apuszczalowski

Was this ever said anywhere? Bernier was a 1st round pick who had potential and was viewed as maybe just needing a change of scenery to reach that potential. Thats the exact jkind of player Darcy has been bringing in when making deadline deals. I wouldn't call him a "throw in" for the deal

People are acting here like Crosby is Brett Lindros here and should be hanging up his skates. If this guy was anywhere near that stage, The Pens wouldn't be commiting that much money to him and signing him for that long of a deal. They probably would have been looking to trade him and keep Staal around then. As for the insurance, i don't think the teams go out and have to independently insure each contract. i would think the NHL itself has a policy on the entire league to cover salaries. If the player is as bad as some are making Crosby out to be healthwise, I don't think he could pass a physical and the league probably wouldn't be able to approve the contract if its uninsurable

Then how do you explain guys like Bernier, Boyes, and many of Darcys other wonderful Deadline deals? I won't argue that he didn't know what he was getting, he probably knew exactly what he was getting. A reserve defencemen with some experience whos contract expires at the end of the season and can come in from the press box if necessary and be an extra body on the ice. I would argue that what they ended up with is a pleasant surprise and better then what they expected.....

he was available at #6, but so was the guy they drafted whom they obviously wanted more, they want both. Basically what they are asking for is Adam, Stafford, and the Sabres 1st this year for Ryan. Personally I think that they would have to sweeten the pot a little more to make that deal work. As for the Lou and the Leafs, I think he ends up a Leafs or Vancouver keeps him until a team gets desperate or the deadline. The only other team I have heard that has some interest would be the Panthers, which is who he would like to go back to, but I don't think they are as interested as they would have to be to make this deal. If the Leafs don't get Lou, I think they are in on Nash (but Nash would have to want to come over, and TO isn't much of a step up from Columbus right now in terms of contending), but I can't see them having the resources to get both, unless they give up their entire draft and farm system or include Phaneuf and/or Kessel in the deals, and/or need to include Reimer or Scrivens too. They already gave up one of their top trade pieces in Schenn for JVR, the cupboard isn't overflowing with great prospects right now and theres not too much on the roster right now worth alot. If they gave guys like Kessel, JVR, or Phaneuf for nash and Lou it almost defeats the purpose of getting them because its just creating more holes that need filling instead of adding to the talent. The wildcard in any deal right now is Columbus because you never know what they are going to take and what they would turn down. When you see tehm giving up a bunch of picks for Bobrovsky, then turning down all of the Islanders picks to move down from 2 to 4, it almost impossible to tell what the heck Howson is doing and if he has a clue. For all we know, he could ask for Vanek, Myers, Grigs, Girg, Ennis, Foligno and Miller in a deal for Nash, yet turn around and ask for Connolly, MacArthur, Reimer and a 7th from Toronto for Nash, Mason and next years 1st

I thought Tootoos "off ice drama" was alot better recently. Saw a piece on TSN about it and he was supposed to have been sober for a while and doing much better. He is a physical player (but not what many expected or wanted him to be in the last few years). I can see many begging for the Sabres to pick him off because it might piss Miller off and then he can demand a trade.....

I also wouldn't really call that "Sick"If you break the deal down it looks good for Buffalo, but not exactly "Sick" they pretty much swapped 2nds with Calgary, traded one forward with scoring/physical potential for a Centre with potential, Lucked into a decent bottom pair defencmen, brought in a former physical defencemen who appears to be on the backside of his career and swapping a first round pick, costing them a couple prospects and one of the better faceoff guys in the league. Thats not bad, but its not like they traded away an Brad Boyes for Ovechkin, now that would be Sick....... Thats stretching it a little Lol. he had the usual DR deadline pickup start. Player comes in, everyones excited because of the potential steal of a player that may "just need a change of scenery", he has a good game or 2 to start and then they go back to being the player that the other team gave up on. That was my point about Sulzer. He was a throw in that wasn't expected to play much if any, and injuries put him in a situation to play alot of minutes and he turned out to be a pretty good bottom pairing defencemen. Nothing spectacular, but solid and hopefully he continues to play like that for them instead of regressing

To be fair, Sulzer was putting in those kind of minutes because of injuries to the defence. He was a pleasant surprise when he played and actually looked good out there. The Sulzer part of the deal was more about luck, then the Front Office knowing about a "diamond in the rough" and stealing him away for nothing. If the defence stayed healthy, he probably would have spent as much time as Mags did in the press box.

