tom webster

I understand. I am just tired of the whole thing, I know he does bring some things to the table. He just shouldn't be our GM anymore.

So he has an excuse why he isn't as good as Chicago and Pittsburgh, then went to great pains to explain how LA used high draft choices to acquire Carter and Richards. He has the "my defense got blown up" to cover Carolina so I think all thats left to hear is how Boston, Anaheim and Detroit did it to cover all the post 2004 lock out teams that won the Cup. I think the " my owner was a criminal" and "we were bankrupt" covers the other years.

Thanks for the link. I'm surprised you pulled that quote out of the entire audio. Since I have such great respect for you I'll cut you some slack on a rather slanted view of what he meant. In my opinion he is right and while I can't speak for anyone else, I believe a majority of the fans agree with him. Also, while that entire conference went off the rails and both sides went over the line, I'm glad Harrington called him out about TP's availibility. I'm also glad that civility returned afterwards. As for the whole ticket price mailing, if it wasn't calculated, shame on them. If it was calculated, double shame on them. On the other hand Ted could have down himself a favor if he pointed out that while they always send out these notices at the end of April, the only reason it matched up with fan appreciation day this year was the shortened season.

Is that a direct quote and can you put that into context?

OK, so Larry Brooks is a joke and the Post isn't exactly the Times, but its not like anything in the article isn't public record. They blamed the increase on the new CBA and they had John Sinclair deliver the News. They have said with past increases that it was the result of the conditions to maximize revenue sharing. They didn't this time. It's the Pegula way, give us 3% interest to keep our money during the lock out, understand that most of us would just let it sit expecting to put it toward the playoffs and now raise the prices another 4%. On top of that, they will probably be about $10 million under an already artificially low cap and he will probably make enough money to pay for those ridiculous bonuses his GM for Life through around the last couple of years.

I still don't know where all this " he is an NHL prospect" started. He was unrestricted last year and no one was interested and the Sabres have shown littl interest in extending him this year again.

Sometimes you just take the words right off of my keyboard.

Thought he wasn't eligible till 2015. That's two more horrible years.

Burke and Smith won Stanley Cups, Maloney does wonders without any money and Snow has his team poised for long term success inspite of an idiot owner. There are probably another 10 candidates that could put together better resumes then DR if you would like more names.

OK, that's probably still too soon but I am ashamed to admit I laughed

Just wondering, did Julien smash Lucic on the head with an oak tree?

Once Zherdev was taken, it would have been pretty hard to screw up that pick especially after the frozen four in Buffalo that year.

Kaleta is a much more valued player then you give him credit for. HIs penalty killing alone makes him a bargain.

This is the biggest contradiction about him. Most of the message board seems to think he is aloof and doesn't care enough about hockey. Those close to him believe that his biggest problem is that he cares too much and is too hard on himself. I just can't stand to watch him anymore but I think he is likely to and up one of the most successful ex-Sabres since, I don't know, maybe Andreychuk? and I'm alright with that.

I need to say this for the record. I have no problem replacing Miller if the right replacement is in place. You have made some pretty persuasive arguments for replacing him, and while I disagree with them, I am not 100% sure you and others like you aren't right. In my opinion, any highly sought after replacement GM and coach is more likely to come here because of him then not, but again I see the counter argument. What diminishes your rant, again in my opinion is some of the things your side of the argument post as fact. That he is not well liked by his teammates or he is treated with kid gloves or his personality is the problem. This is all garbage. Anyone who has had even the most casual interaction with any of them players knows this to be false and is again refuted by the number of times the players have voted him their team mvp or have come to his defense when the need arises. And then to blame yesterday's first two goals on him, that's ridiculous. Deflections happen all the time and yes some of them get stopped but some of them don't . You can blame them all you want for what happened after that but don't diminish your argument with urban myths or something your friend told you his friend read about. Carry on and see for the next edition of Tom Webster's off season contest. Hope Trueblue enjoyed the tickets. Sorry you ended up with the Devils game. Did you boo?

Seriously?

Nill might be all that but history has shown that some guys are just better at being support staff. Picking anyone that has never done it is as much a crap shoot as the draft. You have ot hope that TP, TB and KS have some good connections that can point them in the right direction.

This is where I'm at as well. This team needs a big, physical center at number three, especially if they keep trying to keep Ennis there but even with a one, two of Hodgson and Grigo.

Bryan Murray?

I think the plan may be to lower expectations and then deliver more.

Why can't this be a quick turn around? This team got absolutely nothing from Stafford and Leino and worse then nothing from Myers and yet finds itself about 5 wins out of a solid playoff slot. If all these kids are as good as most on this board seem to think they are, why should it take more then two years?

I swear that some of you watch the Sabres in a vacuum. Do you realize that only 4 players scored over 40 goals last year? Vanek is an elite talent entering what should be the prime of his career and should definitely be part of a quick rebuid if he wants to be. That being said, I think he wants out so my guess is next year we be talking about how if only the Sabres had a couple of veteran 30 goal scorers we could challenge for the division.

As much abuse as Howson took, it is mostly his acquisitions fighting for a playoff spot.

Would that be 5x 5 years?

Yeah, I didn't phrase that right. I was trying to reflect the point of his diminished production. Thanks for clarifiying.