K-9

Was just reading an article a about the press conference and Shanny said that their offer to Babcock never changed. So, Toronto's original offer was the same 10yr, $50m deal he agreed to yesterday. Right. Going to great lengths to fend off criticism that Babcock agreed to deal with Sabres and then shopped it to the Leafs, apparently. GO SABRES!!!

Permission? From whom I wonder. Ghost, maybe? GO SABRES!!!

I doubt the Toronto media wouldn't have questioned Babcock's character if the situation was reversed. GO SABRES!!!

I'd kick the tires on Dineen. I know it's all about the talent to execute it, but I love how the Blackhawks play hockey and if he brought that kind of philosophy, I think our players would like it, too. GO SABRES!!!

This is dog chow's finest hour!

It's wrong if, even with a poor group of players, he convinced you he isn't a good coach at the NHL level. I submit he did just that in the eyes of Murray and others. Throw in their inability to communicate well with each other, makes a ton of sense for Murray to have fired him. GO SABRES!!!

Agree with your take entirely. Even if they get Strome, I won't be impressed. That kid is a ways away from being an NHL centerman at this point. He was downright exposed in the last couple rounds of the Otters' playoffs. GO SABRES!!!

Look, PA, if saying you seem to have a narrative offended you, please accept my apology. But are you going to deny you have a propensity to look for and find villains in Sabreland? And why does there always have to be a bad guy, anyway? GO SABRES!!!

This team imploded due to a totally dysfunctional locker room. I don't care how good a coach is, there is no magic wand that fixes that level of internal strife. Given how bad they were down the stretch last season, I doubt these players are capable of finding the essential team bond required to turn it around so I think some big parts will have to be shipped out. Fixing teams via FAgency seldom works unless your core is able to absorb new guys without missing a beat. Toronto's core blew up. GO SABRES!!!

This is a fair point to be sure.

Agreed. Breaking an agreement in principle is virtually unheard of in pro sports so I find the comparison to other businesses a bit off. And I'm not so sure it happens all that frequently in other businesses, either. Negotiating in bad faith is frowned upon, regardless of the type of business in which that negotiating is conducted. If all the reports about Babcock's turnaround are true, it just doesn't reflect well on the man. GO SABRES!!!

It is. But if what the Sabres have said is true and they thought Babcock had agreed to their deal (to the point of setting up a press conference to announce it if Tim Graham is to be believed), then it's anything but a standard procedure. It's the epitome of not negotiating in good faith and that's never standard procedure. GO SABRES!!!

Ah, gotcha now. I misunderstood the previous context, so disregard my question. I think it's still not good form if Babcock gave the Sabres the strong impression that he agreed to the deal in principle and then backed out once Toronto was reported to be back in the picture. I mean Toronto wasn't even mentioned yesterday in the midst of all the "it's down to Detroit and Buffalo" reports. Anyway, I'm over it. GO SABRES!!!

Good stuff, here. "Thermostat of my soul." Nice. I need to use that in the future. GO SABRES!!!

If Babcock spreads himself too thin with other player personnel issues (think Bowman when he came here), and he can't immediately turn around the lockerroom attitude from last year (and it was bad), I don't give him much of a chance with that roster in the short term. I think they'll actually finish worse than last year. Let me mull it over. GO SABRES!!! Not sure what that has to do with reneging on a deal he reportedly reached in principle with the Sabres yesterday. GO SABRES!!!

Then isn't is also true that Babcock leveraged his Buffalo deal as well? No matter how you slice it, if he convinced the Sabres he had agreed (and these recent reports suggest the Sabres were under that impression) then this is just poor form by Babcock all the way around. It's just not an above-board way of doing business. GO SABRES!!!

There is not an ounce of animosity in my post. And thanks for your support, but jeez Dwight, sometimes you are hard to follow. GO SABRES!!!

I don't doubt this for a second, especially in light of Wawrow's scoop yesterday. The Sabres wouldn't have leaked that otherwise. And I'm convinced more than ever that once Pegula learned that Toronto had re-entered the picture, he wasn't gonna be played and he pulled the offer. I think that reflects well on him, too. It's all well and good that Babcock found the job of his dreams and his family is OK with it, etc, but I don't think this reflects well on him at all. If he doesn't produce in Toronto, he may well have signed his last coaching contract for a long time. GO SABRES!!!

I'll lay odds Pegula pulled his offer as soon as he got wind of Toronto's (seemingly) renewed interest. And I'd be glad to find out that's true. From a personnel standpoint, he's going to the Sabres' situation of two years ago. Enjoy, Babs. GO BILLS!!!

You're staring at coffee grounds, though. No matter now many actual legit reasons Babcock will give to explain his decision, you'll be convinced it's because Tim Murray lacks the proper personality. GO SABRES!!!

What took you so long? No narrative, my ass. GO SABRES!!!

Bylsma can laugh all he wants and I wish him luck in San Jose, for "similar" money. If he's really better than Babcock, he should have no trouble getting Babcock money from somebody else, though. Surely, he can convince other teams as much as he's convinced you. You seem to be saying that no matter who we end up targeting next, that he will laugh and turn us down because we were willing to overpay for the best candidate out there and that we should be willing to offer the same overpayment to anyone else. It just doesn't work that way. GO SABRES!!!

I doubt they'd laugh as there isn't another Babcock-credentialed candidate at the moment. But if your point is that we need to offer that to Bylsma, I don't agree. But Babcock's stated goal improving the lot of all coaches in this process, will certainly be realized, that's for sure. But this touches upon my reasons for Pegula to shelve his offer if Toronto has just been laying in wait for Babcock to come back to them with our best and final. GO SABRES!!!

Now that's funny! As to the banks being guilty and admitting it, yawn. Just another slap on the wrist, pay the penalty, and get on to their next scam. For the life of me, I don't understand the shift in our collective thinking since the 80s towards idolizing the great corporations and holding them up as icons of the private sector while at the same time denigrating labor and public programs as evil. Unfettered capitalism is dangerous. The greatest success our country has had were during times when controls were in place, corporations had more incentive to reinvest vs. hoarding dollars, and workers were valued as vital to the operation, if not as partners, rather than a drain on the bottom line for shareholders to demonize.

I'm making these assumptions based on what's been reported. Limited info or not, highly unlikely or not, that's all I have to go by. And to repeat, based on those reports, it appears Babcock and Toronto have been waiting to see what our best and final was gonna be. I don't think it's good business acumen to be used in that fashion as it sets a bad precedent for Pegula moving forward. It's not unheard of to shelve offers for this reason. I happen to agree, based on my assumptions based on what's been said publicly to this point. If you disagree, fine. But given how these events have unfolded, again based on what's been reported, it's not as though my assumptions are way out of line. GO SABRES!!!