apuszczalowski

But how can they afford it?

But how is it an advantage at all when it gives the other teams in the league the exact same "advantage"? My argument is that the old way may give the Sabres an advantage because now a player will have to decide that Buffalo is a place they are interested in enough that they will take the time to fly out to Buffalo and meet with the team representatives. Would Brad Richards have taken the time and flown out to Buffalo to meet with the team at their place if he isn't really interested in them in the first place? If he is in a room and teams line up to visit and speak with him, he is more likely to sit down for a bit and meet with a team he might not have on his list because its another option and they are already there. The only thing this new rule will do is make July 1st a bit busier for the sports stations because deals/signings will be announced quicker cause deals will already have been agreed to in principle prior to that time. It also will allow teams to meet with more FAs because they won't be focused on meeting with someone while others have the chance to sign elsewhere I think the coverage of the Trade deadline was much worse then the coverage of the opening of Free Agency......

How do the Flyers have Cap Space? http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=413187 The Rumor now is they have inquired about getting Luongo from Vancouver with the plan to buy out Bryz this June................

well the Leafs let their apology/thank you to the fans slip out earlier today with the firing of BurkeWonder what the rest of the league will do?

yeah, so we skipped the first 48 games this year and therefore should be like the last few months of the season last year where tehy were one of the better teams!

You brought up the question of St. Louis and having HOF players not tied to the Blues living thereHow many players without ties to playing for the Sabres, or without previous roots to the WNY area have decided to just move here?

I don't understand why they didn't just add a week to the end of the schedule and go with 50 games, that would let them make the games against divisional opponents at 5 each instead of 2 @ 5 and 2 @ 4

Regier is probably the only guy that I would take as a GM of the Sabres over Burke, and that includes GMs in any and all sports on this planet Dion Phaneuf............ What are we doing? Naming Leafs players now?

So for those that say "Its entertainment, I will come back as if nothing happened", do you get mad or complain about players/coaches/GMs when the team plays poorly? I mean, its just entertainment, why would you be upset? The issue that most have with what happened is that it is entertainment, and the entertainment was taken away because they needed to argue over how to divide the money that we give them for this entertainment. We the consumers are what make their industry possible, and they show now respect to us and just expect that we will come crawling back to them to give them more of our money because they have given us our entertainment back. The point of an form of protest against the league is to show that you as a consummer of their product/entertainment are not happy that they do not respect the people that pay for their product and that we the consummers are not improtant to them

I don't live near and have never really followed St. Louis so I don't know, but if you go with that logic, the only teams that I do know that have former NHL players still living in the area after retirement are Buffalo and Toronto. Do you know for a fact that the St. Louis area has no HOF players that never played in St. Louis living there?

Probably made the scheduling easier to remove OOC play for the shortened season. Limits/Keeps travel down for most teams with the games being scheduled closer together and allows still to have the most games against division teams

I don't think so, Technically the lockout still isn't over until they ratify the new CBA and sign it which happens Saturday (Its why TCs are expected to start Sunday). And didn't the Blues President Davidson leave and take a job with the Blue jackets happen during the lockout? Funny that he finally gets what he wanted (being able to trade away a player and retain part of a contract) and is fired before he can ever use it Dave nonis is being named GM (not sure if its interim or the job is officially his)

There was talk the new CBA would flip Winnipeg and Columbus for this season only until futher re-alignment could be done, doesn't look like that was approved?

