Kristian

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.

Only if Jhonas comrs back to the states before Ryan's traded to Detroit :doh: With Enroth's play this season, and his performance at the worlds, I'm ready dump 6 mill. in salary, and see what the backup can do as a starter. Only that 6 mill. cap space cleared, would look a whole lot sweeter if I didn't think Darcy was itching to spend it all on Tyler Ennis or Nathan Gerbe..... :wallbash:

I used to hate Taylor Pyatt with a vengeance, but having been subjected to a few years of the pain inducer otherwise known as "Drew Stafford", I'm changing my tune :-)

Exactly. The team should never have been this thin at such a important position in the first place.

So, adding one center, to a team with only 2 natural centers, one of chich is dealt in the off-season, now qualifies as "addressing center depth"? I'll go ahead and answer this myself - "No. ######. Way.". Are you kidding me? Sure go ahead and draft some centers. That would make sense if the lack of center depth was a new issue with the Sabres - It isn't. The Sabres have been thin as a supermodel at center since Drury and Briere left. The fact that Hecht played center for as long as he did should be sufficient info for Darcy to realise he needed to bring in at least a 3rd line center, years ago.

That's golden :w00t: Not as much as I would like to see Chara after crossehecking him ....

Regier did his very best in assembling the most dysfunctional, overrated and soft roster I ever saw. I suppose you could say the Peca for Timmy and Pyatt trade kickstarted what we've been looking at these past years. I have to wonder if Regier would have a job if it weren't for the two "no clutch & grab" regular seasons. To say Timmy was a cancer? Maybe a stretch, but something happened to all these Rochester firecrackers, who played like their hair was on fire when first called up. After a while they became content, and apparently stopped "wanting it", which clearly materialised in their on-ice performances. Was it a case of a General Manager who just has a knack for sniffing out talented, soft and lazy hockey players? Was it the coach who was just plain awful in getting his players to play to their potential? Or is it something that runs deep in the franchise? All I know is, Regier built a one-dimensional team, and that I used to despise Ruff for not benching players like Roy, Stafford and Pominville when they were clearly just going through the motions. For some odd reason, benching Vanek was never a problem, but none of the golden-boys ever got the "Ruff treatment". Hats off to Rolston for at least healthy scratching Stafford.

Comes much more natural to them, what can I say? :wallbash:

I honestly don't care who hires Patrick Roy, I'm just a little disappointed that Regier was allowed to stay, and that Rolston was retained :flirt: For a franchise in rebuild mode, they sure don't like change much. That said, I think Rolston did well with what he was given i.e. nothing.

"Yes men", usually hire "yes men".

Yup, don't forget we're supposed to suffer now. Only seems right after more than a decade of sunshine and rainbows, right? :wallbash:

Sure why not, at least he was one of the guys who lived up expectations.

If it does tell him something he didn't know, it's that he's apparently able to play every other night with no problems, something he likely hasn't done since Rochester.

No I meant points, just forgot to factor in that a regular season is normally 82 games long. Revised, I would say 50 points from Drew Stafford is acceptable, just not at the contract Regier gave him. Story of this franchise, I guess. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that you're wrong and I'm right, cause in all fairness I have no clue whether he cares too much or not. I will say this though, the way he often seems to refuse to reach for a less than perfect pass doesn't bear the mark of someone who cares too much, but again I have no idea what the actual situation is. That said, anyone who's ever played hockey knows how frustrating teammates who can't pass can be, and the Sabres have a ton of these guys. I'll just rephrase it to "he plays like he doesn't care".

Love him, and would like him as a captain on this team. Only problem is, I don't like this team very much which is perfectly illustrated by the fact that I'm willing to take a number 4-6 defenseman as a captain.

On the contrary, a guy like Stafford deserves every ounce of flak he's getting. He has talent, decent size and decent speed. If he cared enough to give at least a decent effort every other night, this guy could be a 30-40 point guy every year. He doesn't even give that much.

Shanahan will probably call to tell them he's not a repeat offender - 2 games :w00t:

Neither does anyone else, but you gotta figure he's as good a bet as any, at this point.

Yes, quarter-final meaning no medals for Team Canada. Sweden has been less than stellar so far this tournament, Sedins or no Sedins. Team Canada were clear favorites to take this one.