Taro T

Pretty sure it was because Timmy knew how tight their cash flows were as far as meeting margins on the shares they'd bought with the company's money. Had they paid Peca, or what his equivalent value was in 2000 in terms of Iginla or other, the house of cards might have collapsed then rather than 2 years later. Had the stock prices rebounded, or simply not dropped during that crash, they might have survived. And their cooking the books on cable box sales might have been delayed far enough out to have avoided really crash the stock price. Still to this day believe that John never fully grasped how things changed when they went from privately held to publicly held. And he'd gotten his kids Ivy educations to be able to understand those changes for him. A couple of the kids were huge crooks. John was one too, but there's a possibility that he actually believed he wasn't one intentionally. (Used to know the minutiae on that case very well. (Another thing not thought about in years.) Might have to see if the files survived the flood from a couple of years back.)

You don't know that he couldn't get it done. We're still waiting for the puck to drop at the blue line to his left. Get that next goal, & anything can happen in game 7. 😉

It's Father's Day. What better way is there for your family to show how much they appreciate you than to let you abandon them on "your" day? 😉

Miles Wood's dad, Randy, was the Sabres union rep when the league lost the '94 portion of the '94-'95 season due to a lockout. He was released and claimed on waivers by the Loafs right after the lockout ended. Pretty certain Buffalo born Miles has no love for the Sabres. Miles Wood's dad, Randy, was the Sabres union rep when the league lost the '94 portion of the '94-'95 season due to a lockout. He was released and claimed on waivers by the Loafs right after the lockout ended. Pretty certain Buffalo born Miles has no love for the Sabres.

Shoot, if holding the winning ticket while sitting in 32nd doesn't count as a win, these guys just might be onto something. (Heavy sigh.)

And that's a big part of why the French is dull. (Along with slower play due to the surface.) Maybe if they limited how many times he could rub his ears between serves somebody else might have a chance. 😉

Don't forget the league in anticipating such shenanigans is now limiting how often a team can have the 1st overall pick over any 5 year period moving forward. Thought it was only 2 wins over 5 years (maybe it was 3?). If so, winning this year will mess up their chances in that really loaded year. If it was 3, they're good. 😉

Go Habs. Go Cheaters.

The French is dull. Wimbledon & the US Open are the fun ones.

Can't help thinking this draft is reminiscent of the '87 draft. There were several players that would've gone way higher in that draft had the scouting been better & the Sabres had the 1st overall. But like this year's drafts expectations, that draft had several D go in the top 10. A goalie even ended up in the top 10. The best player of that draft dropped all the way to 15. The Sabres ended up with a good player in Turgeon but missed out on both Shanahan & Sakic. LeClair & Desjardins dropped to the mid-2nd. (Montreal had a great draft that year, they also got Cassels in the 1st (meh) and Schneider in the 3rd.) Little Theo Fluery slid all the way to 166. The reasons for the scouting deficiencies were different, but just expect the results for the Sabres to be similar & a lot of guys who end up becoming stars to get picked in the 2nd & beyond by squads not dressed in royal blue & gold. This 1 is shaping up to be a crapshoot. And the Sabres, w/ the control of the table will likely roll snake eyes again.

Imagine what could be if they just start doing the opposite of what they think is the right thing to do. (At least with regards to the Sabres.)

Subban is retiring? Anyone besides Shea Weber who saw it in any way remotely possible that he'd still be in the league and Per Karl wouldn't be back on the day Weber became a Hab?

Of course Gallant should pick the assistants he wants. But, it seems quite reasonable that before an offer is made that he'd have discussions with his boss about who they are.

Ray, wouldn't you rather do tribute to your dad's legacy and advise the team in the city where the old man coached a Calder Cup champion and won his last Stanley Cup?

