K-9

Is the inference here that Darcy didn't want to tie up his young star defenseman when he did, to a cap friendly deal, vs. TP making the decision? Again, I think it's a case, as is USUAL, that the hockey department needs to make sure the business side is on board with the commitment of resources. At the time, the Myers deal was hailed as good foresight by an organization looking to secure their young stars. This is a good thing. The 20/20 hindsight applied in view of Myers' struggles since then is not relevant. Just throwing that out there because it's all after the fact. GO SABRES!!!

Do you see the hockey side as a totally separate entity from the business side? One with complete autonomy from the rest of the corporation? If the hockey department needs resources to accomplish goals, do they just get them from itself? I'm honestly trying to understand your broader point here. If your expectation is that the hockey department exists in a vacuum that should just be left alone, I don't see how that's sustainable in the business model. And I'll ask one more time: what hockey decision to you feel wasn't made by the hockey department? GO SABRES!!!

What "hockey" decisions do you think have been made by non-hockey people? It's a bit of a stretch to suggest that because an owner sits in on meetings with his GM, scouts, etc. that he is making hockey decisions when all he's doing is keeping abreast of what's happening and perhaps inquiring as to what may be needed financially or organizationally to achieve hockey related goals. The exception to the rule is an owner that DOESN'T sit in on meetings with his various staffs, regardless of sport. It's unheard of. GO BILLS!!!

But could it have been done any other way? Whether ownership meddles to an unacceptable point is irrelevant in the face of realizing a core had reached it's ceiling and was well past diminishing returns. Pegula inherited a team that had been built into a Presidential Cup winner by DR and LR and it's perfectly reasonable to want to give them the chance to do it again given that past success. It didn't work. There are no shortcuts. In order for transformation and growth to occur, the team had to be dismantled. I doubt it was easy for Terry to accept this at first, given his fanboy passion for the club. But the rebuild is well underway now, so if there's any meddling going on, it's being channeled in the right direction. I don't think meddling is going on relative to the hockey decisions we've seen TM make recently. But if those decisions WERE born out of meddling by the owners, then we've got some genius hockey people disguised as owners. The Pegulas know when to insert themselves into a business process and when to let their delegates take the reigns. If that was through trial and error as meddlesome owners, then I give them credit for learning the lesson. But I doubt it was. GO SABRES!!!

I agree with this, with the exception of society being a schithole. Back in the day, relationships were built and maintained the old fashioned way as you suggest. But just because the media delivery process has changed, the idea of building relationships hasn't. If you were viewed as hostile back in the day, you were shunned in the hotel bar, just as Bucky is shunned now. GO BILLS!!!

I think that's because the Sabres have deliberately blackballed Bucky and, by association, the rest of the BN. He's on their schit list and it's must irk him to no end. GO SABRES!!!

Good insight here. I don't know whether to be comforted or frightened by the fact that sports fans everywhere are essentially the same kind of people when it comes to their teams. GO SABRES!!!

It's a BRO!

I just felt it move. GO SABRES!!!

I know Robben isn't the most popular player given his theatrics, but in all the games I've watched, I haven't seen anyone pressure the defensive zone consistently like he does. Seems to constantly be in attack mode and always seems to make the defender expend a lot of energy. Now I know jack about "futbol", but to my untrained eye, he's been the best player in the tourney. And I agree entirely with the idea of sudden death vs. penalty kicks. Let the game decide the outcome, not a skills competition. BTW, saw a 'Sports Science' feature about goalies and penalty kicks. Seems that is actually harder than hitting major league pitching and is the new hardest thing to do in sports. And get rid of the offside rule.

Gee, what a shame. GO SABRES!!!

Opportunity value trumps opportunity cost. Every time. GO SABRES!!!

nfreeman is an outstanding choice, Scott. Pretty even-keeled and level-headed. Thanks to the outgoing mods for their contributions over the years. This can be a difficult place to referee at times. Well done, gents. GO SABRES!!!

Complete culture change. Exactly what the doctor ordered. GO SABRES!!!

Give it to Girgensons. He's the player on this team that best embodies those traits and he's just gonna be named C eventually because of what he brings EVERY GAME. No reason they can't jump start the process, especially with this team. There's young and then there's too young. He's young but his work ethic is that of a seasoned vet. That's who you want your other young players to emulate. Stafford is big, can skate and shoot, and be nasty when he wants to be. Wants to be being the operative phrase. That is the antithesis of captain material. A captain simply can't be someone so prone to going long stretches of going through the motions. If his heart always matched his talent, he'd be a perennial All Star and a great captain. But I don't want our younger players exposed to his off and on performance, let alone be led by it. GO SABRES!!!

Legal precedent in this country says otherwise. From the McNamara brothers, to McVeigh, to Rahman to Yousef, and others before them, the US has tried terrorists in criminal courts.

If for no other reason than to reassure himself he made the right hiring decision in the first place. Conversely, I'm communicating with my owner to assure him of the exact same thing. The whole idea of an owner of a pro sports franchise not being involved with his business is short-sighted. GO SABRES!!!

Terrorists have been treated like criminals and prosecuted numerous times in the past. That's never been a question. The issue certainly got muddled when our military captured so many enemy combatants on the field of battle, though. It really was a gray area: too many to prosecute in the courts and no official enemy designation to afford them POW status.

While I agree with your general principle here, like eleven alludes, we were honor-bound to invade Afghanistan after demanding the Taliban give up Bin Laden and they refused. We owed that to the victims of 9/11. I was insulted when that simian look-alike bastard said that Bin Laden was no longer worth going after. But I digress. Iraq on the other hand was, is, and will always be a bullschit war drummed up to satisfy a decades old neo-con ideology. I'll leave it to board members to research Wolfowitz, Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc. when they were young turks in Washington. Talk about making zero difference. Not only that, but they got rid of their biggest check and balance to the rest of the region. He was a despicable human being, but he was contained and served a purpose. We can beat the "blame Obama" drum all we want, but Iraq is in the mess it's in for one reason only. And it was COMPLETELY unnecessary.

Hands down, the most beautiful Stanley Cup pic I've ever seen. Outstanding! GO SABRES!!!

Only 62%? That hurts, man. GO SABRES!!!

I'll have to wait for GoDD's physical breakdown of Ekblad before commenting. Ghost checks their teeth and everything. GO SABRES!!!

Given your educational background and insight, I'd be interested in your opinion on the prison-industrial complex. I think it's every bit as insidious as the military-industrial complex, even worse in fact. I LOVE eating bacon with my neighbors!

How are you going to go about dissolving your political bands with a federal government you seemingly detest and have little respect for?

LOL! I'm hoping it could be more like a 'All in the Family' evolving into 'The Jeffersons.'