Apparently when Ovy heard the news he was excited and called to talk to him because he heard that he was known for coaching an offence first type style (or something like that) and is happy with this move because the plan is to "uLet him loose" again with hopes he gets back to the type of play that he made him one of the top scorers.http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=399296 As for the Edmonton coaching job, every time I see the name I think of the Seinfeld episode with George working for Kruegger and the letter fell off the sign. His boss says that it sounds like an old time car horn "K Uegger"

Not according to their owner when he bought them last year. He said they weren't going to go teh FA route to build, they would rely more on building through the draft. They aren't expected to be buyers in teh FA market, they will be similar to what the Sabres were during Golisano. Budget first, resign your own guys, fill the gaps with affordable FAs with potential The Sabres have always struggled against the Thrashers/Jets the last few years.

Well they do have an abundance of 1st round (#1 pick) forwards

A ton of picks for an unproven goalie

So your happy with breaking up one of the teams best lines at the end of last year? What about "If it ain't broke, don't fix it?" Sure, if you have the chance to find an upgrade thats only going to cost you Stafford, you might make the deal, but you don't know if this player is really going to be an upgrade and if/how he will work with the rest of his linemates. Wasn't one of the biggest excuses for last year at the start of the season that they didn't play well because they weren't geling/the chemistry wasn't there? Ennis and Stafford are 2 guys that meshed together very well late in the season, theres no need to break that up if its working

I think that Staffords play with Ennis and Foligno bought himself atleast another year here in Buffalo, and I can't say I disagree with it. I wouldn't want to breakup that line if I didn't have to

Buffalo is also a homecoming somewhat for Clutterbuck, being from Welland, a 30 minute drive accross the border in Niagara

Its the same as the way we view other teams players.'The Ice is always smoother on teh other Rink" should be the boards slogan/motto

I would do Roy for Foligno staright up to unite the Foligno Bros in Buffalo, But its almost certain then that Roy comes out having a career year and ends up singlehandedly taking out the Sabres in the Finals.........

Bob McKenzie ‏@TSNBobMcKenzieIf ANA moves Ryan I suspect it would be for two or three building block pieces that would increase organizational depth but not payroll. Of course I'm sure you have better inside sources then Bob McKenzie of TSN... If the Ducks aren't looking to shed payroll with this move, why do they keep putting such a young 30 goal scorer on the trade market? And my point is, why would they want to take Miller, with a higher salary and similar or slightly higher GAA and Save% then the guy they currenlty have? The only reason Miller has been thrown into the trade rumors of this deal is because his wifes in Cali and people think he desperatly wants to be traded there to be closer to her.

So the Ducks would want a more expensive goalie with worse career gaa and Save% to save money to resign Geztlaf and Perry and rebuild with?

So thats the story you go with? Sure they are for a 7 year old daughter and not you........

No one here is arguing or disagreeing with you at all on this The league protects Brady in these situations, he can come out abd chase a guy down, but if someone tries to block him, they more then likely will get called by the ref because Brady is untouchable.

Will do Should be an interesting show, its at the Barracks, part of the old fort for the war of 1812 BiCentenial celebrations. NOTL is putting it on and they are not exactly a young party town so they have strict rules for shutting down at 10, and parking is supposed to be outside the city in farmers fields with buses from what i have heard. The Hip are one of the few bands left that I haven't seen but want to (along with Zeppelin and the original lineup of the Smashing Pumpkins)

I have been attending less big venue shows recently, probably because I did that alot when I was a bit younger but heres my list Just saw The Trews (great Canadian band who are from out east but made it big in Niagara) last week in a bar in St. Catharines, also going to catch them in August at a free show in Port Colborne. I have heard that the next day in Port Colborne its supposed to be the Canadian band The Tea Party, which is a show I haven't seen in Years, but saw MANY times in small bars here in Niagara. Also about a month or so ago I saw Matt Good at the Rapids theatre (great venue in NF NY, first time there was for the STP show which was amazing) My Fiance wants me to come with her to see Jim Cuddy (of Blue Rodeo) playing 2 weeks from now about 5 minutes from our house. (I might miss it cause I have a hockey game that night, I bought her tickets to see him in Hamilton earlier this year for Christmas and had her go with her friend cause I also had hockey that night). If they play this summer again in Toronto, i will probably get tickets for us to see Blue Rodeo again too. I am taking my mom to Toronto so she can see her first big concert, and one that she can die happy after seeing. My Brother and Sister and I bought her floor tickets to see Neil Diamond at the ACC in June, that will probably be my big ticket concert this year. I have tickets to see The Tragically hip (it will be my first hip show) in Niagara-On-The-Lake the day before Canada Day (Can't be truly Canadian if you haven't seen the Hip on our around Canada Day) Thats all I can think of at the moment. Still waiting to hear about a lineup for the Friendship festival, might attend that show if its a good lineup

