apuszczalowski

It very well could cost them atleast one of those 2. A cap hit of $7.5 mil for a guy going into his late 30s that can't be buried in the minors, or removed if he retires may cost them someone they won't want to lose to get under the cap, or to give them flexibility to make future moves. How many will be happy buying tickets and selling out the arena in 2 years if Doan doesn't lead them to a cup and they are forced to deal away a Vanek or Myers and play a bunch of young rookies til they get the cap cleared up? Or do people expect there to be linups to take Stafford or Leino with their cap hits off their hands? Ok, so one and right now they are lucky cause they may be able to get out of being in cap trouble because he is injured and can be put on LTIR which is the only option where he isn't still counted against the cap with a slightly easier to take $4.9 mil cap hit He is the kind of player the Sabres need, don't get me wrong, but that kind of contract is crazy for someone his age and with his stats. If they desperatly need a lockerroom leader/motivator, they might be better off calling up Drury and seeing if they can get him out of retirement for the veteran minimum, then put him in the press box every night as a healthy scratch while finding someone else to fill the on ice spot. Someone said earlier about the availability of a leader who can perform on the ice, If I was DR, I'd be on teh phone right now offering the Flames a really nice package for Iginla. Lockerrom leader, physical goal scorer and someone who can still perform on the ice and is closer to deserving a $7.5 mil cap hit, thats the kind of player the Sabres need to help get them over the top

How many of those players were signed to long term deals after the age of 35? When they entire deal is counted against the cap weither they are playing, retired, or buried in the minors? None of those teams gave ridiculous contracts to guys over 35. Doans leadership may be something that the Sabres are lacking, but not at the kind of cost that they are looking to spend thats going to have long term rammifications tot he lineup. This is a very risky gamble hoping that this guy is going to come into Buffalo and be able to turn around an entire lockeroom just with his leadership capabilites. If you think that the Sabres only missing piece to become a cup contender is Leadership, then maybe its worth it, but this is a huge gamble that can leave the Sabres to having to completly dismantle the roster and some very lean years of rebuilding if it doesn't work out and they are stuck with a 39 year old with a $9 mil cap hit, watching guys like Ennis flourish with another team

The worst thing about all of it is that like in all negotiations/politics, nothing is ever done early to prevent it. Everything is done at the last minute before something drastic happens. Its really not that hard for someone not from either side to sit down and come up with a fair deal for both sides, but no side wants to give up anything and its all just a big game of chicken, waiting to see what side will crack first and give in. They could have settled all of this weeks ago if they would stop playing the game and just sit down and work out an even solution. Its why I think these CBAs should be made by an impartial arbitrator who takes both sides demands and assembles something for them that will work fairly for both sides. Unfortunatly,it will never work that way and we will continue this dance every couple years when they need to work out a new CBA

i think your overvaluing him and what he brings. He is basically the replacement for Drury except without the Big Game/Playoff/Cup experience. Making this kind of commitment to him at this kind of money you better be sure that he is the final piece to the puzzle, cause this is a kind of deal that can cripple a team and cause them to have to go into a full rebuild if it doesn't work out. He better be the final/only missing piece to turn this current roster into a SC contender, cause it leaves you with no wiggle room without being forced to try and unload talent. Your going all in with this move You can't go out and say that this deal won't hurt the team under the cap because of how the current rules are without knowing what the new CBA looks like. Most likely, the deal would also have to include a NTC/NMC in it cause its highly doubtful that a guy so loyal to his current team will accept a new deal that would allow the team to ship him somewhere else. I really don't see him going anywhere but Phoenix, unless the current ownership deal completly collapses. He keeps extending his deadline with them, and its obvious he doesn't want to go anywhere else. I'm skeptical on him wanting to come to Buffalo, he doesn't sound like a guy who cares about the money part of the contract, he wants a place where he will feel comfortable and is close to home/family. If he cared about the money, he would have signed the Buffalo deal by know. I still think its possible that if he doesn't go back to Phoenix, he takes less to go somewhere closer to the Cup and his home

yeah, what Claude said, not every poster reads the past few posts of the thread before they post something!

Fixed it

It doesn't, Hard work and co-operation by those in government is supposed to make it happen, Good luck with that...........In todays politics, its really tough to get anything done cause typically, neither wants to help the other side out and do whats good for the entire country, Its their way or no way. They want to make sure that themselves and their supporters are taken care of first, the rest should take care of itself In theory, both sides have ideas or methods thats should work, but won't unless they get full co-operation from everyone involved. The government giving money to companies and areas in the stimulus packages works great in theory, but goes horribly wrong when the money stops trickling (if it ever even started to trickle down) when the guys at the top use the money for themselves. Giving the wealthy larger tax breaks so they can re-invest that money into companies and businesses to employ more people works great too, when that money is invested and spent back into the business instead of being put into offshore accounts. The problem is, its close to impossible to change all of this quickly, and without some very big changes that will never go through

No, I don't think they have a problem with stomping.Taking out something sharp to carve your name onto one of the rings, or trying to scratch off Brett Hulls name while changing the Stars with the Sabres, thats a different story......