Tough to say because the rumor mill always said the leafs were in on him, but who knows if any rumor that gets reported is ever true.I would say that its more likely if his firing was over dealing for Luongo, its because he didn't go after him enough/didn't want him given the timing of this firing (unless we here next today that Loungo is heading to Florida)

I'm sure the Blues have many that might still live in the areaAs for the Blue jackets, they are a relatively new team, do they even have any Alumni yet? Their first ever draft pick, Rostislav Klesla is still playing in the NHL today

Why would you feel bad? His rebuilding job wasn't anything great, he made big splashes to get some big names and mortgage their future and they still have yet to make the playoffs since the last lockout. their ownership has become even better with Rogers & bell owning them now instead of the teachers

Weird, Sucks for the rest of the league/East because they might become slightly more respectable now Makes you wonder why the decision was made now? Was it the new ownership? Was it because he was unable to land Luongo? Was it because he wanted to go after Luongo? He was a bad GM and just a loudmouth who should have been fired, but I prefer to see the Leafs suffer with him then possibly get better

Exactly, unless this is a decision from the new ownership? Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment (Teachers fund) sold the team to Rogers and Bell last year

I would want him to, but my bucket list would just be to fight and beat an NHL player, and I figure with his past health issues, he would be th easiest to go against aside from Timmy (but with Timmys shaved head he looks like he is sick and that would just make me look bad)

Wow, theres one way to bring Leafs fans back after the lockout! If your joke is actually true, It Makes you wonder if it was because management wanted him to get a deal done, or because he was actually trying to make the deal happen?

but the player would have to be interested in coming here first, witht eh old way, the player was already sitting in an office/room with his agents meeting with team representatives. They may sit down with the Sabres and listen because the Sabres representatives showed up to meet them, but may not be intereseted in flying out to Buffalo to meet with the team in the new system. Basically it could go from "Sure, lets meet with the Sabres guys since they are here anyways" to "I'm not wasting my time flying out to meet the guys in Buffalo, I'm not really interested from what I have seen of that place already". As for TP being able to wine and dine with them along with former Sabres alum, do you not think almost any other team in the league could do (and already do) the same?

Would be nice to see empty arenas at every teams home opener, Fill the streets outside the arena with fans holding signs against the players and owners. That would send a message but never happen. Would also be nice to see all the arena workers and other staff that were out of work for the lockout stage a one game walkout to express their displeasure, but again will never happen Personally, I would say that everyone in the arena should Boo when the teams are announced coming out of the lockerrooms to start the games (I would add throwing stuff on the ice, but that may go too far), but again that won't happen either Some fans will be lost, but the majority of the sheep will come right back with the attitude of all is forgiven because you came back and can continue to take my money and entertain me for a little while. The players and owners know this, so they issue an "apology" to the fans, and will say thank you on the ice, maybe give out a shiney trinket at the home opener (Last time they gave out mini NHL Stanley Cups as you left the arena), and everyones happy. you will never get enough people to go along with any kind of large scale protest because the sheep will never play along, unless you could do it in the form of a "Flash Mob", people seem to love getting into those things

Sekera and Weber for Carrie Underwood, we will throw in a couple picks too, she could bring along her "purse carrier" too if she wantsIts Darcy, so an offer could also be Myers for a guy the Preds have named Gaustad, that would be one no one saw coming

I don't think many, if any, coaches will be fired mid season this year. The seasons too short, with limited preparation/training camps to start the season, and games being scheduled closer to each other I think teams will be forced to ride out the season with their current coaches and makes decisions at the end of the year. There won't be many breaks where you could fire a coach, and have the replacement come step in and prepare. I also really don't think Lindy has done as bad a job with what he has had as the majority here think, even last year he was given (as his "upgrades") a physical defencemen who appears to be wearing down quickly, another defencemen that the Canucks fans were all for getting rid of because they said after watching him for so long he wasn't worth the money he would want to stay, and Leino ('nough said). Just because they overpaid for 2 of those 3 guys, it doesn't amke them any better then what they are, it just means they overpaid for what they got.

I heard the news yesterday morning and i have to say I feel almost the same way, I really don't care that much. I will follow whats going on, watch a game when I can, but I doubt I will go out of my way to actually go see a game or pay for centre ice. I just find it hard to get excited over right now, so sick and tired of spending everyday hearing about how one side is so horrible to teh otehr and how they can agree how to divide up their millions fairly.