LTS

Yea, I didn't know Fitzpatrick was involved. Guess he'll move his training stuff and perhaps the Monarchs to SIR? Of course. Look at the threads lately. Around here we'll discuss the value of a stale twinkie and then go on a 4 page rampage of whether or not it has more value than Leino.

Lakeshore just got new owners... but there's only so much you can do with that low roof.

I don't think Ott is everywhere in this league. I think there are players who have components of Ott, but not the whole package. As for the guy who lives in Angola, he was banished to the AHL this year for his inability to avoid suspension. He's nothing like Ott other than he hits people. Kaleta is the new Matt Cooke and he's got a long way to go to prove otherwise. Ott is not even close to that level.

Yep. And they will probably ask to speak with Miller ahead of time. They could even keep Hiller and have Miller/Hiller for the playoffs and let Hiller go for nothing. It will play out as I had foreseen (yea.. I'm the Emperor today)

It is, indeed, perfect. You embody that emotional response that I refer to. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I'm just saying you do. Fact is, Stafford is not going anywhere. He'll be earning his $4MM next year. He's serviceable and his contract will in no way hamper the Sabres. There's no way another GM is going to give the Sabres anything they need right now for Stafford. Late round draft picks? Not needed. Impact players? No one trades an impact player for a non-impact player. So he's a Sabre and his salary will help make the floor next year.

So while everyone waits for the inevitable decline of Stafford, what if, just maybe, Ted Nolan was the answer to making Drew Stafford the player he is now and this continues? This is where having a new management team in place is good because they don't have to look at the history of Stafford. I don't think he's going anywhere. His cap hit is $4MM and that's going to be spot on for where he ends up on this roster.

The Sabres may be forced to give up more than money however if the deal is a trade and sign. They are not competing against UFA anymore. Now they are competing against another team willing to offer him money AND what that team will give to the Rangers to get him in the first place. So in that situation the Sabres are not only forced to pay for Callahan but also give up something just to get him and sign him.

Without doing intricate quoting.. I think what has been said is that the Sabres would be open to signing Moulson. They have to gauge his interest and like was rumored in the Vanek situation, they make an offer and see if he bites. He may not. Then the most likely of scenarios is that he is moved. But the GM is going to tell him again, we'll offer you this. If you can't get a better deal out there, come on back. I can't quote anyone right now or find a source but analysts have spoken about this happening with UFAs who aren't traded away (ie. one's on winning teams). The GM says, okay.. we're that close to the deadline, you want to test the market, go for it. Let us know the offer you get and give us a chance to match it. This is where we are going and we want you on board, but we understand if you find a better scenario. No guarantees, but the team and player have a pretty good understanding. Dan Cleary was stated to be an example of that this year. (certainly less star power) If you are Vanek and you only get a great offer from Edmonton, are you going there? Now, with the salary cap going up so much next year I think that point is mitigated.

Perhaps it's a nuance but I think the scenarios you outline are things that have immediate impact. When you trade a player you impact your roster immediately. Whereas if you are manipulating your roster to be bad enough to not win now but be good enough to be able to win a year or two from now with the hopes that said generational player will be on your roster in an upcoming draft is a bit more difficult. I'm not sure it's much different except that it deals with real assets as opposed to theoretical assets. No one is using the phrase generational talent for anyone other than McDavid. So if, by chance, he catches and edge and smacks the boards and busts up his knee pretty good it could be he is sliding down the board and now a team is left with just a top draft pick. Not necessarily bad, but not generational. I'm sure the Penguins weren't feeling as good about themselves when Crosby was battling concussion issues. Imagine if that had happened before he was drafted. It would have been a real stretch for Pittsburgh to use the #1 pick on him if they weren't sure if he could play again, let alone at the same level he had been.

Honestly I think Leino CAN play better than this... but why bother? He wants to be bought out. If he doesn't like Buffalo and wants to leave then that's his best option. Don't get injured, don't create value. No one would trade for him at this point. Every team would be thinking, let him get bought out. We'll bring him in, talk to him, and sign him to a 1 year deal at some low number. If he pans out, then he's back in the mix and it's all chalked up to his situation in Buffalo. If not, then no team has taken a big hit and Leino is done. But Leino has played better than this. He has shown he can be better than this. I don't buy that he's THIS bad, it's just that he's more likely to be a product of a positive situation. Either way.. the end of this season can't come fast enough for the Leino situation.

There's just too much that can go wrong between now and then to completely rely upon that as a strategy. There are plenty of other teams that may be feeling the same way that are older. I know we all want that (although I'm less enamored after watching McDavid play in the WJHCs). Even then, if they finish 3rd last in the league next year and don't win the lottery... or a significant injury occurs to one of those two.. or... just too much. Perhaps they will be lucky enough to have two chances at the top pick (the Islanders seem screwed up enough to help the cause). I'm waiting to see the moves with the current roster. It's the first time someone new has really evaluated this talent pool.

If the Rangers are granting access to Callahan's agent, etc. then it's no longer a rental trade. Essentially interested teams are allowed to negotiate a contract extension with Callahan. So it now becomes a trade and then trade deal or something to that effect where Callahan is locked up longer term. Or am I missing something with that? I assume the Sabres could have done the same thing with Miller. Let's say Anaheim does want to upgrade goaltending and doesn't want to wait until the off-season. I still think that's where Miller is going to go but if they want to pull the trigger now they could move Fasth to the Sabres and bring on Miller (or move HIller... but he's UFA and if they want goaltending security having both there is good, if not strange). They are locked in for they playoffs and then next year they have Miller/Andersen/Gibson and move forward as I outlined elsewhere. It's certainly going to be interesting. Right now I think we just want the logjam to break... it's that calm before the storm feeling.