Have either of these guys proven they can do this for a full NHL season? Remember Kassian? He was supposed to be one of those guys that can beat you on the scoresheet and beat the snot out of you. No ones saying that they wouldn't want guys that can do both, unfortunatly there are very few guys that truly can. Most of this discussion is about overvaluing hits over offence. I am all for the Roy for Ott trade, but I'm not going to ignore the fact that although the got tougher with Ott on the ice, they still lost a good chunk of offence from Roy and unless it also improves the defence or goaltending to the point of being able to consistently win 1-0 or 2-1 games, the added toughness isn't going to help much. Your whole team doesn't have to be tough guys/physical in order to win or be a tough team, like all sports teams, you need a good balance of everything.

Are there really that many people out there that don't have some form of government issued photo ID that would be prevented from voting? I can't think of anyone over the age of 18 that I know that does not have some kind of photo ID. Maybe there is a bigger difference between Canada and the US then i thought. It seems like common sense that you would have to show some sort of proof of who you are in order to vote in an election

Of course in those years, IIRC, they won because they had just some goaltender who went by the name Hasek who could give them a chance almost every night to win when only scoring a goal. Maybe the Fans have the same ability as DR did with the last lockout and are forseeing the next new NHL where hits are going to win you games and goals are a secondary stat......

Its Ok, TP will make it all better, can't he just bury more guys in the minors and spend more money to upgrade the arena? Maybe if he made the visitors dressing rooms better the other teams will let them forget they are over the cap?

I thought we already proved that players who hit and are physical are less injured then guys who don't play physical?

Its funny, I had to show ID at a post office pickup station and was refused my item because my ID showed a different address then the delivery address (when I purchase things online I usually ship them to my moms house because she is home all day and I work during the day), even though my name and other info was the same. I think its funny that I could vote in a US election easier then being able to pick up a bobblehead I ordered online from ebay. I had to have someone with valid photo ID with the shipping address on the id go in to pick it up for me.

It doesn't matter, but of course I would be willing to pay more for the guy who will put up the same numbers in each of those categories and more of one of the other, that wasn't the point.Which Ennis would you pay more for 38 goals 54 assists 92 points 68 hits? or 20 goals 30 assists 50 points 140 hits?

Thats a tough one to prove, cause statuatory rape is the term used for sexually encounters with a person under the age of consent. If they did not consent to it, its typically viewed as just Rape or forcible rape. Typically the term "Statuatory Rape" is used when theres was some kind of consent but the law views the underage person as being too young to give consent. I don't understand how someone can say that the person is too young to understand the situation and give proper consent to the sexual encounter, but then say that they are responsible for the child that may have eben created in that encounter. If they are too young to consent, how can you say tehy are old enough to accept the consequences and make it illegal to abort? In forcible rape situations, theres no doubt that it should be up to the woman to make the decision.....

No matter what Ennis re-signs for, it will probably be too much cause he doesn't throw hits............

I think even a delay to the season is too risky a move and can cost them alot of momentum they finally got back from the last lockout

Sorry to have offended you Mrs. Deluca.........

And these are the only stats that matter to most here, Rob Ray had more hits and fights then Gretzky, guess that makes Ray a better player then "The Great One" Simmonds may be 3 years younger, but Stafford has only played in 75 more games then him, and has 104 more points them him in their careers

I can, they would need the ability to make the playoffs first, before they can worry about a guy who you want for his playoff performances alone....... I would love to bring Briere back, but as I said, the Sabres would have to get more back or give up little, considering they are already helping the Flyers out in a big way by relieving them of the cap hit that was supposed to make up for the cap savings when they had him in his prime. Briere leading the Sabres to a cup the year after being traded from the Flyers might be enough of a payback for taking the cap hit off their hands though, just cause it would piss the Flyers fans off even more

So $4mil a season for him is a steal, $4 mil a year for Drew Stafford (who put up similar to better stats over their entire careers) is not?Guess the grass is always greener on the other side :rolleyes:

I have been on a bobblehead buying kick recently, except I have been collecting Jays Bobbleheads from previous stadium give aways. I'm assuming you bought the Romney one because even though it cost more, overall it helps out America because that extra money spent will eventually trickle down to create new jobs for your grandkids, the money from the Obama one is just going to be given away to someone for something frivilous like food or medicine

Forget Baseball, thats Americas true past time. Americas biggest lie was the image of kids playing "Stickball" in the streets, everyone knows that when you walk through the streets during the summer, all the kids are out there playing Dressage and collecting cards of their favorite horses and trainers But does it come with a sticker that the store owner threw on it saying "Made in America?"

There would have to be more coming to Buffalo to sweeten the deal then just Briere for any defencemen. Why would Buffalo take on Briere in his mid 30's after his worst season as a Flyer, AND a $6.5 mil cap hit, while giving away something decent in return to them helping the Flyers out with their defence and give them cap room. This is the problem with these deals and the cap hit. Cap hit should be whatever is being paid the player that season, not the average over the contract. Otherwise you get teams like the Flyers who can offer these huge front loaded deals, get the players during their prime at a lower cap hit, then dump them on some team looking to spend less and get to the cap floor. The new CBA should have something to guard against this, or a clause that would make the team that signed the deal take a hit on their cap to cover the amount that was spread over to the last few years. In this case, the Flyers would still take a cap hit of the difference between what the remainder of the total of Brieres cap hit would be and the total left on his contract ($6.5 mil cap hit over 3 more seasons - $12 mil left over 3 years in cash = New team has $12 mil to pay and account for under their cap, Flyers would still have a cap hit of $7.5 mil against them)