tom webster

He did not say that! He said that if you were in the right position you could manipulate the standings by dumping at the deadline but never said they were tanking next year.

I agree with you except a few problems for them. 1) O'Reilly is a RFA who has shown a willingness to sign an offer sheet 2) They will have to qualify him at $6.5 million 3) They do not want to pay him more then Duchene 4) While capable their owner does not want to spend to the cap 5) They desperately need top end defensemen

I don't know, about 5 or 6 out of 7 days I wish my wife lived on the west coast. Seriously, I am not sure the present arrangement doesn't work for him. He might like being alone during the season and with their income I'm sure they can see each other almost as much as they want

I knew a lot of exec's and writers from the world of hockey lived in and around Western New York but I had no idea that guys like Brian Burke, David Poille and the rest of those that sing Miller's praises also lived in WNY.

Sorry. Funny that I missed that since its another of my pet peeves when announcers call pro bowl players all-pro.

Don't know if this was covered anywhere else but do any other teams besides Anaheim and Buffalo have anyone else' first pick for either this year or next?

The Browns do indeed have 5 pro bowl players but that is not the most. At least the 49ers and Chiefs have more but I don't feel like looking it up.

I think Gastineau beat him by a lot. At least Bruce really was that good.

A few teams have 3 or 4 assistant GM's.

His agent did a nice job. Wonder if MG just gave him his sign in and password or he copied and pasted.

To me the biggest problem is that some insist on there being TWO sides. Things are rarely that black and white. While I don't agree with a lot of what certain posters believe, I found a lot of value in the opinions of people like yourself, Deluca, Drane et al.

For the record, I don't think there is anything to suggest that the NHL would have any incentive to fix anything either. Just pointing out that the OP was correct about the TV ratings . Carry on .

Isn't that the truth. Almost as ridiculous as the Mike Jasper thread

Wow, we agree again.

Agreed. Three different coaches came to the same conclusion. Did the Sabres, specifically DR handle this poorly ? Sure. But this is all on the kid.

And you did it without throwing any stones at the past. I can say that we are almost in complete agreement as well for whatever that's worth. I do think Devine is gone after the draft and Teddy coaches another year. After that, who knows .

If you read the article, the Panthers are making more on the arena through other event revenue then they are losing on the team so they aren't going anywhere. Its a classic corporate maneuver playing shell games with business revenues. When the Rigases owned the Sabres they had almost 50 separate entities actually running the team and the arena. My suite charges would go to Crossroads, LLC and that LLC would pay the team a small percentage for the tickets used so the team would be losing money but Crossroads was making up for it. In Florida's case, the team is the only entitiy showing a loss and they have their hand out to the State.

For the first time that I can remember, you and I are have a "disconnect." The original poster's point was that when it comes to TV ratings for nationally televised games, the WNY market share is usually in the top 5 and always in the top 10 whether Buffalo is playing or not. He deduced that the NHL would have a financial reason to take care of a market that was watching their games as much as WNY. The point I was making that was backed up by AUD was that while this is true as far as market share goes, most advertisers would rather have a smaller share in a bigger, more affluent market then have a 50% share in WNY. The attached link is an indication of WNY's love of hockey http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/blackhawks-vs-bruins-stanley-cup-final-most-watched-232902128.html

I meant playoffs that they were not participating, an even better gauge of their ratings superiority Definitely talking about 3rd and 4th round.

Actually they do well nationally in the ratings as well. I think they were second behind only Detroit in the last Winter Classic and they are consistently in the top 10 for the playoff ratings.. However, what some don't understand is that a high rating in Buffalo doesn't necessarily mean more people watched in Buffalo, just that a higher percentage did. The actual demographics and results are open to more analysis.

I'm with you. I'm hoping they play to an empty house just so I have something to watch tonite I'm with you. I'm hoping they play to an empty house just so I have something to watch tonite

I'm sorry I just saw this. Toronto gets Bernier for Scrivens, Frattin and a 2nd and you are going to give up all that for Gibson?

Save for a couple of ill timed fumbles, EJ leads them back over Atlanta and who knows from there. Since the probability for all players is skewed toward failure, how can one argue that you might be right, but for anyone to know absolutely, its just not possible.

I agree with your point, but as much as it pains me, I'm not sure Brady ever struggled till maybe this year.

To say he showed nothing is to show your bias. I get that its hard to move on from your initial thoughts but to say he showed nothing is an exaggeration. Like I have said before, I have no idea how he will progress but he showed enough in the leadership and poise department to go along with his obvious athletic skills to give me some hope for the future. On a side note, reading some clippings from Tampa and I may revise my bet offer, Glennon might not even make it through training camp.