So now because Gary Roberts disagrees, Hodgson being an issue for the Canucks GM isn't true? And even if it is true, whats the big deal? He had issues in Vancouver where they misdiagnosed his injury, and he was stuck behind a couple of superstars for playing time. I wouldn't be surprised if the Canucks GM had to spend alot of time dealing with him and what to do with him. Its also possible that he is now in a place where he will be happier and won't be an issue the GM has to spend alot of time on. I don't think Roberts was there in Vancouver at all to see what was going on and is only going off of his dealing with him in the offseason, away from the team. no one ever said he wasn't a hard worker, or that he wasn't trying, Gillis just said that he spent alot of time dealing with Cody the last few years. The fact that Cody doesn't want to talk about or look back on his time in Vancouver and dispute the comments from Gillis lead me to believe that theres probably alot of truth to Gillis comments, he wasn't happy there and may have had issues with the Canucks management and now he has moved on and is putting it behind him to start fresh. But of course, on this board, everything seems to have to be Black or White, with either Cody being a malcontent who (with a demanding father) will constantly be agrevating and complaining to management, or he is a sweet and innocent kid who some evil GM is trying to defame to cover his own behind in a mistake of a deal

I think it was, as usual, more of the media that determined this was a move for right now then the future. The Canucks GM said yesterday that Kassians type of play and what he can become is something that you don't always find easy, yet Darcy (and many here) believe the same thing about what Hodgson can bring to the team. The Canucks are a team that its beleived have more then enough talent to win it all, but are lacking that grit/toughness, something that kassian was expected to provide when he reaches his potential, along with the skill to score some goals (basically be more then just an enforcer/goon). The Sabres lacked some of this too, but are no where near the same elvel as the Canucks when it comes to skill players, and desperatly lacked skilled Centres, something Hodgson is expected to bring to the table. Kassian and hodgson both may have been able to bring something now to their teams, but the real deal was for the future potential in each. Or maybe Gillis is a fan of this board and has read how its all Lindys fault and that he ruins players of their potential and thought just the change of scenery with a new coach would change things for Kassian and bring back the "killer" in him. (from what it sounds like in earlier interviews with kassian, I don't know if he wants to be that kind of player everyone else expected he would be, he wanted to be more of a player known for his skill and goal scoring, not for throwing around checks and hits

This debate all depends on what side of the fence your sitting on with management and this move. If you loved this move, your gonna brush off the comments by teh GM and say that they are just a guy trying to save face and fabricate something for the media to cling to. If your against the move, or not completly sold on it yet, your gonna believe that he is an immature problem child/lockerroom cancer who the Canucks couldn't wait to deal. I really doubt that Gillis is making this stuff up and just trying to save face. You hear about it all the time that some players can be a hand full (and with some of the younger ones, its their parents that are a handful) and it gets to the point where they become too much of a distraction and its better to let them go. I don't get what this issue with hodgsons dad had to do with any of this, except that maybe he might be the type of person who is controling. But I think it was widely known that Hodgson saw the writing on the wall that he was a 3rd liner for the next few seasons (barring injury) due to the guys playing ahead of him and he wanted out. The Canucks had a valuable assett at the deadline and saw Buffalo was in need of this assett, and Buffalo had something that the Canucks wanted and might be willing to move. You can't always trade away your garbage and get a superstar in return, usually it takes something of value to get something of value in return. The Sabres felt they could give up what kassian could bring to the table cause they felt they needed what Hodgson could bring to the table more. I also doubt that Regier would have any idea if Hodgson was a handful to deal with when he made the deal, i doubt private meetings/dealings between players and NHL GM's are spread over the league. Its possible that the Canucks dumped a possible cancer/headache on the Sabres. its also possible that his issues won't be issues here like they were in Vancouver and he could thrive here. Having a father making moves for you isn't a first in sports, look at the NFL where Peyton & Eli Mannings dad Archie was dictating where Eli was gonna play and where he wasn't. Haven't heard that Archie has been a problem for the Giants GM since that issue