Unless Vanek goes to a team that will be a contender this year and be out of the playoffs next year the Islanders are still going to feel the sting. The Islanders can also sign Moulson, which puts them in the win column, doesn't it? The Sabres could sign Vanek. Hell, the Sabres could sign Moulson and Vanek. Right now the Sabres and Islanders are battling to sell some of the best deadline assets. It could be interesting to see how that works. Teams could be playing the Islanders against the Sabres in terms of driving the deal down to begin with and then the team that loses out on Vanek or Moulson may suddenly turn around and overpay to get the remaining asset.

I was busy playing in a pond hockey tournament Saturday and missed the Avs game... yea.. missed it, that's a good one. I think tonight is a good night to check the exhaust vent on my dryer.

You treat the players like they are cattle. They are not. They are able to choose and play for whatever team they like and if the Sabres make a habit of not doing right by the player then they will find themselves at the bottom of the list. No player IN Buffalo will be happy playing here and none will want to come here. This is a business, but what you are not realizing is that players are not only the employees but they are customers as well. You've got to sell your product to them. You've got to make them believe that you want the best for them and that the best for them is what aligns with the best for the team. If you treat employees like this now then I'm guessing you'll have a pretty high turnover rate and a low morale. This leads to an attitude of employees doing the minimum they can until they can find another place to go. In some cases they'll provoke you to fire them because at least they get a cushion. In the NHL you can't just fire a player so they are even more in control. Players will go out there, they will play hockey, but they aren't going to dive in front of pucks and do other things that might cause them personal pain for the benefit of the team. It's not worth it for them. If you treat them right then they come in and they will run through walls for you. They want to succeed but it's not just about the money. A bunch of overpaid prima donna players with entitlement issues will not win a Stanley Cup.

That and he hasn't done anything to warrant being in the game.

Well, if that's true then it makes you wonder what their plan would be going forward. Until some moves are made I don't think we know exactly how Tim Murray and Craig Patrick see this team. I'm dying to know. :)

Does that account for the other 4 players who are on the ice with him at the same time? I'm not saying there's no validity there but if you are paired with a weak D partner and some poor forwards the likelihood of a goal being scored goes up right? So, if you put out a good "D" pairing to offset a weaker forward set then they are likely to be scored upon but perhaps less so than if you had a weaker "D" pairing out there. They are also less likely to be on the ice for goals because those forwards aren't scoring. Just my thoughts. If the information you referred to works to explain some of that away I'm all ears.

Just remember, you have pads on.. so falling doesn't hurt. Learn'em. Practice going around the faceoff circle forwards and backwards.

When has overpaying for a player ever worked to a team's advantage? What teams are going offer Callahan that kind of money? It could happen, but in a year or two that signing won't look as good.

Nice. Perhaps I will run into him around town in the offseason. That would be cool. Good for him. Mendon is awesome. :) It'd be nice if he chose to play locally for personal reasons. Horton chose Columbus because he wanted a smaller city to play in. Players do things for various reasons. Still don't know what it would take to get him in the offseason.

I dunno. They are scoring at least. This is something they struggled to do before. If nothing else, even at the expense of defense which we all know is suspect anyway if they can score there is some hope. If you remove some of the dead weight on defense (McBain, Sulzer, Weber) and replace it with (Pysyk, McNabb, Ristolainen, Zadarov) it seems like it probably gets a little better back there. The D aren't who we look to for scoring as much as we do the forwards. I'm not saying they are great, but scoring is a good start. Besides, even with Miller gone we have no idea who will be tending the net for the Sabres. There are some FA goalies out there and I'm sure the Sabres are going to grab one of them.

Interesting. Although I wouldn't think they would put the (& Family) part on the sign if it was just him in town. I should have asked them when I was there. Oh well, I will be back there again soon. I saw it on a Saturday morning while driving to Auburn for a hockey tournament. I don't recall it being there Sunday night when I ate there for dinner (this was a week ago).

So let me recant a little bit. Tthis happened in the WJHC. The puck flipped into the air and a player swiped at the puck, missed, and whacked another player in the face. (Can't remember which game it was at this point.) I remember being surprised there was no penalty called but they did say it was because he was swinging at the puck. I thought it was still rather ignorant because it really gives cart blanche to just whack a player if the puck is in the air and it seems rather reckless. Either way, being smacked with a stick never feels good. A penalty should be all that's given. Perhaps Thomas can claim he was simply trying to play the puck because he thought it was popping out of his glove? :)

He might be the most liked Sabres behind Steve Ott right now. You could probably include Miller in that group too. After that, I'm not sure. As for how good he will be? I am definitely not down on him at all. I think he has the potential to be so much more than what the prior posters have indicated. Yea, perhaps I am a bit starry eyed on him but I really think he is something special. He's not a pure offensive talent, but paired with a pure offensive talent he's the guy who will make the space and allow that talent to be as good as he can be. He plays within himself and I think as he progresses he's begun to get more creative and make new kinds of plays he hadn't earlier in the year. It's almost as though he has his own internal development curve that he's following. Not trying to be more than he is until he is ready to be more than he was.