It's why it is dumb to force teams to go through their divisions (or even conferences) first & then conference, and then have the Prince of Wales winner take on the Campbell winner in a battle for the ultimate prize. Have 2 conferences each w/ 2 divisions. Eight teams in each & 4 squads get in the show. 1 plays 4 and 2 plays 3 in each. After that, of the remaining teams, the 1's play the 2's from the other division in their own conference. Reseed for the Semis and 1 crosses over to play the other 2 seed & the Finals match the 2 teams that won 12 games. Yes, travel typically gets slightly increased & it is tougher to run a hockey playoff bracket pool. But, if the 2 best teams are in the same division or even the same conference, provided they were actually getting the job done in the RS, then they WILL meet in the Finals rather than the 2nd or 3rd round. How cool would Buffalo Moe-ray-all be in the Finals? Or the battle of Alberta or the LI Express series to take home Lord Stanley's Chalice? Or, the 2 best non-LTIR circumventing squads meeting in the Finals rather than the 2nd round? Who knows, maybe knowing they'd get the toughest road to the finals of anyone by stretching the rules, the Bolts might not have cheated and rather used Kucherov in the regular season to avoid a 3rd place divisional finish?

Of course, perhaps signing Gallant alters the equation for Eichel & Reinhart. It would be an indication that the Pegulas care more about winning than having fun playing with their toy. Players love Gallant. Owners, & probably GMs as well, not so much. It also would be an ideal situation to bring Gronborg in on. Everybody knows the ship will get righted under Gallant but also that he'll likely wear out his welcome within 3 years. Have Gronborg, Bales, someone like Granato ('cause it's unlikely he'd stay in this scenario), & Girardi working the X's & O's with Gallant setting the tone. And then you've got 1-3 internal candidates to take over when Gere is on his own to get a ride back to the airport.

To the bolded, absolutely. Which is another part of why this is likely to be a long off-season. Absolutely the wrong year to be heading into the draft with a skeleton crew of scouts. Though the philosophical question of whether it is better to have a handful of good scouts (making the assumption that Adams kept the good ones) and few/ no bad ones or to have a large scouting staff wherein the bad ones outnumber the good ones (making the further presumption that Adams excised the bad ones; realizing that at this time, neither assumption has been proven to be true or false) could very well be tested this July.

And, IMHO, he's a Canadian. (Though he did play in Germany.)

Must be referring to Ehrhoff. Rieder doesn't seem to fit the billing even though it's a stretch for the D-man as well. Could it be Hecht? if not any of them, maybe David Hasselhof was in the running for coach? 😉 Save us Knightrider, you're our only hope. 😉

It is below average, but IF the Sabres are to keep Eichel & Reinhart, they already have: Eichel, Reinhart, Cozens, Mittelstadt, Thompson, Asplund, & Bjork that are 25 or younger with the big club plus Olofsson is just outside that window. That's 8 of your 12 F slots that can literally be held down for the next 6 seasons. Add Quinn & Peterka and they are only relying on Skinner, Girgensons, & guys not in the system for 5 slots (2 in the top 12 & 3 to cover for injuries). 6 if they end up losing Bjork or Asplund in 2 months. When youthful guys that have already graduated to the big club are included, the Sabres youth looks at least fringe playoff caliber for the foreseeable future provided Adams fixes the goaltending & gets the coach right AND doesn't decimate the top end. (Some mighty big ifs, but the youthful talent pool isn't awful. (And, ALWAYS drafting top 8, that isn't where we'd like it to be, but it isn't awful, at a minimum. And, before you see this post as something it isn't, am not saying you are saying it is awful.))

And if Muckler had been smart enough to play a healthy Hasek rather than an injured Fuhr it could've been the Sabres year.

Price with support from Weber & Petry gives them a chance. If Armia can get a couple more shorties, it could be interesting.

There's a reason they play them, but yeah, the next round could be ugly.

Had the league shut down 1 day later last year, it could've been Buffalo in & the Habs looking in. Now 14-1/2 months later the Habs are in the Semis (via the easiest ride in years, but still) & the Sabres are imploding.

Last team to get to the 2nd round is the 1st through to the Semis. Wonder if Petry will be good to go by the time Vegas/Avs has decided an opponent.