of understanding and support from my employers, which helps a lot.

"I'm ready for the season and we'll see what I can handle."

Robitaille and Kevin Sylvester do Sabres pregame, between-periods and postgame shows on game nights from a studio in HSBC Arena. The fact that he doesn't have to travel to road games makes things more manageable for Robitaille.

"I'm set to take on the challenge, and I'll just lay the hard stuff on Sylvester, he can handle it," Robitaille said with a laugh.

Robitaille's career as an NHL player ended in 1977 when he broke his neck while playing for the Vancouver Canucks. He's been involved in NHL broadcasting in Buffalo for close to 30 years.

"The stuff becomes ingrained in you. It's a big part of your life," he said. "It's nice to have a job where you can get paid and not sweat."

Robitaille said he's been staying in regular contact with Dr. Gibbons and has had a lot of help from countless other people on his road to recovery.

"My goal has been to get back on my feet and have a productive life. That's what I plan on doing, and nobody can ever say there was any lack of trying. I'm giving it a full shot."

The Sabres released their full TV schedule for the season, and it's one that will appeal to viewers who own high-definition TV sets, as 81 of the team's 82 games will be available in HD. MSG will carry 72 of them, Versus eight and NBC is scheduled for at least one, a Feb. 20 home game against Washington. Two other games -- Jan. 23 at the Islanders and March 6 at Minnesota -- are listed as NBC flex games. MSG is scheduled to carry those games.

There is one Sabres game that won't be on TV here, a Dec. 21 home meeting with Anaheim. Versus has exclusive U.S. rights to all games that night and the network is planning to show Washington against New Jersey.

The Sabres also announced that their preseason game next Tuesday against Ottawa will be aired on MSG at 7:30 p.m. The game will be played in Dundas, Ont.

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