Kristian

I don't see how we disagree, I never disagreed players would come to Buffalo if we chose to break the bank on them. What I did say however, is that kind of players are not what this team needs at this point. With the case in point, Gonchar, I think it's fair to say the Stars didn't sign him for his shutdown abilities they most likely signed him to produce. I think paying 5 mill. for an offense-first defenseman requires him to produce, and produce A LOT, in order for him to be worth his paycheck. Now, if he were able to keep pucks out of his own net as well as score 50 points, hell yeah I'd agree my valuation was off :o

I'm not saying he'll play poorly because he took the money he was offered, I'm debating whether he'll be worth the money he was offered, rather. Perhaps I chose a poor way of wording it. I'm debating whether or not the Sabres should be shelling out big bucks for free agents - For this to be the case, these players need to be players who will turn things around, IMO. I don't think a 39-year old Sergei Gonchar is that player, hence I don't think the Sabres should shell out that kind of money for players of his caliber. For him to justify that deal, I think he needs to break the 50-point mark both seasons. I don't think he would reach 30 points on this Sabres team, and while I know next to nothing about the Stars, I have a hard time seeing him keeping up his current production there.

Of course they'll sign with bad teams for ridiculous money, but will they play well, let alone help turn things around? Doubtful at best.

Exactly, unless they're playing for money. Don't want anymore of those guys, thank you very much, I'd rather watch a bunch of AHL nobodies who at least give a damn. That may be true, to a certain extent. But the reasons you listed above have to be way down on any decent players list of reasons for going to a certain team. The best reason to come here is a paycheck apparently - Not what this team needs. At all. *edit I'd be a lot more enclined to take a few players who may be looking for money more than winning the big one, IF Darcy wasn't the one negotiating those deals. I have absolutely no factual evidence to back this up, but I cannot imagine player agents aren't licking their chops when the talks fall on the Sabres, looking at the deals Darcy's handed out in the past few years.

You and me both, all I understand about it, is that it let's notorious cheapshot artists off for nothing until they do something so obviously despicable, the league can no longer turn a blind eye.

Nah, Orpik's too tough, and Neal scores too much. Darcy no likey.

The problem is, you don't just assemble talent in the minors, and watch them make the transition to the NHL over say, a three year period. Som are ready right away, some take later to develop (Campbell is a good example), and some never develop. You don't build an entire team by drafting young talent, you need veterans and leadership for talent to develop. We have neither, and it's becoming quite apparent that nobody wants to play here, unless they are grossly overpaid, in which case it defeats the purpose.

So, in other words "not only possible, but likely" even? :flirt:

I'm in no way saying it wouldn't, I'm just saying we're in a most sad state of affairs considering most of us would agree on this : Danny Briere would make the team a lot better. I honestly don't think this would be possible, given how horrible we were on defense.

Briere brings Briere brings a lot of things the Sabres miss, like offense, playmaking and scoring. Unfortunately, at this point in Briere's career, the fact that brings things that the Sabres lack says more about how lousy the Sabres are on offense, than how good Briere is.

Maybe, only Lindy had his players 15 feet deeper in the zone.

I wouldn't know either way, all I know is when I see Vancouver break out of the zone, and then see how the Sabres did it for years and years, there is no way I can picture Lindy behind that bench.

Unless the Canucks want the Sedin's to become Selke candidates next year, I can certainly understand why Lindy is getting no attention from that franchise. The brand of hockey I associate with the Canucks couldn't be further from the brand of hockey I associate with Lindy. I would imagine Tort's hardass style isn't for everyone?

Would make sense, and I would be ok with this.... If it wasn't Darcy Regier orchestrating it. The guy's had 16 years to build a solid hockey team, and since 05 he's pretty much had whatever financial resources he could want. Despite popular belief, Golisano was in no way a tight-spender, he just didn't want to spend to the cap, just like a lot of other teams didn't. What we've seen these past 5 seasons is what he's capable of - No thanks, no more of this experiment. Anyone else, feel free to blow the whole thing up and try again, but Regier should've been gone so long ago, it hurts my head thinking about it.

This.

I don't see how my post said anything differently? Then how about turning the 3rd line into a true shutdown line? We haven't had a shutdown line since Curtis Brown was here, and he was crap at it, so in truth we haven't had one since Peca played here. Rolling 3 "scoring" lines hasn't worked at all since the "no-touch" years.

Agree 100%.

And the Sabres were never that talented to begin with. It's not like Roy or Pominville were the second coming of Gretzky, and Stafford is certainly no Cam Neely, or even a John LeClair. Add to this some bad habits, and you have the Buffalo Sabres - On the outside looking in, or 1st round goners.

I realise you're being sarcastic, but we won't ever tmake a deep run with Darcy at the helm. He's had 16 seasons to build a winner, and the closest he ever got was with the best goaltender to ever play the game, in his prime. The only other time we came remotely close, was when the league suddenly changed their rules to fit the Sabres style of play, i.e. pure luck. As fate would have it, those two "no touch" years probably hurt the team more than it helped, since it not only resulted in a GM believing he was god's gift to hockey management, but it also wasted a batch of young talent who never learned anything but winning, early in their careers. Once those wins didn't come so easy anymore, they all just shrugged and looked at each other, and kept doing so until they were finally dealt one by one. Took Darcy 6 years to figure that out.

Hitting is not what's wrong with this team, it's that they're not "tough" enough. Toughness is a lot of things, it's hitting, it's taking a hit to make a play, it's fighting through a check, it's wanting it more, and even playing borderline dirty at times. The Sabres have hit a lot this season, but are still lacking in every other aspect of toughness, unfortunately.

Sabres in a nutshell. And I agree, I thought he was good in 05-06, once he figured out that if he couldn't be the scorer he could do other things, namely being a defensive forward.

While I'm not suggesting this will be Rigas-like tight spending all over again, the two remarks you just posted tells me exactly that they're done spending as big as they have. Spending big, yes. But seeing as none of the really big free agents wanted to come here, even for ludicrous money, of course the franchise has no options left, other than "talented young players". I don't think Terry minds this approach one bit. I know I wouldn't, if I were the owner. Now, I know he said this wasn't about money, and if he needed money he'd drill another gas well. Only problem is, he said a lot of things at that time, and so far he has yet to deliver on most of it. Doesn't really matter anyway, they're thrown money at all the wrong players anyway. And most people know the key to winning is not "talented young players", it's the right mix of players, any size, any type, and to a certain extent, any age

Didn't I read somewhere, that management were done throwing huge offers at players, and trying to make the franchise fincancially responsible again? Direct translation - Uncle Terry's done throwing money into a black hole.

Had to throw this one in there, cause that's what it would take for me to "like" Drew Stafford.

From a career perspective, he'd most likely do better to look elsewhere. As long as Regier's here, this is where careers will go to die.